What did Griselda Blanco look like when she was young? Before & after pictures of Cocaine Godmother, explored

Griselda is the latest narco-based series from Netflix, released on the streaming platform on January 25, 2024. Based on the real-life Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco, the show features Sofia Vergara (of Modern Family fame) in the titular role.

While fans have been raving about Sofia Vergara's performance, one of the show's harshest critics has been Griselda Blanco's son, Michael Corleone Blanco. He slammed the series' creators for adding prosthetics to Vergara's face.

Michael Corleone Blanco was reportedly unhappy about the way his late mother has been portrayed in the series and suggested that the narcotics trafficking queen looked beautiful in real life and her mugshots were not an accurate representation of how she looked in real life. This article explores how the infamous cocaine godmother looked before and after her incarceration.

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How did the "Cocaine Godmother" Griselda Blanco look before and after her jail term?

The Netflix original series focuses on the life of Griselda Blanco, re-creating key moments showcasing her rise to power as one of the most notorious narcotic lords of America during the 1970s and the 1980s.

To slip into the role of the infamous trafficker who also held the moniker of Cocaine Godmother, actress Sofia Vergara was fitted with prosthetics to represent a face accurate to the real Griselda. However, in an interview with Daily Mail, Griselda's son, Michael Corleone, said the following,

"My mother was a beautiful woman and it's crazy that a lot of people say no, you've got to look more like a drug addict...the fact that they call her ugly that really offends me."

This statement came in response to Sofia Vergara's look in the series, where she is made to look "ugly," as per Michael. He emphasized how stunning his mother was and stated that there had been a misperception about her appearance based on photos of her taken after serving decades in prison.

A rare picture of a young Blanco in 1943 (Image via Facebook/Cocaine Cowboys)

The picture above is a rare picture of the "Cocaine Godmother" from when she was younger. As per her son, she was a beautiful woman, and years of being in prison took a toll on her health and also her beauty, which is why the mugshots do not do justice to her.

Here is how she looked during the time of her incarceration:

A mugshot of Blanco from 1985 (Image via Metro Dade Police Department)

Michael Corleone Blanco, unhappy about how Netflix treated his mother's story, further said the following to Daily Mail,

"She was always a beautiful woman. Now, of course, 26 years of jail will age a person. And my mother was so used to pampering and she was so used to her maintenance... She wasn't a saint but I'll tell you something... my mother was a star and a queen."

He also said,

"No matter what, you need to respect my mother enough to seek the consultation of our youngest son - her best friend that visited her five times a week during her 23 years incarceration. Not only is it a slap in my face, it is a slap in the face of my ancestors, that she would do such a thing. No matter where you are now, or how elite, it's in the Colombian way."

Blanco was arrested in 1985 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, she was later sentenced to 20 more years in prison and served the sentence for a total of 26 years before being deported to Medellin due to her deteriorating health conditions.

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All episodes of Griselda are currently available for streaming on Netflix.