She Faced Death at 8 — Now She’s One of Hollywood’s Most Influential Figures

Instead of speaking up, the family merely shifted her in her seat, hoping the position would offer a marginally safer outcome. “I may be one of the few people who can honestly say they very nearly died of politeness,” she writes.

This sense of obligation to remain agreeable and quiet became a recurring theme in her memoir, linking her earliest years of restraint to patterns she would later navigate — and ultimately challenge — in Hollywood and life.

Her family also emphasized decorum and propriety, teaching her to prioritize politeness even when it conflicted with honesty or assertiveness.

As Davis has said, the lesson she carried forward was this: “You can’t ever complain about anything — you can’t draw that kind of attention to yourself.”

These formative years were not without complexity. In interviews she has acknowledged other early challenges and moments that confused and shaped her understanding of boundaries and self‑worth, insights that informed her writing and advocacy in adulthood.

Standing Out in School: Height, Identity, and Self‑Image

Another aspect of Davis’s youth that shaped her identity was her physical stature. She was unusually tall for her age — a trait that, rather than making her feel special, contributed to self‑consciousness and social awkwardness during adolescence. Afterwards, she often felt out of place in a world that prized conformity to predictable norms. Continue reading…