When Audrey Hepburn’s Maid Discovered the Horrible Truth

There’s a moment in 1979 when Audrey Hepern, age 50, is sitting in her Rome apartment with her 12-year-old son, Shawn. Her eyes are bloodshot. She’s been crying. And she asks him a question no mother should ever have to ask her child. What should I do? What she’s really asking is, should I stay with a man who’s been sleeping with over 200 women? A man who brings mistresses into our home while I’m traveling.

A man whose own maid finally had the courage to tell me what everyone in Rome already knows. This is the story of Audrey Heppern’s second marriage. 13 years of public humiliation, 200 affairs, and the question she asked herself every single day, why am I not enough? January 18th, 1969. Audrey Hepburn marries Andrea Doy in a small civil ceremony in Morgus, Switzerland.

She’s 40 years old. He’s 31, 9 years younger. This is her second marriage, and she desperately wants it to work. Her first marriage to Mel Farah ended in divorce after 14 years. 14 years of him being controlling, possessive, jealous of her success, rumored affairs on both sides. The Hollywood press called Ferrer her Svengali, controlling her career, her choices, her life.

William Holden once said, “I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her.” But the truth was darker. The marriage had been suffocating. When it finally ended in 1968, Audrey felt free. And then she met Andrea Di. And she thought, “Maybe this time it will be different. Maybe this time I’ll get it right.

” Andrea Mario, Italian psychiatrist and neurologist, 31 years old, handsome, charming Roman aristocracy. They met in June 1968 on a Mediterranean cruise with friends. Audrey had just finalized her divorce from Ferrer. She was vulnerable, lonely, exhausted from Hollywood, tired of fame, desperate for normaly. And Andrea seemed perfect.

 He wasn’t an actor. He wasn’t in the film industry. He had his own career, his own identity. He was intellectual, cultured, European, and he wanted children. Audrey, at 40, believed she could have more children. She’d had five miscarriages, five pregnancies that ended in heartbreak, but she’d successfully given birth to Shawn in 1960.

She wanted a sibling for Shawn. She wanted a big family. Andrea wanted the same thing. Or so he said. By January 1969, just 7 months after meeting, they were married. Audrey moved to Rome, enrolled Shawn in a bilingual school, settled into their apartment, and 4 months later, she was pregnant. February 8th, 1970.

Audrey gives birth to her second son, Luca Andrea Dotti, via Cesareian section. She’s 40 years old. It’s her sixth pregnancy. The previous five ended in miscarriage. This one doesn’t. Luca is healthy, perfect. Audrey is overwhelmed with joy. After everything, five lost pregnancies, the heartbreak, the guilt, the wondering if she’d ever have another child, here he is, her second son.

 Shawn, now 10 years old, has a baby brother. The family is complete. Audrey believes she has everything she ever wanted. Two healthy sons, a husband with his own career, a quiet life away from Hollywood in beautiful Rome. She’s done with acting. She’ll be a full-time mother. She’ll dedicate herself to her family. This is what she’s always wanted.

This is finally her chance. Except Andrea Di has other plans. 1970. The affairs begin almost immediately. Or maybe they’d already begun before Luca was even born. It’s hard to know exactly when Andrea Dott’s compulsive infidelity started, but by all accounts. It was early in the marriage, possibly from the very beginning.

He was young, 31 when they married, 32 when Luca was born. He was handsome, successful, part of Roman high society, and he was married to Audrey Hepburn, one of the most famous women in the world. That should have been enough. But it wasn’t for Andrea Doy. Being married to Audrey Hepburn was a status symbol, not a commitment.

He loved the idea of being her husband, the prestige, the fame by association, the invitations to glamorous events, but he had no interest in fidelity. And Rome in the 1970s was the perfect hunting ground for a man like him. The 1970s in Italy, the decade of liberation, sexual revolution, permissiveness, free love, open marriages.

 Affairs were common, especially among wealthy Roman aristocrats. Italian men, particularly in upper class circles, had a reputation, a cultural expectation almost, that they would have mistresses. It wasn’t scandalous. It was normal. expected. Wives looked the other way. Everyone knew. Nobody talked. Andrea Doy fully embraced this culture.

 He went out clubbing in Rome’s trendiest nightclubs. He was photographed with beautiful young women. He was seen with actresses, models, socialites. The Italian paparazzi documented everything. And Audrey, at home with two sons, read about it in the newspapers. Week after week, month after month, year after year, Audrey Heppern’s husband spotted with mystery woman.

