Audrey Hepburn wept bitterly when William Holden revealed that he could not give her children. Hepburn was prepared to throw it all away and be branded a homewrecker if Oscar-winner Holden would leave his wife and marry her.
“Audrey was the love of my life,” confessed Holden,. “I fell in love. She wanted to get married.”
After a whirlwind affair on the set of romantic comedy Sabrina Fair in 1954, Holden agreed to leave his wife and children and marry her. Unbeknown to Billy Wilder: "People on the set told me later that Bill and Audrey were having an affair, and everybody knew. Well, not everybody! I didn't know."
Hepburn found Holden “the most handsome man I’ve ever met” and they were soon inseparable meeting secretly in his dressing room, at picnics and private dinners.
Holden's step daughter Virginia Gaines said that Holden brought Audrey Hepburn introduce her to his family without admitting he was involved with them. Virginia said one night her mother descended a staircase in full Audrey Hepburn makeup to humiliate Holden amongst dinner guests.
But Hepburn wanted children and when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy, the actress ended their romance. “She stood looking at him like a hurt, bewildered child as he explained that he’d had a vasectomy years earlier. She ended the affair on the spot.”
Hepburn, desperate to start a family, married actor Mel Ferrer on the rebound, sending heartbroken Holden on a world-class drinking spree.
Despite her squeaky-clean image Hepburn enjoyed several extramarital affairs and questioned her acting ability. “I never thought I was a good actress,” she lamented. “I’m no Laurence Olivier, no virtuoso talent.”
Learning of her husband’s frequent infidelities, in revenge she had an affair with screenwriter Robert Anderson, ironically while filming his movie The Nun’s Story.
But in 1961 Hepburn and Holden were reunited on screen for Paris When It Sizzles and Holden had to confront his demons.
“I realised that I had to face Audrey and I had to deal with my drinking,” he said. “I didn’t think I could handle either situation.”
Holden failed dismally. There were days he was so drunk that filming had to shut down. But their romantic scenes inflamed Holden’s passion.
One night he climbed a tree leading to her dressing room window, kissing her when she leaned out to see him.
“Bill, stop that!” she exclaimed, sending Holden on another bender.
Driven by her desire for another child Hepburn had an affair with a Spanish prince and again miscarried.
She finally divorced Ferrer and six weeks later married aristocratic Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti.
Within six months she was pregnant and spent nine months on bed rest while hearing of her husband’s numerous infidelities.
Hepburn delivered son Luca in 1970 at the age of 40 and happily stayed home nursing, rejecting the lead in Nicholas And Alexandra and the mother’s role in The Exorcist.
But as Dotti’s affairs became more flagrant, a distraught Hepburn filed for divorce.
“She even confided that at one point she had considered suicide,” says Epstein.
After a decade’s absence from Hollywood she returned for the 1979 movie Bloodline, enjoying a fling with married co-star Ben Gazzara.
“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,” he said.
But when filming ended Gazzara returned to his wife and Hepburn foundered until finding love again with Dutch actor Robert Wolders.
