KEEPING HER Legacy Alive
THE SCREEN ICON’S GRANDDAUGHTER EMMA HEPBURN FERRER TELLS CLOSER WHAT SHE LEARNED FROM AUDREY’S GRACEFUL EXAMPLE
Emma Hepburn Ferrer was born the year after her beloved grandmother Audrey Hepburn passed away from cancer at age 63 in 1993. Yet Emma has followed in Audrey’s footsteps in more ways than one — as a model, actress and, most importantly, philanthropist. “I’ve started to realize how meaningful it is to me,” Emma recently told Closer at the UNICEF Snowflake Ball. “I really do want to be of the people.”
Audrey served as a UNICEF ambassador, and Emma has been spreading the charity’s message around the world. “I woke up to it when I started speaking at these events and galas,” says Emma. “It gives me a lot of hope.”
GRAND TRADITIONS
Emma’s father, Sean Ferrer, has told her inspiring stories about her grandmother. “He taught me from early on that she was not just this celebrity — she was super-selfless and generous and went out of her way to make a kind gesture,” Emma, 24, says. “That’s something in her life I try to keep alive.”
But Audrey wasn’t some sanctimonious saint. “She was really funny — everyone who knew her says she had a wicked sense of humor,” Emma reveals. “That’s not something I necessarily would’ve expected.”
Emma cherishes the mementos she inherited from Audrey, including a gold heart necklace, turtlenecks and a teddy bear. “If she’s looking down, she’d be most proud of [my work with UNICEF],” says Emma. “We have all these celebrities associated with causes now, but that wasn’t the case before her.”
— Bruce Fretts, with reporting by Lexi Ciccone