Andrea Doy leaves club with young actress. Is Audrey’s marriage in trouble? The headlines were relentless,humiliating, public. Everyone in Rome knew. Everyone in Italy knew. Eventually, everyone in the world knew. And Audrey stayed. Why did she stay? That’s the question everyone asked then and the question people still ask now.

 Why did Audrey Hepburn, elegant, dignified, beloved by millions, a woman who could have had any man she wanted, stay with a man who humiliated her publicly for over a decade? The answer is complicated. First, Luca. Audrey was fiercely protective of her sons. She’d grown up without a father. Joseph Hepburn Rustin abandoned her when she was six and she later called it the most traumatic event of my life.

She didn’t want that for Luca. She didn’t want her sons growing up in a broken home. Shawn had already experienced one divorce when Audrey and Mel Ferrer split in 1968. She couldn’t do that to Luca, so she stayed for the children. Second, guilt. Audrey blamed herself. She wondered if Andrea’s affairs were her fault.

 Was she too old, too famous,? Too busy with the children, not attentive enough? She internalized the betrayal. Third, hope. She kept hoping he’d change, that the affairs were a phase, that he’d grow up, settle down, recommmit to the marriage. She kept hoping that if she just loved him enough, if she was patient enough, if she forgave him enough, he’d stop.

But he never did. 1972, 2 years into the marriage, Andrea’s affairs are common knowledge. The Roman paparazzi follow him constantly. Photographs appear in tabloids. Andrea with young actresses at nightclubs. Andrea leaving restaurants with beautiful women. Andrea at parties without Audrey.

 And Audrey is at home in Rome trying to be a good mother, trying to hold the family together. She rarely goes out. She rarely socializes. She’s essentially retired from acting. She hasn’t made a film since 1967’s Wait Until Dark. She’s devoted herself entirely to motherhood, and her husband is publicly humiliating her. In 1972, Audrey suffers another miscarriage.

 It’s her sixth pregnancy loss. She’s 43 years old. The stress of Andrea’s infidelity, the constant anxiety, the public humiliation, it’s taking a toll on her body, the miscarriage devastates her. But Andrea doesn’t stop. He doesn’t even slow down. The affairs continue. 1973. Audrey suffers her seventh and final miscarriage. She’s 45 years old.

This is the end of her hope for more children. Seven pregnancies, two live births, five miscarriages. Her body can’t take anymore. Her heart can’t take anymore. And Andrea is still cheating, still going out, still bringing women home. Because that’s the part that makes it even worse. He wasn’t just having affairs outside the home.

 He was bringing mistresses into their apartment. into the home where Audrey and their sons lived. While Audrey was traveling, which she rarely did, but occasionally had to for work or family, Andrea would bring women to their Rome apartment. And the maid saw everything. The maid, we don’t know her name. She’s never been publicly identified, but she’s the hero of this story in a way because she’s the one who finally told Audrey the truth.

For years, the maid watched Andrea Doy bring women to the apartment while Audrey was away. Different women, many women, young women, actresses, models, women in their 20s. She watched him disrespect his wife in her own home. She watched him flaunt his affairs while Audrey was gone, caring for their children, working to support the family.

And finally, the maid couldn’t stay silent anymore. She told Audrey, not in anger, not to be cruel, but because Audrey deserved to know, because someone had to tell her the truth. Your husband brings women here when you’re gone. That’s what the maid said. Simple, direct, devastating. And Audrey already suspected.

But hearing it confirmed. Hearing that Andrea was betraying her in her own home in the space where their children lived broke something inside her. 1979. Audrey is 50 years old. She’s been married to Andrea Dy for 10 years. A decade of humiliation, a decade of infidelity, a decade of hoping he’d change, and watching him prove over and over that he wouldn’t.

And now her 12-year-old son, Shawn, her first born from her marriage to Mel Ferrer, is old enough to understand what’s happening. He sees the newspapers. He hears the gossip. He knows his stepfather is unfaithful. And Audrey with bloodshot eyes from crying sits down with Shawn and asks him, “What should I do?” Think about that for a moment.

 Audrey Hepburn, one of the most famous women in the world, a symbol of grace and elegance and strength, is asking her 12-year-old son what she should do about her marriage because she doesn’t know. because she’s so beaten down, so broken by years of betrayal that she can’t make the decision herself. Shawn later recalled this moment in an interview with the son in 2020.

He said, “She was as delicate as she could be, and my mother had suspicions already, and this was the ‘ 60s sexual revolution.” I knew there was difficulty.My mom sat me down with bloodshot eyes, told me what was going on, and asked me what I thought. 12 years old. And his mother is asking him if she should stay with a man who’s been cheating on her for a decade.

