A black-and-white photo of Audrey Hepburn

Celebrity

Audrey Hepburn Had Two Children Following Five Miscarriages

Throughout her lifetime, actor Audrey Hepburn had two children, named Sean Hepburn Ferrer and Luca Dotti, and she also had multiple miscarriages.

by Eryn Murphy

Published on February 19, 2023

2 min read

Audrey Hepburn had multiple miscarriages

Hepburn died in 1993 at the age of 63. The actor was married twice and had two children. In 1954, Hepburn married actor Mel Ferrer.

She was married to Ferrer until 1968, and during the marriage, Hepburn gave birth to her first child. In 1969, Hepburn married a psychiatrist named Andrea Dotti. She gave birth to her second child in 1970.

According to a profile in People Magazine, Hepburn had five miscarriages during her lifetime.

“The couple’s eventual split in 1968 was one of her life’s great disappointments, but she found it easier to bear than the five miscarriages she suffered,” reads the report. “It was while on location in the Congo for The Nun’s Story in 1958 that her depression over her childlessness suddenly seemed to lift. ‘After looking inside an insane asylum, visiting a leper colony, talking to missionary workers and watching operations, I developed a new kind of inner peacefulness,’ she said.”

Audrey Hepburn took a break from acting to raise her children

At the start of her career, Hepburn was extremely busy. She had roles in theater, on television, and in movies.

While pregnant with her second child, Hepburn made sure to rest and not push herself. The actor also took a break from filming movies from 1967 until 1976 in order to focus on her family.

“‘The fact that I’ve made movies doesn’t mean breakfast gets made or that my child does better in his homework,’ she said in 1980, explaining an eight-year screen hiatus that ended in 1976 with Robin and Marian. ‘I still have to function as a woman in a household,'” reports People Magazine.

Hepburn and Dotti divorced in 1982. From 1980 until her death in 1993, Hepburn was in a relationship with an actor named Robert Wolders.

Hepburn’s first child Sean Hepburn Ferrer was born in 1960 and her second child Luca Dotti was born in 1970. Sean Hepburn Ferrer is an author and a producer, and Luca Dotta is a graphic designer.

The actor still appreciated her career

Even though Hepburn took a break from acting to prioritize her family for some time, she still valued her career and the impact her movies made.

According to People Magazine, Hepburn once said, “People associate me with a time when movies were pleasant. When women wore pretty dresses in films and you heard beautiful music. I always love it when people write me and say, I was having a rotten time, and I walked into a cinema and saw one of your movies, and it made such a difference.’”

Outside of her career as an actor, Hepburn was also known for her humanitarian work with UNICEF.