Once reliant on welfare and deeply ashamed of her challenging upbringing, the former child star overcame a childhood marked by poverty. Despite those early struggles, she eventually rose to prominence, becoming one of Hollywood’s most celebrated and influential figures.
This celebrity grew up as one of eight siblings in a family that often struggled to make ends meet, sometimes living without electricity and relying on free lunch tickets. Her life changed dramatically after finding fame as an actress.
The star’s strong work ethic can be traced back to her modest upbringing in the coal-mining town of Nelsonville, Ohio. Born to Stephen, an aspiring writer, and Barbara, a nursery school teacher, the realities of a working-class life shaped her early years.
After her parents’ divorce when she was a toddler, her mother later married Paul, a truck driver. Their blended family grew to include eight children, making frugality a necessity as they navigated the challenges of providing for a large household.
Growing up in a household where money was always tight, the future star became acutely aware of their financial limitations from a young age. “We were on welfare,” she explained in an interview, recalling a particularly uncomfortable experience from her childhood.
In the third grade at the Clifton School in Cincinnati, her teacher would call out her name each day, signaling her to walk to the front of the line to receive a free lunch ticket provided by the state.
“I knew I was different from the kids who pay for lunch or bring their lunch from home. It was a stigma thing. I was not the only person receiving a free lunch, but you are aware,” the celebrity recalled. That awareness weighed heavily on her, marking her early years with a sense of otherness that lingered long after those school lunches.
Looking back, she described her childhood as “Dickensian,” a term often associated with hardship and scarcity. “I remember being poor. There was no great way to hide it,” she said. In a separate interview, the actress shared that their home, which didn’t have a TV, was often cluttered and “not pretty.”
The family often went without basic necessities and there were times when they had no electricity, missed out on Christmases and birthdays, and dealt with bill collectors. There were even occasions when the phone company would call to warn that their service was being shut off due to unpaid bills.
These moments of financial distress were impossible to ignore, especially since the children were old enough to witness the toll it took on their parents. “And we were all old enough to either get the calls, or watch my mother’s reactions or watch my parents shuffling the money around,” the star noted.
While some stories suggest their electricity was frequently shut off, the actress clarified, “That’s definitely exaggerated, although there were some Christmases where we went without presents. But my parents gave us so much love.”
The family’s financial challenges also affected their clothing, with the mother buying each of her daughters two pairs of shoes a year and 99-cent dresses from a corporate outlet. “It was not unusual to get them there or at rummage sales,” said the actress’s mother in a joint interview.
The actress posing for a photo in Los Angeles, California in 1980. | Source: Getty Images
Though they “didn’t have everything” they wanted, the star recalled, “we had everything we needed.” Her mother, described as a “master juggler,” managed the demands of raising eight children while juggling work and household responsibilities.
“If you ask her she’ll say she was a wreck. There’s plenty of screaming that went on in the house but I think it was necessary just to be heard. There were eight children!” the movie star explained. Growing up in a lively, often chaotic household, she developed a quiet yet commanding presence, able to communicate with just a whisper.
The actress and Brooke Shields pictured in New York City on January 1, 1970. | Source: Getty Images
When asked if she ever imagined the life she now leads, the actress admitted, “No. I would never have imagined this life. From a young age I imagined becoming an actor. And that’s probably as much as I would have ever dreamt of.”
Watching her parents’ quiet determination to make ends meet left a lasting