 What do you even say to that? If you’re starting to realize that even icons aren’t immune to toxic relationships, subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of this story. Because Audrey stayed three more years. How many women? That’s the question everyone wants to know. The exact number is impossible to verify, but multiple sources, biographers, journalists, people close to the family, estimate that Andrea Doy had affairs with over 200 women during his 13-year marriage to Audrey Hepburn.

Some sources say it could be more. Think about the math. 13 years of marriage. 200 plus women. That’s approximately 15 affairs per year. More than one new woman per month for over a decade. This wasn’t a momentary lapse in judgment. This wasn’t one affair that got out of hand. This was compulsive serial infidelity.

This was a man who fundamentally did not respect his wife, his marriage, or his vows. And when confronted, Andrea’s response was dismissive. I was no angel. Italian husbands have never been famous for being faithful. That’s not an apology. That’s an excuse. That’s cultural justification for cruelty. and Audrey heard it and stayed anyway.

The 1970s drag on. Audrey is essentially living as a single mother in Rome. Andrea goes out constantly. Nightclubs, parties, dinners with colleagues. He’s rarely home. When he is home, he’s distant. According to Audrey’s later interviews, he provided no help with parenting. After Luca was born, Audrey quickly realized that Andrea had no interest in being an involved father.

He was charming with the boys when it suited him. Shawn later described Andrea as fantastic at creating games and experiments to entertain the children. But the day-to-day work of parenting, that was entirely on Audrey. Years later, Audrey would say, “Doctors are great with their patients, but they never want to take care of their families.

” A bitter truth learned through experience. Andrea was a psychiatrist. He studied human behavior for a living. He helped patients navigate relationships, emotions, mental health. But he couldn’t or wouldn’t be emotionally present for his own wife and children. By the late 1970s, Audrey is considering leaving, but she’s trapped by guilt and fear.

Guilt about breaking up the family. Fear that she’s failed again. This is her second divorce. What will people think? What will it do to Luca? And there’s another factor. Audrey’s own childhood trauma. Her father abandoned her when she was six. She spent her entire life trying to fill that void.

 First by searching for him. She found him in Dublin in 1964 and he rejected her coldly, then by seeking father figures in the men she married. Her son Shawn later said she was looking for a father figure in her husbands. Mel Ferrer was 12 years older. He was controlling, but he was also stable, reliable there. Andrea Doy was 9 years younger, not a father figure, but she hoped he’d be a partner.

 Neither worked. And now she’s facing the reality that she can’t fix this. She can’t make Andrea love her the way she needs to be loved. She can’t make him faithful. She can’t make him stop. 1979. Audrey films Bloodline, a thriller directed by Terrence Young. Her co-star is Ben Gazera, an American actor. And during filming, Audrey and Gazera have an affair.

It’s Audrey’s first documented affair during her marriage to Andrea. There were rumors of an affair with Robert Anderson, the screenwriter of The Nun Story, during her marriage to Mel Ferrer, but that was never confirmed. The affair with Gazara is different. It’s mutual solace. They’re both unhappy in their marriages.

They’re both hurting. Gazara later said, “Audrey was unhappy in her marriage and hurting. I was unhappy in my marriage and hurting. And we gave solace to each other and we fell in love.” It’s not a grand passion. It’s not a scandal. It’s two wounded people finding comfort in each other. When bloodline wraps, they go their separate ways.

Audrey returns to Rome, to Andrea, to the marriage that’s slowly killing her. But something has changed. The affair with Gazara showed Audrey that she’s still desirable, still capable of connection, still worthy of affection, and it reminded her that she doesn’t have to accept Andrea’s behavior. She doesn’t have to live like this.

 So, in 1980, Audrey does something she hasn’t done in years. She goes to a party, a friend’s party. And there she meets Robert Walders, Dutch actor, widowerower of actress Merl Oberon, 50 years old, kind, gentle, attentive, and when he asks her out to dinner, she says she has a night shoot. It’s a polite rejection. She’s still married.

But the next day, Audrey invites him for a drink at the Pierre Hotel. The drink turns into a three-hour conversation, and Audrey realizes this is what connection feels like. Thisis what it feels like to be seen, heard, valued. This is what’s been missing from her marriage for over a decade. Audrey and Robert begin a relationship.

Not publicly, not immediately. But privately, quietly, they start falling in love. And when Andrea finds out, his reaction is surprising. He’s not angry. He’s not jealous. He’s relieved. According to sources close to the family, Andrea told Audrey, “You’re glowing. This is good for you.” Because the truth is, Andrea didn’t want to be married anymore either.

