Actress Sophia Vergara has filed a $15 million lawsuit against a beauty company for the unauthorized use of her image.
According to UPI, a Los Angeles based non surgical beauty company, Venus Concept, reportedly used Vegara's image in some of their promotional marketing without her permission. The Modern Family actress reportedly received a treatment from Venus Concept back in 2014. During one of her visits to the office, she took a selfie from inside of the office and posted it to her Instagram account, as reported by the site.
According to reports obtained by People, Vergara, who starred in Hot Pursuit alongside Reese Witherspoon, received the company's Legacy Skin tightening massage treatment in August of 2014, in preparation for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards. She reportedly did not like the treatment she received and felt it was a "a waste of time and money" that didn't produce the type of results that she was looking for, according to the lawsuit report.
Since her visit and the posting of her selfie to Instagram, Venus Concept has reportedly been using that same Instagram image on their website and at trade shows. In an attempt to protect her brand, the 43-year-old filed the lawsuit against the company on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
What is so funny Marilyn?? Legacy massage at @drlancerrx
A photo posted by Sofia Vergara (@sofiavergara) on Aug 22, 2014 at 4:16pm PDT
The Legacy treatment received back in 2014 was more than likely an effort to look her absolute best for the Emmys, seeing as how she was literally put on a pedestal, and rotated around for the audience and nearby cameras to catch every angle of her shape and form, while spinning around in her white gown that evening.
Accordiong to an August 2014 Time article, Vergara stood in the center of a pedestal that rotated 360 degrees while Bruce Rosenblum, chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, jokingly spoke about the state of the television industry.
"What truly matters is that we never forget that our success is based on always giving the viewer something compelling to watch," stated Rosenblum as Vergara rotated. Vergara proceeded to wrap up the skit with her own humor. "Okay enough, enough," exclaimed Vergara. "That's why I stopped doing the car shows!"
