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Why Was Audrey Hepburn So Slim? She Almost Died Malnourished in World War Two


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Одри Хепберн, живущая в оккупированных нацистами Нидерландах, страдающая от недоедания, собирала средства для сопротивления, танцуя на подпольных концертах.



Might sound morbid but even malnourished she was still a beautiful women. And apparently a bad ass too.

Though, captions for this photo are

Actor and dancer Audrey Hepburn rehearsing at the barre, circa 1950
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That one is from around 1950. This is a pic from 1942
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https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/audrey-hepburn-malnourished-in-wwii.html?firefox=1
(via ngasanova )

Date: 2022-07-03 07:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
The 45-year-old author of Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother’s Kitchen further explained that when the Nazis locked Holland down in 1944 – a time referred to as the Winter of Hunger – Audrey Hepburn didn’t have enough food to eat that she reached the point wherein her body started failing.

During those times, the future Hollywood icon’s meals were often comprised of endive, the low-calorie green leafy vegetable often used in salads, tulip bulbs that she dug up from the ground and water. This was how she survived. According to Dotti, Audrey Hepburn disclosed that there were times she couldn’t stand up; she felt to weak to make use of her limbs.

“She would spend entire days in bed with a book, thus hoping to expel from her mind obsessive thoughts about food,” he divulged in his book.

By the time WWII ended, the then 16-year-old Audrey Hepburn only weighed 88 pounds [about 40 kilograms].

She also suffered from a myriad of ailments caused by undernourishment — asthma, jaundice, acute anemia and even a serious form of edema which she explained as . . . “It begins with your feet and when it reaches your heart, you die. With me, it was above the ankles when I was liberated.”

Chocolate Equals Freedom

Dotti disclosed that Audrey Hepburn became a fierce eater after the war ended one of her favorite foods being chocolate as she associated it with freedom.

A Dutch soldier had given her seven chocolate bars on one of the last days of the war. Audrey Hepburn proceeded to eat them all in one sitting with some condensed milk from a United Nations relief organization. Later on, she supported this group.

Her love for chocolate stayed with her throughout the rest of her life. Audrey Hepburn often kept bars of the candy inside a chest of drawers in her living room. Additionally, she regularly baked chocolate cakes with whipped cream.

Another obsession the slim Hollywood leading lady had was British cigarettes. These were the ones she smoked until she died of cancer at the age of 63

Date: 2022-07-03 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Audrey Kathleen Ruston (later, Hepburn-Ruston[3]) was born on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium.[4] She was known to her family as Adriaantje.[5]


Hepburn's mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (12 June 1900 – 26 August 1984), was a Dutch noblewoman. Ella was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who served as mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and as governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928, and Baroness Elbrig Willemine Henriette van Asbeck (1873–1939), a granddaughter of Count Dirk van Hogendorp.[6] At age 19, she married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they subsequently lived.[7] They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925,[8][9] four years before Hepburn's birth.[4]

Date: 2022-07-03 07:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
In the mid-1930s, Hepburn's parents recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists.[18]

Date: 2022-07-03 07:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935 after a "scene" in Brussels when Adriaantje (as she was known in the family) was six; later she often spoke of the effect on a child of being "dumped" as "children need two parents".[19] Joseph moved to London, where he became more deeply involved in Fascist activity and never visited his daughter abroad.[20] Hepburn later professed that her father's departure was "the most traumatic event of my life".[7][21] That same year, her mother moved with Hepburn to her family's estate in Arnhem; her half-brothers Alex and Ian (then 15 and 11) were sent to The Hague to live with relatives. Joseph wanted her to be educated in England,[22] so in 1937, Hepburn was sent to live in Kent, England, where she, known as Audrey Ruston or "Little Audrey", was educated at a small independent school in Elham.[23][24] Hepburn's parents officially divorced in 1938.[25] In the 1960s, Hepburn renewed contact with her father after locating him in Dublin through the Red Cross; although he remained emotionally detached, Hepburn supported him financially until his death.[26]

Date: 2022-07-03 07:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
1939–1945: Experiences during World War II
See also: Dutch famine of 1944–45

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn's mother moved her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during the First World War, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945. She had begun taking ballet lessons during her last years at boarding school, and continued training in Arnhem under the tutelage of Winja Marova, becoming her "star pupil".[7] After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn used the name Edda van Heemstra, because an "English-sounding" name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that "had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week… six months… next year… that's how we got through".[7] In 1942, her uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother's older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement; while he had not been involved in the act, he was targeted due to his family's prominence in Dutch society.[7] Hepburn's half-brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp, and her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.[7]

Date: 2022-07-03 07:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
After her uncle's death, Hepburn, Ella and Miesje left Arnhem to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp.[7] Around that time Hepburn performed silent dance performances to raise money for the Dutch resistance effort.[27] It was long believed that she participated in the Dutch resistance itself,[7] but in 2016 the Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein' reported that after extensive research it had not found any evidence of such activities.[28] However, a 2019 book by author Robert Matzen provided evidence that she had supported the resistance by giving "underground concerts" to raise money, delivering the underground newspaper, and taking messages and food to downed Allied flyers hiding in the woodlands north of Velp. She also volunteered at a hospital that was the centre of resistance activities in Velp, and her family temporarily hid a paratrooper in their home during the Battle of Arnhem.[29][30] In addition to other traumatic events, she witnessed the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, later stating that "more than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on the train. I was a child observing a child."[31]

Date: 2022-07-04 11:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] egle-45.livejournal.com
Читала биографию, о её детстве маман рассказывала много удивительного. Может, и правду, но у меня всё равно сложилось впечатление, что мама Одри - та ещё сказочница)

та ещё сказочница)

Date: 2022-07-04 06:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Ну, у дочи сложилась неплохая био. А под конец маршрута, даже "счастье в личной жизни". Тоже с вполне забавным дяденькой.

