The Hidden Wound That Shaped an Icon
Despite being celebrated as one of Hollywood's most enduring beauties, screen legend Audrey Hepburn never believed she was attractive enough to marry, according to revelations in her son's new memoir. The first extract, published on Saturday, unveils how her burning ambition to perform was forged amid starvation and hardship in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, where she relentlessly pursued dance through wartime misery.
A Grim Legacy of War
Famed for her graceful posture, Audrey Hepburn always held her head and neck in a distinctive manner—not just on screen but even during long car journeys. Most assumed this was due to her dance training. In reality, it was a grim legacy of the Second World War.
Towards the war's end, she ventured into her garden near Arnhem, desperate for sunlight after months indoors left her pale from malnutrition. As she nearly dozed off, the ground shuddered from a nearby shell explosion. Expecting to be "blown to oblivion," she frantically dug into the earth as gravel peppered her skin and metal fragments whizzed past.
Only years before her death did she confide to a friend that a small piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in her neck. "It left me so I can't bend my neck in the ways other people can," she admitted, adding, "Promise not to tell anyone as long as I'm alive!" This secrecy was typical of Hepburn, who never wanted pity and rarely revealed the full horror of her experiences during the Nazi occupation.
Forged by Hardship and Heartbreak
The ethereal star of Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady was shaped by early years of profound suffering. By Holland's liberation, she had witnessed executions, repeatedly risked her life working for the Resistance, and was in such poor health that doctors believed she was weeks from death. Her immune system remained compromised for life.
In a bitter irony, both her parents were dedicated fascists. Her Dutch mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra, and British father Joseph Ruston joined the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, befriending Hitler's aristocratic English girlfriend Unity Mitford and even meeting the Führer in Germany.
Dance as Salvation
At war's outbreak, ten-year-old Audrey was living in Kent. Her parents had separated, and she attended boarding school with rare visits from her mother. Her father stopped seeing her altogether after dropping her at the airport for evacuation to the Netherlands—a final encounter for decades.
In occupied Holland, she was told to use the name Edda and never speak English if overheard. As rationing and curfews tightened, ballet became her salvation. She choreographed performances, dancing tirelessly to gramophone music despite growing hunger.
The Nazis' invasion of Russia led to Holland being bled dry of provisions. Audrey recalled bloodcurdling screams from a Gestapo prison and being forced to watch German soldiers execute young men against a wall—images that haunted her forever.
Resistance Work and Narrow Escapes
Moving to Velp, the family discovered German soldiers had set up a radio monitoring station in their attic. Audrey began giving ballet lessons in a building that secretly housed Resistance headquarters and hidden Jews. She volunteered to dance at clandestine "black evenings" to raise morale and funds, where audiences smiled silently instead of applauding to avoid detection.
Proving her loyalty, she distributed pamphlets and messages for the Resistance, often hiding notes in her shoes. She later realized these were likely intelligence documents that could have led to her execution if discovered.
In one narrow escape, after delivering a message to a downed British airman, she encountered Nazi police. With remarkable calm, she picked wildflowers and presented them with her ID papers, charming the officers into letting her pass.
Another airman, Max Court, entrusted her with his gold signet ring before being taken prisoner. Audrey wore it on a chain for four years, eventually tracking him down after the war to return it.
Surviving the Hunger Winter
After the failed Allied offensive at Arnhem in September 1944, the Germans imposed a brutal blockade. The ensuing "Hunger Winter" killed at least 20,000 Dutch people. Audrey's family survived on turnips, tulip bulb bread, and even dog biscuits. At one point, they went three days without food over Christmas 1944.
Fifteen-year-old Audrey took to bed to conserve energy, gravely ill with anemia, asthma, and swelling from malnutrition. "I was very sick but didn't realize it," she recalled. A miraculous delivery of flour, jam, oatmeal, butter, and potatoes from the underground saved them.
Throughout, she continued delivering drugs and Resistance bulletins, while the family secretly sheltered an escaped British Army major in their basement—Tony Deane-Drummond, who later helped found the modern SAS.
Liberation and Legacy
In April 1945, the shelling stopped. Emerging from their basement, the family heard English voices and smelled tobacco—"the most wonderful scent in the world." Soldiers liberating "the only English girl for miles" cheered as Audrey screamed with happiness.
Peace formally arrived three days before her 16th birthday. "Life began again," she said. Though malnutrition prevented her from becoming a professional ballerina, she found her way to Hollywood stardom.
Her wartime memories left deep marks. She once described seeing Jewish families, including a little girl in a bright-red coat, herded onto trains—an image that haunted her and later inspired Steven Spielberg's poignant scene in Schindler's List.
Audrey Hepburn's elegance, it turns out, was not just trained but born from resilience, a secret shrapnel wound, and a spirit that danced through darkness.
