What Audrey Hepburn Actually Ate in a Day, According to Her Son
2 min readTHE RUNDOWN
- Audrey Hepburn’s son Sean Hepburn Ferrer revealed what his mother ate each day in his new biography about her, Intimate Audrey.
- He also spoke to People this week about his mother’s love of simple foods.
- Hepburn’s go-to foods included toast, dark chocolate, and one specific pasta dish for dinner.
Legendary actress Audrey Hepburn was known for her style, humanitarian work, and incredible filmography. But while she was famous for most of her life, the actress maintained a very simple diet by choice.
In Intimate Audrey, a new biography that her older son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, and author Wendy Holden co-wrote, Ferrer revealed what his mother ate each day.
He addressed commentary about her figure, writing, via People, “Despite decades of gossip that she had an eating disorder because she was so slim, she cooked and baked and ate what she liked but was careful with portions. She started most days with a boiled egg, toast, and jam. She walked every day, setting a punishing pace for those of us trailing behind.”
“For lunch, she’d have a salad or a soup, a sandwich, and a scoop of her favorite vanilla ice cream with maple syrup,” he added. “She drank the occasional beer, and after her daily nap, she’d have a square of dark chocolate—her ‘cure for the blues’—followed by a ‘finger’ of whiskey when the sun set. Supper would be a single plate of pasta pomodoro and a salad.”
In an interview with People, Ferrer shared more about his mother’s baking talent. “Whenever we came home for Christmas, she always made her version of a pavlova,” he said. “It was something that lasted through the dinner and up until midnight of that night, because we’d all sneak into the cold room in the back of our kitchen in Switzerland and by the next morning, it was gone.”
“She was a wonderful baker, a very simple cook, but she loved simple things,” he continued. “She hated to go to those nouvelle cuisine restaurants. She’d rather have a plate of spaghetti pomodoro, very simple, with a little basil and Parmesan cheese, and a salad, and she was happy.”