Re: та ещё сказочница)

Date: 2022-07-05 04:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] egle-45.livejournal.com
Так никто ж и не отрицает. Я вообще фанатка Одри, есличо)

Но когда я читала рассказы её маман про собственные и дочкины героические военные будни, не оставляло чувство, что всё это надо делить как минимум на десять)) При том, что наверняка действительно было что вспомнить, военные действия - они к таким вещам в целом располагают. Вопрос в объёме)

Но когда я читала

Date: 2022-07-05 07:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Заинтриговали. Текст водится в сетях? (В англ. Вике упоминается, что мама донатила английских фашистоф.)

Re: Но когда я читала

Date: 2022-07-05 04:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] egle-45.livejournal.com
Я не знаю, это биография Одри в серии ЖЗЛ.
Да там ничего прямо шокирующего, но у меня сложилось стойкое впечатление, что мама Одри была не прочь иногда приукрасить действительность. Может, я и ошибаюсь - но проверить сейчас уже всё равно не получится))
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Ну, думается про Одри уже написана целая библиотека. Должны были и дети отметиться и биографы.
Просто все это надо искать.
From: [identity profile] egle-45.livejournal.com
Так все многочисленные биографы черпают из весьма немногочисленных источников))
И воспоминания маменьки - один из них. А их уже фиг верифицируешь)
Edited Date: 2022-07-06 03:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
1929, Брюссель — 20 января 1993, Толошна)

Плохо с источниками в 20 веке может быть у малоизвестных людей.
А вообще, надо глянуть, каким корпусом воспоминаний володеют Одри-веды.
From: [identity profile] egle-45.livejournal.com
Если говорить об относительно недавнем времени, когда она уже была голливудской звездой - да, инфы побольше, разной и из разных источников.

А что там было до войны и во время - мы практически только со слов маман и знаем, ну и немного от самой Одри. Ни подтвердить, ни опровергнуть большинство этих историй банально некому, подчёркиваю - некому было уже тогда, когда журналистов и биографов в принципе начала интересовать личность популярной киноактрисы. Всё, что могло всплыть об этом периоде, уже всплыло давным-давно, нового не появится.

Я причём не утверждаю, что мама прямо вот врала как выборный кандидат (с). Так, приукрашивала))

Date: 2022-07-04 02:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
"In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to industrialist James Hanson,[106] whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it "love at first sight", but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time.[107] She issued a public statement about her decision, saying "When I get married, I want to be really married".[108] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.[109]

Date: 2022-07-04 02:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
"At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play.[61][110] The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland,[111] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1955). She and Ferrer had a son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer.[112]

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her "Svengali" – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1968.[113]

Date: 2022-07-04 02:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working.[114][115] They married on 18 January 1969, and their son Luca Andrea Dotti was born on 8 February 1970. While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. Both Dotti and Hepburn were unfaithful, with Dotti having affairs with younger women and Hepburn having a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the movie Bloodline (1979).[116] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted thirteen years and was dissolved in 1982.[117]

Date: 2022-07-04 02:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
From 1980 until her death, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,[33] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially.[118]

Robert Wolders (28 September 1936 – 12 July 2018)[1] was a Dutch television actor known for his role in the television series Laredo and appearing in series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Bewitched, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He was married to Merle Oberon, and was the longtime partner of Audrey Hepburn.

Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was an British actress[1] who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). A traffic collision in 1937 caused facial injuries that could have ended her career, but she recovered and remained active in film and television until 1973.

Date: 2022-07-04 02:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] belkafoto.livejournal.com
Parentage

For most of her life, Merle protected herself by concealing the truth about her parentage, claiming that she had been born in Tasmania, Australia,[5] and that her birth records had been destroyed in a fire.

She was raised as the daughter of Arthur Terrence O'Brien Thompson, a British mechanical engineer from Darlington who worked in Indian Railways[6] and his wife, Charlotte Selby, a Eurasian from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Her mother also had Māori ancestry.[7] However, according to her birth certificate, Merle's biological mother was Charlotte's then-12-year-old daughter, Constance. Charlotte had herself given birth to Constance at the age of 14, the result of rape by Henry Alfred Selby, the Anglo-Irish foreman of a tea plantation.[7] To avoid scandal, Charlotte raised Merle as Constance's half-sister.[1][8]

Constance eventually married Alexander Soares and had four other children: Edna, Douglas, Harry, and Stanislaus (Stan). Edna and Douglas moved to the UK at an early age. Stanislaus was the only child to keep his father's surname of Soares and resided in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Harry eventually moved to Toronto, Canada, retaining Charlotte’s maiden name, Selby. When Harry tracked down Merle's birth certificate in Indian government records in Bombay, he was surprised to discover that he was in fact Merle's half-brother, not her nephew. He attempted to visit her in Los Angeles, but she refused to see him. Harry withheld that information from Oberon's biographer Charles Higham and eventually revealed it only to Maree Delofski, the creator of the 2002 documentary The Trouble with Merle, produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which investigated the various conflicting versions of Merle's origin.[8]

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