Diane von Furstenberg on documentary, 'biggest gift' from mom, an Auschwitz survivor

There's something about being in the presence of someone so entirely comfortable being themselves that convinces you that if you too were brave enough to show the world exactly who you are, it might wrap its arms around you and envelop you in love and acceptance. And on the chance that it didn’t, you might be so happy being your authentic self that you wouldn’t give a damn.

Diane von Furstenberg's electric confidence is contagious. It permeates a virtual conversation with the 77-year-old, Brussels-born fashion designer, who’s just come back from a hike while vacationing in Scotland.

"If you are true to yourself, you are free," she says. "If you are not true to yourself, you are not free, no matter where you go."

Fifty years ago, von Furstenberg captivated the fashion industry with her innovative wrap dress that is still in production today. By 1976, von Furstenberg had sold more than 1 million of the waist-cinching style. She wears a loose-fitting black T-shirt with no makeup for our interview. Her chestnut brown hair in its natural, undulating state feels like a metaphor for the way she lives her life, the subject of a documentary arriving on Hulu June 25, "Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge."

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"Is this movie inspiring?" she asks. "Because otherwise, it's not worth it."

Uninterested in self-promotion, she likens herself viewing the film to "being at the gynecologist for an hour and a half."

"She really only agreed to it – and it was begrudgingly – on the condition that it would do something to help women," says Trish Dalton, who co-directs the film with von Furstenberg's friend, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. "She's like, 'If this film can be part of my mission to empower women, then I will agree to it.'"

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"Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge" recounts the highs and lows of von Furstenberg's personal and professional life: falling in love with her first husband, Prince Egon von Furstenberg, the outgoing and sexually adventurous father of her two children, Prince Alexander von Furstenberg and Tatiana von Furstenberg (both interviewed for the documentary). Von Furstenberg revisits nights at New York's famed Studio 54, the early days of grinding to get her fashion company off the ground and how she revived her brand. There's mention of her battle with tongue cancer in 1994, a time when she'd licensed her label to products. She says in the documentary that she believes her illness manifested "because for (those) last few years, I could not express myself. That's when I realized that I had to take back my business."

She lists lovers, including Richard Gere. "I was with Warren Beatty and Ryan O'Neal on the same weekend," she boasts in the film, in which she also talks about declining a ménage à trois with Mick Jagger and David Bowie before meeting her lasting love, former Paramount Pictures CEO Barry Diller, whom she wed in 2001.

Von Furstenberg has been most impacted by her mother, Liliane Halfin, a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland 18 months before von Furstenberg's birth. Adding a further challenge, a doctor warned Halfin that delivering a baby would endanger her life and the life of her child.

"My mother was not supposed to survive," von Furstenberg says. "She was 21 years old. She was 49 pounds, but she did survive. And she used to say, 'God saved me so that I can give you life. By giving you life, you gave me my life back. You are my torch of freedom.'"

Halfin would teach her daughter not to be afraid of the dark by locking her in a closet.

"I thank her for pushing me," von Furstenberg says. "She never told me, be careful. She always said, be responsible. She made me responsible for myself, which was the biggest gift."

Von Furstenberg returns to a few mantras: "The most important thing is to be true to yourself, not be a victim, and fear is not an option," she says, adding, "Enjoy the journey of your life and most important, honor life."

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She also believes in taking charge.

"Being in charge is very much an umbrella that has been over me for years," she says. "First of all, when I was growing up, I did not know what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be. I wanted to be a woman in charge. I became a woman in charge because of a little dress.

"What does it mean to be in charge?” von Furstenberg continues. "First and foremost, it's a commitment to yourself. It's owning who you are. You own your imperfections; they become your asset. You own your vulnerability, you turn it into strength."

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Obaid-Chinoy says "the best thing about interviewing, Diane is that she's very honest and that she isn't afraid to talk about her life journey. We start the film off with a question about (how) as women, we often have to hide who we really are." People assign labels like, "'too much of a partygoer,' 'too ambitious.' There's always a 'too' attached to so many women who are very successful. And I think that she owned herself."

Von Furstenberg says she's had "a very full life. I don't know why, but I've used myself, my experiences as a canvas, as I kept going and living and sharing. And I made mistakes, and I go up and I go down like everyone. But it's the journey of my life, and sharing the journey – if you share honestly, then it's inspiring."

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