He’d gotten what he wanted from the marriage, the status, the connections, the prestige of being Audrey Hepern’s husband, but he’d never wanted the commitment, the fidelity, the actual work of partnership. So when Audrey fell in love with Robert Walders, Andrea saw it as an exit, a way to end the marriage without being the villain.

Except he already was the villain. 13 years, over 200 women, public humiliation, two miscarriages during the marriage, and now he’s acting like he’s doing her a favor by letting her go. 1982 Audrey and Andrea Di Mandrea Dati officially divorce. It’s been 13 years. Luca is 12 years old. Shawn is 22. The divorce is quiet, amicable on paper.

There’s no custody battle. Audrey gets primary custody of Luca, but Andrea remains involved in his life. Unlike Mel Furer, who Audrey cut off completely after their divorce, she only spoke to him twice in the remaining 25 years of her life. Audrey stays in contact with Andrea for Luca’s sake. Because despite everything, the affairs, the humiliation, the betrayal, Audrey is still putting her children first.

Luca loves his father. Andrea, for all his flaws as a husband, was a present father when he chose to be. So Audrey doesn’t poison Luca against Andrea. She doesn’t tell him the full truth about the 200 plus women. She just moves on or tries to. Andrea Doy goes on to live a long life. He remarries.

 He continues his career as a psychiatrist and neurologist. He’s respected in his field and in interviews when asked about his marriage to Audrey, he shows no remorse, no regret, no acknowledgement of the pain he caused. Instead, he blames her fame. I was no angel. Italian husbands have never been famous for being faithful. But she was jealous of other women, even from the beginning.

That’s victim blaming. That’s rewriting history. That’s a man who cheated with 200 plus women saying his wife was jealous. As if her jealousy was unreasonable. As if she didn’t have every right to be hurt, angry, devastated by his behavior. Andrea Doy died in September 2007 at age 69 from complications of a colonoscopy.

Audrey had been dead for 14 years by then, and even in death, his legacy with her is one of betrayal. Meanwhile, Audrey’s life after divorce is finally peaceful. She and Robert Walders move in together. They never marry. Audrey refuses. She’s been married twice. Both marriages failed. Both husbands betrayed her.

 She’s done with the institution of marriage. Why mess with a good thing? She says when asked. It’s more romantic this way because it’s not another piece of paper, but out of loyalty to each other that binds us together. Robert agrees. He tells People magazine in 2017, “I felt she had two unhappy marriages.

 It was wonderful the way it was. When Audrey would be asked, she’d also say, “Why mess with a good thing?” For 13 years, from 1980 to 1993, Audrey and Robert are together, unmarried, uncommitted on paper, but deeply, genuinely in love. It’s the healthiest relationship Audrey ever has. And it happens only after she stops looking for a father figure, stops trying to fix broken men, stops accepting crumbs of affection from partners who should give her everything.

1988, Yudri becomes a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador. She’s 59 years old. She’s done with acting. She’s done with Hollywood. She’s found peace with Robert. And now she wants to give back. She travels to Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, the most desperate places on earth. She holds starving children. She sees the kind of suffering she experienced during World War II in the Netherlands, and she dedicates the last 5 years of her life to helping them.

 The work is exhausting. The travel is brutal. She’s exposing herself to disease, extreme heat, contaminated water. But she doesn’t care. This is her redemption. This is her purpose. This is what she was meant to do. And Robert supports her completely. He travels with her. He never complains. He never asks her to stop.

 He just loves her. That’s what real partnership looks like. After 13 years with Andrea Doy, 13 years of affairs, humiliation, betrayal, Audrey finally understands what love is supposed to be. 1989 Audrey is diagnosed with appendix cancer, pseudomixoma paritini, rare, aggressive, already advanced. She has months.

 She spends them at home in Switzerland with Robert, Shawn, and Luca. And despite everything Andrea put her through, Luca loves his father. So Audrey doesn’t poison that relationship.She lets Luca have his father. So Audrey doesn’t poison that relationship. She lets Luca have his father because that’s who Audrey is. Even after 200 plus affairs, even after a decade of public humiliation, even after years of being treated like she didn’t matter, she still protects her children.

She still puts them first. On January 20th, 1993, Audrey Hepburn dies at home. She’s 63 years old. Robert Walders is holding her hand. Her sons are there. She’s at peace and Andrea Daddy is not there because despite being Luca’s father, despite being her husband for 13 years, Andrea Dy does not deserve to be there.

