Audrey Hepburn’s ‘introverted’ granddaughter is no nepo baby, she says: ‘I never want to hide it
She may be the granddaughter of Audrey Hepburn, but Emma Ferrer is no nepo baby.
Unlike most celebrity scions, the 30-year-old — who was born 18 months after her famous grandmother’s death — has shunned the spotlight, spending her days painting at her home in Tuscany, Italy.
The understated artist has been honing her craft for more than a decade, quietly working away on paintings for her first-ever solo show, “The Scapegoat,” now on view at Sapar Contemporary in Tribeca.
“I am extremely introverted and dedicated,” Ferrer told The Post this week. “I’m not a party person or a social person, so I just really like living in this very beautiful, rural, secluded place with my dogs and my boyfriend.”
Ferrer met her boyfriend, Italian artist Thomas Pucci, in a scene that could have been plucked from one of her grandmother’s whimsical rom-coms.
In 2021, shortly after moving to Tuscany’s Apuan Alps, Ferrer found herself lost while hiking in the woods.
“Essentially, I could have died — they sent out search and rescue parties for me,” she explained. “Luckily I found my neighbors before the search and rescue parties found me, but somehow the media was alerted about the granddaughter of Audrey Hepburn being lost in the woods.
“Someone sent my boyfriend the article, being, like, ‘This girl in your village got lost.’ So he wrote to me on Instagram and was, like, ‘I know all the hiking trails.'”
Ferrer — whose father is the older of Hepburn’s two sons — was born in Switzerland and spent her childhood between Italy and Los Angeles.
In Tinseltown, she attended Crossroads, the notorious “nepo baby school” where celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow, LeBron James, Meg Ryan and Kate Hudson have all sent their offspring.
“I was really young when I lived in LA, but you feel that trickle-down effect of Hollywood and everything that it’s about … Even the sort of social dynamics,” Ferrer recalled, expressing an early aversion to fame.
She completed her schooling in Italy, studied at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art, and decamped to New York City to pursue her passion for painting.
In 2014, Ferrer was tracked down by Haper’s Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey, who put her on the cover of that year’s September issue.
The splashy shoot garnered worldwide buzz, with longtime Hepburn fans remarking on Ferrer’s physical similarities to her famous grandmother.
With her Hollywood pedigree and her unmistakable beauty, Ferrer seemed poised for a life in the limelight — but she shrugged off intense interest from the public at large.
Instead, Ferrer spent her early twenties just like any other young creative called to the city.
She worked in various Big Apple galleries, living modestly — and with roommates — bouncing between Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey.
“I always craved that excitement of New York,” Ferrer told The Post. “I lived on the Upper East Side, in Jersey City, in Bushwick, Fort Greene, the East Village. I stayed in people’s spare rooms. I lived all over.”
After the COVID pandemic hit, the artist moved back to Italy, taking up residence in a remote Tuscan village.
“Painting was always my ultimate goal,” she explained. “When I moved back to Italy during the pandemic everything slowed down … I really took a breath to dedicate myself to my practice… I paint every day, and this is very much my life now.”
Ferrer doesn’t bristle when it comes to discussing the “nepo baby” label, admitting she knows initial interest in her work is sparked by her Hepburn connection.
“I’m extremely acknowledging of the fact that people are interested in me because of who my grandmother is, and I don’t think that there’s any way around that, nor would I ever want to hide it,” she stated.
“I think that the only thing that I can do in my power is continue to work really, really hard … I am extremely serious about my work and my practice.”
Indeed, Ferrer has been earning plaudits for her “The Scapegoat,” her first solo exhibition described as a “poignant body of work that looks at the complex and fragile relationship between man, animal and nature.”
“I have always been extremely enamored with the aesthetic of Christianity,” she told The Post, saying the collection is inspired by her Tuscan surroundings. “I find it beautiful and moving … especially here in Italy, where it’s ingrained in the person and the culture.”
Making Ferrer’s first solo show even sweeter is the fact that she used to work at Sapar Contemporary while she was living in New York.
“It’s been a nice full-circle moment,” she enthused. “I always used to envy the artists that were professional and represented by the gallery, and I was just kind of hustling and painting on the side. And now, 10 years later, having a show there has been really, really nice to come around.”
“The Scapegoat” is on view at Sapar Contemporary until Feb. 15.
