Swiss Alps and discretion: a perfect cocktail for celebrities

Getty Images / Condé Nast

For generations, Switzerland has forged a reputation as a sanctuary for celebrities looking to escape the demands of fame. The sale of a Swiss villa, which once belonged to film star Audrey Hepburn, is a reminder of that special status.

The 18th-century farmhouse in the village of Tolochenaz, near Lausanne, was owned by Hepburn from 1963 until her death in 1993. The 12-bedroom, eight-bathroom villa has now been put up for sale by its current owners for a cool CHF19 million ($20.8 million).

“When Audrey Hepburn turned 60, she got 60 white rosebushes sent and had a rose garden planted, and half of those are still there,” seller Katharina Beaujolin told the Bloomberg news agency.

The British actress rose to global fame starring in the movies Roman Holiday (1953), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and My Fair Lady (1964).

Following a string of film hits and awards, she took a screen break to raise her family in semi-retirement and later as a goodwill ambassador for the children’s charity UNICEF.

After her death from cancer in 1993, Hepburn was laid to rest in the peaceful village cemetery at Tolochenaz.

Over the years, several actors, authors and sports stars have sought out Switzerland for its stunning landscape, generous tax system and easy access to the rest of Europe.

For the stars, Switzerland has become famous as a high-class luxury playground of mountains, palatial accommodation and winter sports.

But the Alpine state has other priceless commodities for global celebrities: peace and discretion. This provided Hepburn with a refuge from the cameras and newspaper headlines that stalked every major Hollywood celebrity.

Unstable childhood

The serenity of Switzerland was also a stark contrast to the instability of the film star’s early life. She grew up in the Netherlands during the Second World War where she reportedly carried messages for the Resistance despite her parents’ rumoured sympathies for the Nazi cause.

Hepburn, pictured with son Luca Dotti, wanted a tranquil place to raise her family Getty Images / Condé Nast

Hepburn’s father, Joseph Hepburn-Ruston, walked out on the family when Audrey was six-years-old, which had a profound and unsettling effect on her.

Hepburn’s film producer son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, described his mother as a modest woman who valued the peace and security offered by Switzerland, a place where she could lead a normal life.

She could raise her sons away from the showbiz lifestyle of Hollywood, go shopping without being plagued by photographers and chat to the locals in French – one of five languages she could speak.

From the protestant Huguenots, escaping religious persecution in France in the 16th century, to comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, who fled the 1950s anti-communist witch hunt in the United States, Switzerland has been happy to offer a neutral refuge.

“It was being in Europe away from the pressures of Hollywood. For the last 25 years of his life, he had a family life, a regular routine and was emotionally stable. That all happened here in Switzerland,” Chaplin’s son, Michael, told SWI swissinfo.ch in a 2014 interview.

Celebrity magnet

Reflecting in her 2014 memoir on her move to Geneva in the 1980s, Italian screen idol Sophia Loren revealed that she had wanted to find a place where she and her family could “feel safer and live more peacefully”.

“In Geneva, I find joy in small things. I spend my time thinking, reading and writing,” she added.

Switzerland also offered rock star Tina Turner an escape from her tumultuous past. Turner moved to Switzerland in 1994 and lived in an exclusive area of Zurich until her death in 2023. “Switzerland felt like home right away. It’s just perfect. People respect each other’s privacy here, take care of each other,” she said in 2014.

Many celebrities have left their mark on Switzerland, including Charlie Chaplin Keystone

International stars have also left their mark on their adopted home country, from the Chaplin’s World museum on the shores of Lake Geneva to a bronze statue of former Queen singer Freddie Mercury in Montreux.

“If you want peace of mind, come to Montreux,” Mercury once said of the picturesque town where he spent the last years of his life.

It’s a mantra that countless celebrities have embraced over the years: from silver screen actors, such as David Niven and Roger Moore, to fast lane sports stars, such as Formula 1 legends Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost.

Edited by Reto Gysi von Wartburg/sb