To the world, Audrey Hepburn was the image of Hollywood glamour and grace. But my mother’s personal life was a far more tragic tale

By Sean Hepburn Ferrer

When my co-author, Wendy Holden, and I sat down to plan the book about my mother and lay out the bare bones and milestones of her life, we were faced with some gargantuan decisions. My mother was a deeply private person. This is the reason she never made Hollywood her base. Instead, she opted for the bucolic environment of the Swiss countryside. Mainly because Switzerland is a neutral country, a must for a woman who was forged by the fires of the Second World War. But also because she could live a normal life there, out of reach of the tabloids and devoid of the vacuous accoutrements that Hollywood stars have long had to submit themselves to on a daily basis. READ ON