Audrey Hepburn’s Petite Frame Was A Result Of Stunt Growth Resulting From Malnutrition? Here’s The Truth ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )
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Audrey Hepburn. Who doesn’t know this name! The British actress – born Audrey Kathleen Ruston, is not just regarded as a fashion icon by millions across the globe but has also been ranked the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institution. While many wish to have a figure like the EGOT winner (recipient of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards), do you know how she got the figure?
In today’s throwback piece we will tell you all about it. But first, you need to know a little about the actress’ humble and struggle-filled childhood. Hepburn was born in Ixelles, Brussels to an aristocratic family. Her mother was Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch noblewoman and her father was Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston – a British subject born in Auschwitz. Her father left the family in Brussels and left for London in 1935.
Given that she was born around the time of World War II, Audrey Hepburn suffered its effect. British film director Helena Coan – in a conversation carried by Bazaar in November 2020, spoke about Audrey – not as an actress but as the person she was. From revealing the actress was a complicated, insecure and troubled woman who struggled to find love to how she attained the petite figure – she held nothing. Read on.
Talking about Audrey Hepburn‘s figure – something many wish to have today, Helena Coan said, “Audrey spent World War II in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation, where food supplies ran out. This childhood malnutrition stunted her growth and changed her frame forever. It was ultimately the reason that she couldn’t pursue her dream of becoming a prima ballerina, which is what she wanted to do initially.”
Coan continued, “She was so malnourished that she didn’t have the strength. It was important for me to tell audiences that Audrey was so skinny because she starved. If you look at pictures of her before the war, she looked totally different. Her body is not something you should aspire to have; she ended up that way because she didn’t have a choice – as a result of tragedy. As far as I understand, Audrey had a healthy relationship with food. She loved chocolate and spaghetti and, in later life, would have a whiskey before bed.”
Robert Wolders, Audrey Hepburn’s partner from 1980 until she died in 1993 (they never married), also revealed once that the actress didn’t diet, but enjoyed exercise, chocolate and ‘a finger or two of Scotch at night’.
This is a very tragic story about one of the world’s most loved actresses.
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