He lost that right 200 plus women ago. Here’s what we need to talk about. Why did Audrey stay so long? This is the question everyone asks and the answer is both simple and devastating. She stayed because she was taught from childhood that she wasn’t enough. Her father abandoned her when she was six.

 Her mother was cold, emotionally distant, a Nazi sympathizer who never showed affection. Audrey grew up believing that if she was just good enough, pretty enough, perfect enough, people would love her and stay. So when Mel Ferrer was controlling, she let him control her because at least he stayed. When Andrea Doy cheated with 200 plus women, she stayed because at least he didn’t leave.

 She confused presence with love. She confused staying with commitment. And it took her until age 51, 1980, when she met Robert Walders, to realize that she deserved more. That loyalty isn’t the same as love. That staying isn’t the same as caring. That she could be enough all by herself without needing someone else to validate her worth.

The maid who told Audrey the truth will never know her name. But she changed Audrey’s life because sometimes the people who love you most are the ones brave enough to tell you what you don’t want to hear. The maid could have stayed silent. It wasn’t her place. It wasn’t her business. But she saw a woman being destroyed by her husband’s infidelity.

And she spoke up. Your husband brings women here when you’re gone. 6 years later, Audrey finally left. Not immediately, but eventually. Because the truth, once spoken, can’t be unheard. And Audrey couldn’t unknow what she finally accepted. Andrea Doy would never be faithful. Not to her, not to anyone.

 Because the problem was never Audrey. The problem was always him. Andrea Dy was a psychiatrist. Think about that. A man who studied human behavior, emotions, mental health for a living. A man who helped patients work through relationship issues, infidelity, betrayal, and he went home and cheated on his wife with 200 plus women.

The irony is almost unbearable. He understood psychology. He understood the damage infidelity causes. He understood that his behavior was hurting Audrey, humiliating her, destroying her self-worth, and he did it anyway because understanding doesn’t equal caring. Knowledge doesn’t equal empathy. And Andrea Doy understood everything and cared about nothing except his own pleasure, his own ego, his own desires.

That’s not just infidelity. That’s cruelty. That’s narcissism. That’s a man who saw his wife as a possession, not a person. As a trophy, not a partner. The 200 plus women. Let’s talk about them for a moment. Young actresses, models, socialites, women in their 20s while Andrea was in his 30s and 40s. Were they all consensual? Almost certainly.

Did they know he was married to Audrey Heppern? Some probably did. Some probably didn’t care. Some probably thought it was exciting sleeping with Audrey Heppern’s husband, the forbidden thrill of it. But here’s the truth. The 200 plus women aren’t the villains of this story. Andrea is because he’s the one who made vows.

 He’s the one who promised fidelity. He’s the one who had children with Audrey and then betrayed her in their own home. The women were complicit. Yes, but Andrea was responsible. And he never took responsibility. Not once. Not ever. The final tragedy of Audrey Heppern’s marriage to Andrea Doy is this. She wasted 13 years on a man who didn’t deserve 13 minutes.

From age 40 to 53, Audrey could have been living her life. She could have been acting, working with UNICEF, spending time with her sons, finding love with someone who actually valued her. Instead, she spent over a decade trying to fix a marriage that was broken from the start, trying to be enough for a man who would never be satisfied.

Trying to make someone love her who was incapable of love. And when she finally left in 1982, she had just 11 years left to live. 11 years to experience what real partnership looked like with Robert Walders. 11 years to do her UNICEF work to travel the world helping children to find purpose and peace. She died at 63.

She deserved more time. She deserved better than Andrea Di. She deserved a man who would honor her, cherish her, be faithful to her. And for 13 years, she accepted less. Not because she was weak, but because she was too strong, because she believed she could endureanything. And she did. But she shouldn’t have had to.

 If you want to understand why women stay in relationships that hurt them, subscribe to this channel. Because Audrey Hepburn’s story isn’t unique. It’s universal. It’s every woman who’s been told she’s too jealous, too sensitive, too demanding. It’s every woman who’s blamed herself for her partner’s infidelity. It’s every woman who stayed because she didn’t want to break up the family, because she hoped he’d change, because she believed she didn’t deserve better.

Audrey Hepburn was one of the most famous women in the world. And even she couldn’t escape the cycle of accepting less than she deserved. That’s not a personal failing. That’s what trauma does. That’s what abandonment teaches you. That’s what happens when you grow up believing you’re not enough. And it takes extraordinary strength to break free.

Thanks for watching. See you in the next one. This is Audrey Hepburn. The hidden truth. From wartime horrors to Hollywood secrets, we uncover what they’ve been hiding for decades. Subscribe to discover the dark truth behind the elegant image.