Regarded as one of the most iconic female stars in the golden age of Hollywood, Audrey Hepburn was renowned for both her acting skills and her fashion sense.
Born in in Brussels, Belgium, the British actress rose to worldwide fame after starring alongside Gregory Peck in 1953 romantic comedy film, The Roman Holiday. Her role led to her becoming the first actress to win both a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for a single performance.
Countless more prominent roles saw her star in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Charade and My Fair Lady, meanwhile, as Audrey was named the third-greatest female screen legend by the American Film Institute in Classical Hollywood cinema and inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.
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After her glittering and successful career, Audrey devoted her time to charity work and worked closely with UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador. She worked in Africa, Asia and South Africa before her death on January 20, 1993.
(Image: Getty Images)
It was following one of those humanitarian trips – to Somalia in 1992 – that she booked in for tests after experiencing abdominal pain. The results sadly concluded that she had a rare form of abdominal cancer for which she soon received treatment including chemotherapy.
Her illness later prevented her from commercially to Switzerland, however, where her family wanted to celebrate what would be her final Christmas. A helping hand was offered by her friend, fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy though, who quickly arranged for a private jet to fly her from Los Angeles to Geneva.
(Image: Getty Images)
After passing away in her sleep on the evening of 20 January, 1993, Audrey’s long term partner Robert Wolders said: “The doctors gave her three months to live. She acknowledged being afraid of the pain but not being afraid of dying.” She was posthumously awarded humanitarian medals and honoured with a statue at the UNICEF headquarters in 2002.
Audrey’s cancer, details of which she kept private at the time, belonged to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). The rare tumour grows slowly grow over several years and causes a jelly-like buildup in the abdomen and pelvis, hence its nickname, ‘Jelly Belly’. In Audrey’s case it is believed she was living with the condition for a long time before her diagnosis, making her chances of survival and recovery somewhat unlikely.
(Image: Getty Images)
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“She was basically on life support,” Wolders later said of her final days, which initially were occupied by walks in the garden until her health deteriorated so much that she was confined to her bedroom. Cancer Research UK states: “PMP is a very rare type of cancer. It usually begins in your appendix as a small growth, called a polyp. This is different to polyps that cause bowel cancer and is called a Low Grade Appendiceal Mucinous Neoplasm (LAMN).
More rarely, it can start in other parts of the bowel, the ovaries and the bladder. The polyp eventually spreads through the wall of your appendix or wherever else it starts. It then spreads cancerous cells to the abdominal cavity lining (the peritoneum). These cancerous cells produce mucus. The mucus collects in the abdomen as a jelly like fluid called mucin. PMP is sometimes called ‘Jelly Belly’.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
