Audrey Hepburn’s famous quote about her escape from the spotlight—”I only dared to leave the city for the countryside once – and I wish to relive those days all my life”—is not a simple celebrity vacation anecdote. It is a profound confession that links her lifelong desire for privacy to the most emotionally charged events of her life, from the trauma of wartime to the struggle for motherhood.
💖 The 1960 Retreat: A Mission to Save Her Child
The “escape” the actress referenced was her determined step away from Hollywood to ensure the birth of her first son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer.1
- The Goal: Following three devastating miscarriages, Hepburn and her first husband, Mel Ferrer, decided on a radical move to protect her fourth pregnancy.
- The Action: She completely declined all work for nine months and retreated to her secluded chalet in Bürgenstock, Switzerland (near Lucerne), a stark departure from the bright lights of Paris and Hollywood.
- The Success: Her son, Sean, was born healthy on September 17, 1960.
- The Contrast: This personal hiatus provided a sharp emotional contrast to the monumental professional roles that bookended it, including the demanding Western The Unforgiven (1960) and the iconic, glamorous Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961).
| Previous Tragedies (Miscarriages) | Pregnancy Context | Location of Retreat | Son’s Birth Date |
| 3 (Including a late-term loss during the filming of The Unforgiven) | A period of absolute rest and protection. | Burgenstock, Switzerland | September 17, 1960 |
🇳🇱 The Deeper Meaning of “Holland”: Authenticity Over Aura
Hepburn’s specific mention of the “flower fields of Holland” as a place she wished to “relive” connects her yearning for an “unvarnished existence” to her difficult youth.
- Wartime Reality: The actress spent her teenage years in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during WWII, a time when her life was stripped of all privilege and glamour.2
- The First “Escape”: This period was her first—and most dangerous—forced “escape.” She lived under the constant threat of starvation and witnessed immense cruelty, surviving on meager rations like tulip bulbs.3
- Dutch Resistance Activities: Hepburn was actively involved in the Dutch Resistance movement:4
- She gave silent ballet performances (zwarte avonden or “black evenings”) to raise funds for the Resistance.5
- She volunteered as a courier, delivering messages and underground newspapers hidden in her shoes.6
- She helped tend to the wounded and even assisted in hiding a British paratrooper.7
- She gave silent ballet performances (zwarte avonden or “black evenings”) to raise funds for the Resistance.5
For Hepburn, the “countryside” of Holland represents not a celebrity getaway, but the memory of resilience, defiance, and profound authenticity—the life she lived before the “halo” of global fame made true solitude nearly impossible. Her confession is a lifelong wish to return to a state of being where life’s value was defined by survival and family, not by a spotlight.