Wait, what? Sofia Vergara is a natural blonde?

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It’s true. As an America’s Got Talent Judge, Vergara has millions of fans cheering her on with everything she does. There’s just so much to love whenever she’s on AGT — from her passion to her earnestness to, yes, her iconic and utterly flawless hair.

As you can see in this recent Instagram photo of her and her AGT bestie Heidi Klum on set, while there are blond highlights aplenty, Vergara is (and has been) a brunette — and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that!

However, the hair color viewers see on TV isn’t her natural hue. As it turns out, her decision to ditch her natural blonde locks was a risky bet that ultimately paid off for the star! Earlier this year, Vergara spoke with PEOPLE to explain her hair journey in an interview that is illuminating to many of her fans.

Why Sofia Vergara dyes her natural blonde hair

When she was looking to break into Hollywood, Vergara found a peculiar roadblock in front of her in the form of her natural hair color.

“The way that I looked was not the way that Hollywood really saw Latina women,” Vergara explained, who is proudly from Colombia. “They were expecting a more dark-haired woman. It was difficult because they were a little confused, like, ‘This woman sounds like a Latin woman but she’s blonde.'”

Vergara further revealed she doesn’t regret her decision in the slightest.

Sofia Vergara smiles during her Hollywood Walk Of Fame star ceremony on May 7, 2015 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

“I made the decision to change my hair color to dark, and that’s how I started working. It was like, ‘I’m going to see if that works. I’m here, why not?’ And it changed my life because I got hired to do Modern Family, which I did for 11 years.”

Her iconic performance in Modern Family opened up more doors for her in the industry, most notably, her stint as a Judge on America’s Got Talent, where she is currently participating in the show’s 19th season! Looking back, Vergara thinks her call to change her hair color from blonde to brunette isn’t a big deal in retrospect.

“At the end of the day, it was hair,” she said. “It was not like I was cutting my fingers off.”