MovieChat Forums > Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Discussion > Audrey Hepburn Smoking Addict

Audrey Hepburn Smoking Addict

posted 8 years ago by stormhappy106
11 replies | jump to latest

She smoked from age 15 all the way until her death at age 63, sometimes up to three packs of day--(Googled Audrey Hepburn Smoker)--Although she died of a rare form of stomach cancer, smoking probably contributed to her death, as cancer cells love nicotine, cancer spreads faster in smokers--She wanted to quit but never could--Smoking didn't affect her looks until about age 39 when she was filming Two For The Road(1967)--Sad that she never could quit, she was one of the greatest movie stars of all time

[–] kya1 8 years ago

It is sad. A lot of smokers find it impossible to quit, as it's so addictive.

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[–] Sox575 8 years ago

Given the time she was born lots of people smoked. It was the norm. I'm glad that the tide is turning but it took a lot of decades to get to the present day where smoking isn't looked on as something elegant or cool. But now they have the smokeless e-cigs, which I hear are just as bad.

But'Cha Are, Blanche! Ya'Are In That Chair!

[–] fairy-3 8 years ago

I agree, whean I was a child in the 70s everybody smoked, in family dinner tables and it was considered elegant and cool. Today I'm really surprised that there's still people who start smoking knowing hao bad ir for your health (and how disgusting it is).

[–] meowqueenx 8 years ago

Exactly. It was socially normal and possibly even encouraged in her day.

[–] detataandrea 8 years ago

That's too bad because she was one of the most beautiful women of all time. Smoking does so much harm to the body in terms of your looks and health. Don't know why anyone would ever want to do that to themselves...

[–] Paula57 8 years ago

Well, she was never all that healthy because she almost starved to death during WWII. Her son said that she only weighed 88 lbs when she was 16. She was 5'6". For several months her family subsisted on wild endive and tulip bulbs, which they would grind into flour and make biscuits. It left her with many health problems. She ate plenty as an adult, but her body just didn't absorb nutrients very well.

It was that experience that got her involved with UNICEF. She had great empathy for suffering children, because she had been one herself.

[–] meowqueenx 8 years ago

Again, smoking was a normal social thing at the time and dangers of smoking were not nearly as well known, if at all. I'm sure if she were around and in her heyday now she wouldn't have started.

And that could very well be why she became so passionate about UNICEF.

[–] Philip_90 8 years ago

We all eventually die, that much is true but Audrey Hepburn kept on smoking constantly and ended her life. Instead you know, rather than live through her 80's and 90's till she'd naturally die. *sigh* :(

[–] noveltylibrary 8 years ago

I think she must've smoked instead of eating.

[–] Rolltide (964) 4 years ago

George Peppard smoked 3 packs a day also and it is what killed him. Though when he was born the life expectancy for a man was 58 and he lived to be 65.

[–] liscarkat (18541) 10 months ago

Most adults smoked at that time. When I was a kid in the late '50s, '60s, and early '70s, I hardly knew any grownups who were non-smokers. There were ashtrays on the tables in public libraries, people smoked in movie theaters and while shopping in grocery stores. Offices and restaurants were full of smoke. I had doctors who smoked while we were in the small exam room. The only time my parents weren't smoking was when they were asleep or in the shower. It was a different world.