Raquel Welch, one of the stars of Hollywood’s golden age cinema, died on Wednesday. She was 82.
Welch’s manager Steve Sauer told PEOPLE that the actor ‘passed away peacefully after a brief illness’. “Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs. Raquel leaves behind her two children, son Damon Welch and her daughter Tahnee Welch.”
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In 2020, Raquel Welch, who had first shot to fame due to a bikini-clad poster for One Million Years BC., busted the rumor that she had plastic surgery to look young.
“There was a huge discrepancy between the symbol — Raquel Welch — and what I could ever aspire to be for real,” she says days ahead of her 80th birthday. The actor said that she favors Botox “if done right,” but denied having extreme plastic surgery.
“I’ve heard all the rumors…’Raquel Welch is silicone from the knees up’; I’m said to have scars under both my breasts; my a** has been lifted; I’ve had a rib removed,” she said. “What can I do? Sue? Give everybody a squeeze test?”
Welch is often credited with paving the way for modern-day action heroines in Hollywood films. She became an international sex symbol in the 1960s. Despite her bombshell status, Welch has never done a nude scene. She even refused Playboy a staggering 57 times before finally posing in 1979, in a swimsuit.
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Welch never wanted to be judged by how she looked, saying “I’m not a phenomenon…I’m a person,” according to Rolling Stone magazine.
She believes her refusal to disrobe is one of the reasons people called her trouble. She clashed with co-stars Mae West and Farrah Fawcett, while Burt Reynolds once said, “Put it this way: We don’t send each other Christmas cards.”
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When Barbara Walters asked her about her reputation for being difficult, Welch replied “I’m a perfectionist and quite demanding, but I’m worth it.”
