Angelina Jolie ‘lookalike’ dubbed ‘zombie woman’ admits she ‘should have listened to her mother’ before drastically altering her face as she is paraded as a freak on Iranian TV after her ‘arrest’ for blasphemy
- Sahar Tabar has become a sensation on Instagram with her gaunt-faced photos
- State TV paraded her as an example of how social media ‘madness’ ruined a life
- The 22-year-old denied she altered her face intending to look like the actress
An Angelina Jolie ‘lookalike’ whose gaunt, heavily altered face has become a sensation on social media has been paraded on state TV after she was arrested for blasphemy.
The Iranian regime-run channel IRTV2 introduced Sahar Tabar as an example of how ‘the madness to become famous on social media has ruined a real life’.
The 22-year-old voiced some regret and said she should have listened to her mother when she warned against the drastic changes.
However, she denied that she had altered her face in a bid to look like the Hollywood actress.
Social media star: Angelina Jolie ‘lookalike’ Sahar Tabar (pictured), 22, has shocked people with pictures of her gaunt, eerie face on Instagram
Instead, she mentioned looking like the Corpse Bride from the dark fantasy film of the same name – a comparison which others have made before.
‘I do not currently look like my photoshopped pictures,’ she told state TV, her face blurred in the interview.
‘My mother was telling me to stop, but I didn’t listen. Sometimes the words of a stranger or a friend can be more important than those of a parent.
Some reports have said that Tabar, from Tehran, has had as many as 50 plastic surgeries to alter her appearance.
However, she admitted that her gaunt-faced Instagram posts – drawing comparisons to a zombie – were also the result of make-up and heavy photo editing.
The interview on IRTV2 has drawn criticism from some viewers in Iran who saw it as a humiliating staged confession.
The TV channel noted that she was the only child of a divorced couple who had been living with her mother, and that she ‘could have been in university by now’ if not because of her ‘strange’ online persona and fame.
Tabar said that ‘vulgarity on social media gets a lot of clicks’ and admitted she could have been ‘in a better place right now,’ the channel said.
‘My childhood dream was to be famous,’ she said.
Tabar was arrested in early October on a series of charges including blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means and encouraging corruption among the young.
Freak show: The Iranian regime-run channel IRTV2 introduced Sahar Tabar as an example of how ‘the madness to become famous on social media has ruined a real life’
In July she unveiled her ‘true’ appearance, sharing a side-by-side photo of herself with and without the heavy make-up
An Iranian news agency said there had been ‘numerous messages from the public calling for the case to be pursued’.
She was detained on the orders of Tehran’s guidance court, which deals with ‘cultural crimes and social and moral corruption’, reports said.
On her Instagram account shows pictures of her gaunt, eerie face to more than 50,000 followers.
In July she unveiled her ‘true’ appearance, sharing a side-by-side photo of herself with and without the heavy make-up.
Most of the photos and videos shared with her 26,800 followers have also been heavily edited so that she seemingly resembles Hollywood star Angelina Jolie.
Cosmetic surgery is hugely popular in the Islamic republic, with tens of thousands of operations taking place each year.
Social media sites are often subject to censorship although many Iranians can still access them.