‘It is with a heavy heart that I am no longer engaged’: Audrey Hepburn’s secret letters unearthed and up for sale at auction
THE notoriously private actress penned emotional letters detailing her private life
HOLLYWOOD icon Audrey Hepburn was notoriously secretive about her personal life - but a collection of letters that reveal her highs and lows as she approached stardom are going on sale this month.
The 10 letters were sent between 1951 and 1960 to her mentor and close friend Sir Felix Aylmer, revealing the transition and strains of going from an unknown actress to fame.
Audrey scrawled notes about her feelings regarding her broken engagement, the birth of her son and her new love interest, the .
The collection also includes a 1951 postcard she sent from the film set of Monte Carlo Baby, aged 22, which reads: "Would you believe it, I'm in Monte Carlo working on a French Picture.
"This place is heavenly and this is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
When Sir Felix agreed to give Audrey acting and elocution lessons that accelerated her career, the pair formed a lifelong friendship.
Now Sir Felix's family are selling some of her personal letters for the first time and experts claim they provide a unique window into her emotions and viewpoints.
In one letter Audrey explains "with a heavy heart" that she has called off the marriage to James Hanson after he pushed her to have the ceremony during a busy shooting period.
The actress had been filming Roman Holiday at the time, and despite their engagement her fiance was photographed leaving nightclubs with actresses which also prompted her split from the industrialist.
She wrote: "It is with a heavy heart I am writing to tell you James Hanson and I are no longer engaged, I know there is little I need explain to you, a gentleman of this profession.
"For a year I thought it possible to make our combined lives and careers work out...It is all very unhappy making but I am sure it is the only sensible dicision [sic]."
In 1954 the Breakfast at Tiffany's star married American actor Mel Ferrer, and she penned another note inviting her mentor to their wedding.
"How dearly we would love you to be with us on our wedding day, 25 Sept and how very much it matters to me," Audrey wrote.
"Please come we will have the car take you up to our mountain peak, Friday, for a gathering in our chalet of our nearest and dearest!