Audrey Hepburn's Son Reveals The Sad Reason The Actress Was So Slim

A lot of girls today would give up anything just to have the figure of Hollywood's classiest looking ladies, Audrey Hepburn. With her slender body and petite frame, the actress has been renowned to have the ideal physique for models and aspiring actresses. However, it appears that the glamorous star's size was not the result of years of exercise, or a strict diet.

In his new book, Luca Dotti, the youngest son of Hepburn, reveals the struggles of his mother, highlighting the obstacles leading to the size of her body which had been immortalized by countless films and portraits throughout the years, according to People Magazine. The memoir, titled "Audrey At Home," reveals the side of Hepburn that has never been seen by the public. Outside her makeup and costumes, Dotti attempts to show the fans and followers of his mother just how down-to-earth and simple her life had been. In addition, he shares with the readers Hepburn's struggles during the World War II which led to her tiny frame.

"The reason for her slenderness was because from the time she was 9 to 16, during World War II, she was extremely malnourished," reveals Dotti in the People report. He adds, "The time she most needed nourishment, she didn't have enough food."

"A malnourished person finds that their body has difficulty doing normal things such as growing and resisting disease," according to the website of World Food Programme. It adds, "When a person is not getting enough food or not getting the right sort of food, malnutrition is just around the corner. Even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micronutrients - vitamins and minerals - to meet daily nutritional requirements." Moreover, the UN's Standing Committee on Nutrition reveals that there exists a close relationship between disease and malnutrition. At time, the site states that diseases become the direct result of malnutrition.

According to Dotti, his mother had nothing to eat "when the Nazis locked down Holland in 1944." The said period was called the "Winter of Hunger," says Hepburn's son. For sustenance, Dotti says that his mother and the others attempted to boil grass with tulips as well as nettle. Hepburn was also advised by her mother to "drink water to feel full." When the war concluded, his mother weighed a measly 88 lbs. at 5'6". She also suffered from asthma, jaundice and other diseases brought about by malnutrition.

While the book reveals many personal details about Hepburn's life, Dotti refuses to be categorized as his mother's biographer. He clarifies (via Valley News), "This is a son writing about someone who was more of a wife and a mother than a celebrity."

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A photo posted by Luca Dotti (@thedottis) on Jun 18, 2015 at 11:32am PDT