The iconic movie star Audrey Hepburn has been an example of elegance and charm since she first appeared on the big screen. Besides being a really great actress, she was also a fashion icon whose style is still being recreated today. Her look has been a subject of debate over the years, mainly her slim figure which she managed to keep until her death, at age 63. But how did she stay so slender?
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24 years after her death, her family has finally addressed the rumors. They revealed the reason behind her thin body. And it’s a disturbing one.
Many people thought she was battling anorexia, but Audrey Hepburn was just really skinny. She was 5-foot-7 and weighed 110 lbs., but she did not have an eating disorder, her son Luca Dotti stated for ‘People’ magazine. Apparently, she loved pasta and Italian food very much and tried to eat a little bit of everything.
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Her partner Robert Wolders, who stayed beside her from 1980 until her death, said that she did not keep any diets and talked about what she enjoyed eating. Brown bread with jam for breakfast, chicken or veal pasta for lunch and soup for dinner. She used to drink a finger or two of Scotch at night and preferred chocolate for desert. So how did Audrey manage to maintain that slim frame?
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The reason behind it is quite troubling. The famous actress was born in Belgium but relocated with her mom in Holland at the beginning of the war. She was just 11 years old during World War II when The Netherlands was occupied by the Germans. Food was scarce and her family struggled to survive. Hepburn became very weak, she had jaundice and edema. She used to pull through by eating nettles and tulip bulbs or drinking water to fill her stomach.
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As a result of this horrible period of malnutrition, Hepburn battled anemia for the rest of her life. Her son said that this condition affected her weight. The war had a big impact on Hepburn not only physically but also emotionally. She was about the same age as Anne Frank at that time and she often would think about her, saying that Anne was the girl that didn’t make it whereas she was the one who did. Whenever she would remember those harsh events, she would say this, with her eyes filled with tears, her son recounted.
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