Audrey Hepburn, celebrated for her roles in films like "Roman Holiday," "My Fair Lady," and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," harbored a deep personal desire for a large family, a wish complicated by repeated miscarriages and, according to her son, a campaign of unintentional cruelty from her first husband.
In his biography, "Intimate Audrey," Sean Hepburn Ferrer details his mother's profound heartbreak over her inability to carry pregnancies to term. Her first miscarriage occurred in March 1955, six months into her marriage to actor and director Mel Ferrer. He reportedly tried to distract her from the loss with work.
Four years later, while filming "The Unforgiven," Hepburn discovered she was pregnant again, a joy that was short-lived. She lost the child six months into the pregnancy; it was a girl she had planned to name Maria. Her son writes that this loss was particularly devastating, leading her to fear she would never be able to have a child.
However, within months, she became pregnant again and successfully carried her first son, Sean, to term, born on July 17, 1960. Despite this joy, her marriage to Mel Ferrer became increasingly strained. Sean Hepburn Ferrer claims that his father, who already had four children from previous marriages, did not desire more children and had ambitious plans for both their acting careers. According to Ferrer Jr., Mel Ferrer would often encourage travel or physically demanding activities whenever Hepburn became pregnant, which he suggests may have contributed to her miscarriages, especially given her need for rest.
"Every time she became pregnant, my father would find a reason for them to move, travel or do something energetic," Sean Hepburn Ferrer writes in the book. "It almost became a joke as she'd quip to friends that as soon as any pregnancy test showed a positive result, he'd ask her, 'Can you help me with this box of books?'" He explains that due to her history, Hepburn required complete bed rest, particularly in the final trimester, to prevent premature labor.
The couple's marriage continued, but Hepburn eventually decided to leave Mel Ferrer after witnessing their son's fear of his father's outbursts. During a brief reconciliation attempt in late 1965, Hepburn became pregnant again but miscarried due to an ectopic pregnancy. Her son notes that Mel Ferrer reportedly prioritized minor surgery for himself over comforting his grieving wife.
The couple divorced in 1967, with Hepburn confiding to friends that she had spent "two years in hell." Despite these experiences, she maintained to friends that her husband's actions were thoughtless rather than malicious.
Hepburn later married Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, with whom she had her second son, Luca, born in February 1970. However, this marriage was reportedly plagued by Dotti's infidelity. The emotional toll of these difficulties led Hepburn to an overdose of sleeping pills, an incident from which she recovered and explained to her son as an attempt to numb overwhelming pain rather than a suicide attempt.
Against the odds, Hepburn became pregnant again at age 45, which her son described as a "desperate and slightly insane final attempt to create the family she'd always hoped for." Sadly, she lost this pregnancy early on.
She and Dotti divorced in 1982. In her later years, Hepburn dedicated herself to humanitarian work as a UNICEF ambassador, a role she considered her most important until her death in 1993.