Elizabeth Taylor's Eyes Have been Actually Violet?

For many years, individuals have puzzled in regards to the true colour of appearing legend Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes: Have been they blue velvet, darkish denim, deep purple or vivid violet? 

Such is the legend surrounding the Hollywood icon’s dazzling eyes that she even named a perfume after them — Elizabeth Taylor Violet Eyes.

Certainly, the talk about Taylor’s putting peepers has continued on social media years after her dying in 2011, with posts on Reddit, TikTok and Instagram rehashing the long-held assertion that the display screen legend was born with violet-colored eyes. 

For instance, in 2023, a submit on the subreddit r/WhatisMyEyeColour referred to Taylor as “the gorgeous actor with violet eyes,” earlier than asking, “Have been they actually violet? They appear extra like a brilliant intense blue to me.”

(Temporary_Trick5345/Reddit)

The Eyes By no means Lie — However the Digicam Can

Whereas some individuals have claimed that Taylor did have violet eyes, others say her eyes have been a putting shade of blue that she enhanced via intelligent make-up tips, wardrobe decisions and skilled lighting. 

Classic Hollywood Central, for instance, stated Taylor’s eyes “have been most likely a really deep blue that might appear like violet in the correct mild. She additionally accentuated this impact by utilizing quite a lot of blue and violet eye shadow shades all through her profession.”

To substantiate Taylor’s eye colour as soon as and for all, Snopes contacted the Elizabeth Taylor property. A spokesperson for House of Taylor, a firm managing the luxurious manufacturers and archive established by the property, confirmed that Taylor by no means wore contacts or coloured contacts, however didn’t explicitly state her true eye colour. 

With the “Cleopatra” actress’ profession starting within the Forties, black-and-white pictures added to the mystique surrounding her eye colour. As Hollywood started to make use of colour movie extra, they usually oversaturated photographs to boost options corresponding to eye and lip hue. Publicity pictures usually altered the “violet” colour of Taylor’s eyes to make them pop and seem brighter.

Taylor usually wore clothes, equipment and eye make-up in jewel tones corresponding to blue, inexperienced or purple to boost her eye colour. In a single close-up scene within the 1974 drama “The Driver’s Seat,” Taylor’s character swiftly applies blue eye shadow with a small beauty applicator wand. In 2016, celeb make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic (who counts Kim Kardashian amongst his well-known shoppers) posted the scene to Instagram, writing, “Love this. #elizabethtaylor. She did that eye in seconds with that tiny brush – shadow, crease and liner. Increase 👏.”

Eye Coloration is Decided by Melanin in Irises

Paler-colored eyes usually mirror shades of blue, inexperienced and aqua, relying on the individual’s clothes and lighting circumstances, whether or not pure or enhanced. Like many individuals with blue or inexperienced eyes, Taylor’s appeared to alter tone relying on what she was carrying and her cosmetics.

Blue eyes can, underneath sure lighting circumstances, create the optical phantasm of showing purple or violet. Eye colour can appear to alter primarily based on the eyes’ mild absorption, whether or not from the solar or the reflection of clothes and enhanced lighting.

Even amongst ophthalmologists, Taylor’s “true” eye colour is open to interpretation. Live Science spoke with ophthalmic laser and microsurgeon Dr. Norman Saffra, who informed the outlet, “There are numerous shades of blues and grays, with many in-between. Violet could have been her typical pigmentation,” including, “It is attainable to have that eye colour; all of it depends upon the quantity of melanin.”

Violet is a colour intently associated to purple that sits subsequent to blue within the red, yellow, blue color wheel. Whereas exceedingly uncommon, violet or purple eyes can happen resulting from an absence of melanin, or pure pigment, within the irises, normally resulting from albinism or a genetic mutation.

Melanin is a pure pigment liable for the colour of pores and skin, hair and eyes. Eye colour is said to the quantity of melanin within the entrance layers of the iris. Folks with dark-brown eyes have a considerable amount of melanin within the iris, whereas individuals with paler shades like mild blue or inexperienced have a lot much less of this pigment of their irises.

Taylor’s eye colour probably appeared at some instances violet and at different instances blue, because of the quantity of melanin current within the stroma (the thickest layer of the cornea) of her iris, and the best way by which mild was mirrored and dispersed from her eye. 

The American Academy of Ophthalmology doesn’t point out violet or purple eyes when discussing the rarest eye colour, noting that inexperienced eyes happen least naturally on the earth inhabitants:

Inexperienced eyes are the rarest, with solely about 2% of the world’s inhabitants having them. Inexperienced eyes aren’t due solely to the quantity of melanin within the eye, but in addition with how the sunshine scatters off the attention. The optical impact of sunshine scattering off the melanin in these eyes makes them inexperienced.

Violet Eyes Are So Uncommon, They’re Possible a Genetic Mutation

In the meantime, the Optical Academy notes that “true violet-colored eyes are exceedingly uncommon and normally a results of albinism. Whereas some people, like Elizabeth Taylor, could have deep blue eyes that may appear purple, genuine purple eyes are present in lower than 1% of the worldwide inhabitants.”

Ocular albinism is a genetic situation particularly affecting the eyes, characterised by a big discount or full absence of pigment within the retina. This lack of pigment causes a number of vision-related points, together with mild sensitivity, and infrequently leads to very light-blue eyes that may seem purple and even pink in sure lighting. Ocular albinism impacts 1 in 50,000 individuals.

In keeping with The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation: “A typical fable is that individuals with albinism have purple eyes. In actual fact there are several types of albinism and the quantity of pigment within the eyes varies. Though some people with albinism have reddish or violet eyes, most have blue eyes. Some have hazel or brown eyes. Nevertheless, all types of albinism are related to imaginative and prescient issues.”

Taylor was not recognized to have any optical mutation or imaginative and prescient issues that may have impacted her eye colour, however she did have the uncommon genetic mutation distichiasis, which brought about an additional row of naturally occurring lashes to develop on her prime and backside lash strains. This genetic mutation probably enhanced the looks however not the colour of Taylor’s eyes.

As famous above, it is extremely uncommon to have violet eyes if one doesn’t have ocular albinism. Possibly, Taylor’s eyes have been certainly a uncommon shade of blue that appeared violet underneath sure lighting circumstances and when she wore explicit wardrobe and make-up decisions. It is extremely unlikely they have been truly violet, seeing as this colour is usually discovered among the many small inhabitants of people that have ocular albinism. Whereas she did have a genetic mutation, it resulted in thick eyelashes, not in her distinctive blue/violet eye colour. For these causes, we charge the declare that Taylor’s eye colour was naturally violet as “Unproven.”

In a earlier reality test, Snopes investigated the declare that Alexandria’s Genesis is a mutation that turns individuals into “excellent human beings” who exhibit purple eyes six months after beginning.

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