Behind the glitter: The dark childhood of a Hollywood icon

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Her story became a warning for generations of child performers to come, and a reminder that even the brightest legends often rise from places of deep pain.

From a very young age, this girl who would one day follow the Yellow Brick Road was already performing. Born in Minnesota, she made her stage debut before she was even three.

At the age of one year / Getty Images

Her home life, however, was anything but magical. Her mother had reportedly wanted to end the pregnancy but was unable to, and the family was shaken by ongoing rumors about the father’s secret relationships with teenage boys and young men.

In June 1926, the family quietly relocated to Lancaster, California, after whispers about her father’s personal life began to spread.

Her parents, who worked as vaudeville entertainers, had a marriage that was a constant cycle of breaking apart and coming back together, something she remembered vividly.

”It was very hard for me to understand those things and, of course, I remember clearly the fear I had of those separations,” she said.

Her mother was very jealous

As a small child, she was brought into nightclubs to perform at venues wildly inappropriate for someone her age.

Her biographers later wrote that her mother regularly gave her pills to stay awake, and others to help her sleep. It was a routine that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

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