oliviaobryon

I have loved Audrey Hepburn since I was a little girl, before it was trendy to put her face on everything from coffee mugs to t-shirts. Growing up, she made me want to be an actress. There was something so gracefully beautiful about her. She floated across the screen, turning up in Rome, New York, London. I wanted to talk like her, to move like her, to dance through the streets of the world like her. She played intelligent, independent women. She talked back. She had charisma.

I think part of what drew me to her as a child was that she reminded me of my mother and grandmother. (Photo credit: Audrey Hepburn: A Life in Pictures)

My grandmother around the same era. I wish I had a picture of my mom to share, she looked even more like her.

Of course, those characters I fell in love with were not actually her, but something about the way she played those women made me believe she was all those things in real life too. Over the years, friends and family have given me all kinds of Audrey Hepburn books and memorabilia. In the accounts of her real life, she was everything I admired as a girl. She was also many of the things I admire as an adult. She aged gracefully. She did not disappear just because she got older. She gave the later part of her life to UNICEF to help disadvantaged children.

“For me, the only things of interest are those linked to the heart.” -Audrey Hepburn (Photo Credit: The Audrey Hepburn Treasures.)

Audrey aged beautifully, living out her passion for helping others. (Photo credit: Audrey Hepburn: A Life in Pictures)

Photo credit: Audrey Hepburn: A Life in Pictures

My celebrity crush is and always will be Audrey Hepburn. She is the one famous person I would want to meet for brunch. We would laugh and talk and she would call me darling and people would think we were related. I’d leave feeling glamorous and ready to tackle the world. Audrey inspires me to put on some skinny jeans, dance theatrically around my living room, buy a dog basket for my bike, and travel to every corner of the earth for pleasure and for charity.

Now, it’s your turn. Who is your celebrity crush? Or, if you don’t have one, what famous person would you want to meet for brunch?

“Sex appeal is something you feel deep inside. I can convey as much fully clothed, picking apples off a tree as standing in the rain.” -Audrey Hepburn (Credit: A Life in Pictures)