The diet secrets of Audrey Hepburn have been revealed in a new book.
The diet secrets of Audrey Hepburn have been revealed in a new book.
With her elfin features and petite figure she was widely considered one of the most beautiful women on the planet.
And anyone who aspires to look like Audrey Hepburn, or absorb even a little of her glamour, may wish to take note of her newly revealed dietary habits: a devotion to chocolate, detox once a month and never skipping breakfast - at Tiffany's or otherwise.
The inside story of Hepburn's personal life is the focus of a new book compiled by her son, and featuring the family recipes she cooked all her life.
It includes details of her life as an actress, from her childhood of near starvation in Holland to the wonders of living in Rome. Luca Dotti, one of Hepburn's sons, reveals how she would rise between 4 and 5am to prepare for a day on set, to allow enough time to banish her nerves and "look impeccable".
She would never skip breakfast, he said, but would indulge in one disciplined "detox day" per month, eating only plain yogurt and grated apple.
Elsewhere, he claims, she had a "serious addiction" to pasta, as well as a sweet tooth evident in her treat of a little chocolate each evening.
"Mum, like any wise family doctor, believed in the virtues of a good breakfast," Mr Dotti writes. "She never skipped it, not even on her monthly 'detox' day when she ate only plain yogurt and grated apple."
The book, entitled Audrey at Home, is on sale now at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and accompanies its new exhibition of photographs from the actress's life and career. Both have been built from the family's own collection.
Packed with handwritten notes and family photographs, Mr Dotti's book will be a treasure trove for fans of Hepburn. The unique viewpoint of her younger son, who said he did not understand the scale of her fame until after her death, brings to life one of the most photographed women in the world and argues for her ordinariness and accessibility.
The enviable beauty of Audrey Hepburn.
The book never feels intrusive, and attempts to give the impression of an everyday life - although with cameo appearances from Julie Andrews, Gregory Peck and Diana Ross it never quite dispels the notion that it was really rather glamorous after all.
The majority of recipes on offer will prove little challenge for proficient cooks - baked potato with smoked salmon, for example, requires few instructions - and this should be considered a book for Hepburn aficionados above chefs seeking elaborate dishes.
Speaking at the launch of the exhibition this week, Mr Dotti, Hepburn's son from her second marriage to the Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, said she would be astonished and momentarily "terribly embarrassed" by the huge interest in her life today.
"We didn't have a fancy life at all," he said. "She wore very little make-up, dressed in T-shirts and jeans. It was quite the cultural gap from my friends' mothers, who were always telling me how elegant she was.
"In a way, I always have this feeling of my mother as a little like a farmer at heart. She was really happy when she could put her hands in the soil, like when planting a vegetable garden. She really felt those were the real things in life."
