Since I don’t follow sports whatsoever, my only reference point for this story – a story that is getting a ton of coverage on cable news – is the before and after pictures of Sammy Sosa. It seems like nearly everyone was taken aback by Sosa’s appearance last week at the Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year ceremony. His skin is dramatically, almost painfully lightened. According to random sources all over the place, Sosa is not suffering from Vitiligo, the skin condition that Michael Jackson may have had, which left his skin very pale and extremely sensitive to light.
The next theory being rolled around is that Sosa is bleaching his skin. This too was denied by random sources, mostly in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune quoted Rebecca Polihronis, a former Cubs employee, claiming that Sosa “is not trying to be Michael Jackson. He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin.” She goes on to say that Sosa “had the procedure because of playing in the sun for years.” Er… did he not hear of sun block, perchance?
Dominican Republic-born former baseball star Sammy Sosa has been forced to deny bleaching his skin, after he was snapped at the Latin Grammys last week sporting a startlingly white face.
The transformation was so astonishing, many people didn’t recognise the one-time Chicago Cubs pitcher in the audience at the Las Vegas ceremony.
And the furor has prompted a close friend of Sosa’s to come forward and explain the story behind his new look.
Former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis tells the Chicago Tribune, “He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson. He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double.”
“He is in the middle of doing a cleansing process to his skin. The picture is deceiving. He said, ‘If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture.’”
“People who saw him in person did not react the same way. He can’t believe it is such a big deal.”
[From WENN]
Yeah… this is one of those times where I really don’t have anything worthwhile to say. I mean, I think Sosa didn’t realize how dramatic his skin lightening was, and that’s why we’ve got this web of theories and explanations, everybody trying to figure this out. As far as the “skin rejuvenation” explanation… yeah, sure. Whatever. I don’t really buy that, but I also feel like it’s not my place to judge. Obviously, something serious is going on with him, and it might be more serious than “Dude, whiteface.”
Sammy Sosa is seen on left on November 4, 2009 at the Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year in Las Vegas. On the right (where his skin is darker), Sosa is testifying before Congress about alleged steroid abuse. He is pictured with Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling on March 17, 2009
Is it the lighting that make his eyes look lighter as well? Wow, he looks different.
I think he clearly has some ugly contacts and is wearing lipstick too… he may have also gotten a chin implant or maybe he just gained weight…
either way, he looks like he may have switched side on the sexual preference spectrum… not being mean but genuinely curios if he is a known homosexual…
btw, why are people in hollywood making SUCH dramatic changes to their appreance of late… it’s indicative of some underlying sickness… I mean, a normal person wouldn’t consider it… I couldn’t imagine going to a doctor and getting some nicole kidman or billy bob thornton or dozens of other celebrity procedures done and walking out the door thinking that I look good… or even “normal”…. are we in the twilight zone!?!?!?
Did his wife put him up to this? He looks awful!I mean he wasn’t handsome to begin with but now he just doesn’t look natural at all. Doesn’t bleach cause cancer? Boy will he regret it if it does.
I have read follow ups to these pictures and he claims that he damaged his skin playing baseball in the sun all these years.
I don’t know, but he looks Botoxed and weirdly different, and that is not from treatments to correct sun damage.
Maritza- Why would you ask if his wife “put him up to this”. That comment seemed a little off to me.
With MJ gone, Sammy quickly steps up as America’s next white black man.
Doesnt look natural at all. It’s so drastic.
Not a good look…at all.
Lighting + chemical peel could = drastically lighter-skinned appearance. The lighter shade might be cloesr to his natural skin colour, anyway. I’m going for benefit of the doubt on this one and I would advise everyone else to do the same.
looks like more than just laser “rejuvenation” treatments.
colored contacts (they only look CREEPY, people, NOT good!), chin implant, cheek implants?, face lift…
He was cute before. Looks like a cross between a Munster and a budget Dracula now.
Based on those two pics, I’d say some sort of skin treatment and drastically different lighting. However, the rest of his face looks different too, so I’d suspect some sort of surgery as well.
He looks like he is wearing foundation…the rims of his eye lids are darker. Oh and definitely wearing lipstick and contacts.
Hmm…
::the skin condition that Michael Jackson may have had, which left his skin very pale and extremely sensitive to light.::
Uh, in case these people didn’t realize, Michael’s Vitiligo was not only evident in numerous undoctored photos but the autopsy proved he had it. How much more proof do people need? Leave this man alone, already. Secondly, who knows if Sammy has it or not? Vitiligo is a very emotionally difficult disorder for sufferers who can feel embarrassment in confronting it publicly. The man doesn’t have to justify anything to anyone, and it’s not a big deal.
