1930s and ‘40s: World War II hardship

Hepburn attended boarding school in England as a child but lived in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II. Her mother started as a Nazi sympathizer, but when Audrey’s uncle was imprisoned and killed, mother and daughter fled to a nearby town and Audrey’s mother quickly began supporting the resistance.

Years later, Hepburn recalled that the hardship during the war was so great and her family was so hungry that they ate tulip bulbs.