Audrey Hepburn's Granddaughter Emma Ferrer Struggled with Being Compared to Her

May 2024 · 2 minute read

If the late great Audrey Hepburn could've spent Giving Tuesday 2018 anywhere, it would have probably been at the 14th Annual UNICEF Snowflake Ball in New York City.

The actress and fashion icon was one of UNICEF's very first celebrity Goodwill Ambassadors, which made it extra special that her granddaughter, Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer, came out to support the organization's effort to raise money for kids in need around the world.

When news of Ferrer's style ventures made headlines earlier this year, many predicted she would follow in her grandmother's fashion icon footsteps. But the 24-year-old is also honoring Audrey in another way — by joining the global effort that meant so much to her. Full circle? Yes. Easy? Hardly.

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"It’s been eye-opening for me to realize I can choose the way that I want to carry on her legacy," Ferrer told InStyle exclusively at the event, which raised more than $3.8 million for UNICEF.

"I used to struggle a lot with people wondering whether I looked like her or dressed like her, and it’s been really cool to just wake up and be like this is the message that I want to carry forward. This is the work that I know she’d be proud of me doing. So I can do that and at the same time follow my own path."

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Considering how involved Hepburn was in the organization, chalking Ferrer's connection up to "family ties" is a bit of an understatement.

"Since I could pronounce words, I’ve known what UNICEF was," Ferrer said.

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

"It was always there and always being taught to me. It’s always just been a family tradition, almost. It’s really cool. It’s something that I take for granted, I guess, but I shouldn’t. It’s not something every kid can say, right?"

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