Her first husband Mel Ferrer was definitely a reflection of Audrey's need for a father figure; he directed her and often made decisions for her. One time, when Mel and Audrey were dining with friends, Audrey put her elbows on the table and Mel poked her in the arm with a fork and sternly reprimanded her for acting unladylike. Another time Audrey spilled on herself and said the word "shit." Mel was so angry that he stormed out of the room. I think Audrey eventually realized that she and Mel were just different people; it wasn't that he wasn't loving or well-intentioned (he was), but that he was too rigid and demanded too much from her. He always harbored some resentment that his wife was more accomplished than he was.

I think her wartime experiences gave her a quiet sort of sensitivity that was not without strength. Without that, I doubt she could have survived 5 miscarriages, the pain of two divorces and two affairs that were ended because the men were sterile. She wasn't always a happy person, but she eventually found happiness with Robert Wolders and banished her inner demons. The fact that she devoted the last years of her life to UNICEF, I think, showed satisfaction and contentment with her own life: she had a stable relationship, two great kids, a successful career, and a cavalcade of loyal friends. After she had sorted her own life out the rest of it was devoted to others.

Co-stars William Holden, Gregory Peck, Albert Finney, and just about everyone who had worked with her confided later that they loved her on some level. I think her marriages failed not because of incompatibility or because of a lack-of-effort, but because of base inadequacy-the number of men that were as generous, as kind, or as talented as Audrey could perhaps be counted on one hand. Some people can walk down a street for 20 minutes and find a partner on equal footing with themselves, but with someone like Audrey it took 50 years. You don't match a diamond with a bar of steel; not even gold or sapphire will do. It takes a diamond to match a diamond,