He wasn’t lying about certain photos looking different than others. He is dramatically lighter, but not so pale here: http://www.ecoworld.com/images/upi/sammy-sosa_lap2009110902_lg_th1.jpg
Considering how popular skin whitening creams are in the Caribbean, it’s not out of the question that he’s used one of those creams. Many in the Caribbean associate lighter skin with high social status, so it’s possible Sosa wanted to “fit in” with his peers.
He looks like a reanimated corpse!
How do they explain the contacts though?
This is just sad. I wish people would grow to be happy in the skin their in. Blacks wanting to lighten their skin with creams, and whites and others wanting to darken their skin with the Sun or a tan session. Then we have people getting botox or injections to plump up their lips or buttocks. Sigh. Just work with what you have people.
Seeing Sammy Sosa this way is just sad. He use to be such a nice looking man. Those are almost the exact words I use to say about Michael Jackson.
@ November I agree with your take. But, he’s had at least a deep peel, botox, full facelift, eye lift (a bad one at that), repeated dermabrasion, and filler in the nasal labial folds. Perhaps cheek implants. Unfortunately, they were done by the rube who put in the wife’s off-kilter grapefruit implants.
The only word that suffices is “Yuck”.
Some woman are obsessed with their husbands looking good, that’s why I question whether his wife probably made him do it.
Freaky! Also the frankenboobs on his wife!
He looks so different he could actually commit a crime and no one would know he was the perpetrator.
I don’t think he was handsome before, but he’s just HIDEOUS now. Those contacts look like the ones used in werewolf films.
He looks jaundiced. His fake eye colour just makes the new flesh tone even more hellacreepy. That is one ‘roided-out monster. Holy crap.
His wife is a fug, too, looks like a man in drag, and is also sporting the oh-so-fake coloured contact lenses.
Lemur eyes: party of two.
Augh, VAMPYR! What the hell-ing hell is this fiasco? Enjoy metastasis, lover.
THANK YOU CourtneyH for acknowledging the most plausible explanation for Sammy’s “transformation”: He WANTS to be white.
Isn’t it obvious? It amazes me how many theories people continue to come up with to explain his appearance. It’s not due to the after effects of steroid use (um, really??). It’s not because he simply wanted to “cleanse” his skin. He wants to lighten his skin to look whiter and thus feel more accepted among society.
Otherwise, how do you explain the green contacts and the slicked backed “perm-straightened hair”? Did that occur because of the steroid usage too?? Did the photo lighting cause the green “eyes” too??
The man is obviously going through some kind of identity crisis. He’s suffering from some massive inferiority complex. He shouldn’t feel that way but he does and it’s very very sad.
I don’t know about the skin rejuvenation thing. He has always had bad skin so it is plausible. But that is clearly a chin implant!! Sosa is a douchebag. I’m glad he’s no longer a part of the Cubs.
this is self hate at its best. im black and i have no desire to be lighter i love myself and the way god made me its a shame he has so much hate he did this to himself, like lil kim self hating blacks
GROSS GROSS & Lies about vitiligo he doesn’t have it!!! It would have been mentioned already a long time ago — I am sure that the people who suffer from vitiligo would be upset that *ssholes like Sammy & MJ use vitiligo-illness as their excuse for hating their own skin color, they need therapy!!! Sammy Sosa SUCKS!!!!
Light or dark, he’s fugly.
HOLY CR*P!! look at that guys hair!!
there is WAY to much gellin’going on there!…..WAAAAAAY to much.
Sammy is in the public eye and when you are in the public eye you want to look and be accepted by everyone. To each his own, if sammy thinks looking whiter will make him more acceptable then so be it. As long as sammy is comfortable with the way he looks (NOW)thats all that matters. It is a FACT that being in certain social circles with a lighter complexion does have its perks but it does not mean that he has some inferiority complex or trying to be white. Many people would do the same thing or do some enhancement if they had the money and was in the social circles that sammy is. If you are not happy with the way you look and wish to change something about yourself whether it is your weight/eye color/skin complexion/breasts/eye augmentation/nose/cheeks and you have the finances to do something about it GO FOR IT! You only have one life do what makes you happy not what others perceive of you.
While he’s at it, he should get a acne treatment to boot!
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