Audrey Hepburn: Fashion Icon, Fashion Activist

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Audrey Hepburn was an actress, fashion icon, philanthropist and humanitarian. She was born in Brussels, Belgium during the late 1920s. Her mother was from the Netherland and her father was from Great Britain. Due to her parent’s diverse backgrounds, she traveled the world. Audrey began to learn multiple languages: French, Spanish, Italian, English and Dutch. She also did ballet since the age of five. In 1935, her parents divorced, at the time Audrey was only 6 and affected the rest of her life. This event changed her life forever. In her early years she lived in England with her mother. After the outbreak of World War II, her mother decided to move back to the Netherlands because it was neutral. Audrey and her mother moved to Holland from England to avoid the invasion from the Nazis. However, Holland was invaded in May 1940, and during the invasion Audrey was instructed to go by a pseudonym Edda Van Heemstra. She also told to only speak Dutch, so that the Nazis would not discover she was English. She learned to cope with the fear, hunger and deprivation through dance, music and art. She discovered her love for theatre and dance during the war times. She even staged secret performances to raise money for Dutch resistances. …show more content…
She began doing more and more dance performances. In the 1950s, Audrey turned towards acting and made her debut as an unaccredited actress. At the age of 22, she moved to New York and starred in the Broadway Musical, Gigi. After Gigi, Audrey was casted in her first American film. Roman Holiday, which she won a Academy Award for best actress. She became an instant star afterwards. She started in leading other roles like Sabrina. Between all the movies and everything all Audrey wanted was some