Audrey Hepburn’s 88-Pound Secret: Son Reveals the Shocking Truth Behind Her Slim Figure

Audrey Hepburn’s slender figure was often the subject of admiration, but her son, Luca Dotti, has revealed a lesser-known truth behind her thinness. In his new book, Audrey at Home: Memories of My Mother’s Kitchen, Dotti explains that his mother’s famously slim physique was not the result of natural genetics or ballet training, as many might have assumed, but rather the result of malnourishment during a pivotal period of her childhood.

In an interview with People, Dotti shared the heartbreaking reality that Hepburn, from the age of 9 to 16, endured extreme malnutrition during World War II. He explains, “From the time she was 9 to 16, during World War II, she was extremely malnourished. The time she most needed nourishment, she didn’t have enough food.”

The malnutrition occurred during the “Winter of Hunger” in 1944, when Nazi forces had locked down Holland. Dotti writes in his book that, during this time, Hepburn was forced to rely on meager rations, including endive and tulip bulbs that she dug up herself. The traumatic period left an indelible mark on her health, with Hepburn’s body suffering greatly from the lack of proper nutrition.

To distract herself from the gnawing hunger, Hepburn would spend entire days reading books in bed, attempting to expel obsessive thoughts about food. “She would spend entire days in bed with a book, thus hoping to expel from her mind obsessive thoughts about food,” Dotti recalls in the book.

By the time she was liberated at 16, Hepburn had reached a dangerously low weight of just 88 pounds, standing at 5’6″. This extreme underweight condition led to a series of health problems, including asthma, jaundice, and severe anemia. Hepburn also suffered from edema, a condition where fluid builds up in the body. Dotti writes, “It begins with your feet and when it reaches your heart, you die. With me, it was above the ankles when I was liberated.”

Despite her challenging childhood, Hepburn survived the malnutrition, but the physical effects lingered. Throughout her life, even after she began eating more regularly as an adult, Hepburn remained naturally thin, likely influenced by her early years of deprivation. Dotti notes that while his mother had a much more stable diet in adulthood, which included plates of her favorite spaghetti al pomodoro after her trips, her frame remained small.

Hepburn’s malnourished childhood left her with a slim figure that became iconic, but the true story behind her weight offers a more complex and poignant perspective on her health and the hardships she endured. It is a reminder of the resilience and strength that shaped Hepburn’s legendary life, both on and off the screen.