This year 2019 is the 90th anniversary of his birth. Audrey was hailed as the fairy of the silver screen, and in her later years traveled to famine and conflict zones around the world as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, continuing to spread the word about the plight of children around the world. What was her true life, and what was the true face of the family person she remained throughout her life?
In May of this year, we visited Audrey's former home in Rome after her remarriage, and asked her second son, Luca Dotti, who currently lives there with his family, to talk about his memories of his late mother and the legacy she inherited.
Mr. Luca Dotti
Index
- Afterimages of my mother Audrey floating around my home
- The war experience I passed down to my son and the passion I learned from it for food
- she always had priorities
- The management of the Audrey Fund is an important mission that will be inherited.
Afterimages of my mother Audrey floating around my home
Q: I heard that your mother bought this house.
Luca Dotti: Yes. When my mother bought this house, she wasn't at a very good time in her life. This was right after I divorced my father (the late psychiatrist Andrea Dotti). My mother purposely built this house right in front of the house where she lived with my father. So my mother was here and my father was nearby. I think that's how my mother wanted to preserve the form of her family. For me.
Q: Are there any moments or places where you still feel like your mother?
Luca: Up the stairs, on the second floor is my wife's (Domitilla, a graphic designer) bedroom, which used to be my mother's bedroom. In my room, there is a photo of my mother when she married my father, and I have kept my mother's beauty box, etc. Sometimes, there are nights when I walk up the stairs and say, ``Mom, good night.'' I think what makes my mother happy is that this house continues to exist because we still live there.
Q: I just showed you the backyard, and it looks really beautifully maintained. Did you also inherit that from Audrey, who loved gardening?
Luca: The garden is a symbol of the bond between me and my mother. I think our love for gardening is what strengthens the bond between us as parents and children. Actually, I started tinkering with the soil after my mother passed away, but as I grow flowers like this, I remember my mother immersed in gardening, and sometimes I think of my father, too. I also remember my grandfather on my father's side. While I'm doing that, I can forget about the chores and become nothing. Observation is important when gardening. Because flowers can't speak. I don't have time to get caught up in thoughts.
Q: Do you make any effort to pass on what you inherited from your mother to your children (1 boy and 2 girls)?
Luca: I'm trying though (lol). The important thing may not be to teach with words, but to show what parents are doing. A good example is gardening. In this way, he is recreating in his own way what he saw his mother do when he was a child. For example, when I visited Japan last fall, my second daughter Alice, who accompanied me, felt lonely without her mother, but now, 6 months later, she seems to be enjoying her trip to Japan. I'm telling everyone about it. As time passed, the things I endured became good memories.
The war experience I passed down to my son and the passion I learned from it for food
Follow official SNS
