Her mother knew exactly what beauty was — and she didn’t have it. At least, that’s how she felt growing up under constant criticism about her looks. No matter what she did, she never felt like she measured up.
Her mother’s expectations were clear — beauty was something to be maintained, perfected, and never neglected. She grew up hearing exactly what was wrong with her appearance, but rarely, if ever, what was right. No matter how hard she tried, she never heard the words she wanted most.
Over time, the weight of that judgment became impossible to ignore. What began as passing remarks turned into a deep divide that even time could not repair. The distance between them grew, shaping the woman she would become — and the superstar the world would one day admire.
Growing Up in a Home Where Beauty Mattered More Than Comfort
She was born into a world of glamour, with both parents working in the entertainment industry. Her father was a well-known soap opera actor, while her mother was a former model and actress, who carried herself with grace and poise.
She was always polished, always put together, and she believed her daughter should follow suit. But while her father’s focus was on his career, her mother’s attention was fixed on her daughter’s shortcomings. From a young age, she was expected to meet strict beauty standards.
But instead of praise, she was met with constant scrutiny. Her mother would remind her to “take better care” of herself and point out anything that didn’t meet her standards. She focused on presentation — what she wore, how she styled her hair, and whether she looked put together in the way she believed a young woman should.
Her mother’s fixation on beauty left little room for encouragement and warmth. She recalled feeling like she wasn’t the child her mother had envisioned — one who fit the mold of a picture-perfect model. Instead of feeling accepted, she often felt like she was being judged, as though love was something she had to earn.
One day, when she was nine, she came home to find her world turned upside down — her father was gone. Without explanation, he had moved out, leaving her and her mother behind. She wouldn’t see him again for a year. The sudden loss was confusing and painful, but no one sat her down to explain why he had left.
Instead, she was expected to move forward as if nothing had changed. Her mother, already critical, became even harder to please. Without her father as a buffer, she bore the full weight of her mother’s expectations.
As she grew older, the tension between her and her mother deepened. Her mother had a temper, and arguments could quickly escalate, but she never raised her voice. The one time she finally snapped and yelled back, her mother laughed in her face — mocking her attempt to stand up for herself.
Her mother also had a habit of holding grudges. She could be unforgiving, dwelling on small conflicts long after they had passed. Meanwhile, the young girl longed for an easier relationship, one where love didn’t feel tied to expectations.
During those difficult years, she found solace in someone outside her immediate household — her paternal grandmother. Unlike her mother, her grandmother showered her with love, warmth, and laughter. She was the one person who made her feel truly seen.
She spent time in Greece visiting her father’s side of the family, where she was surrounded by warmth and stories, a stark contrast to the rigid environment she knew at home. But that happiness was temporary. When her grandmother passed away in her early twenties, it became one of the most devastating losses of her life.
The absence of her father, the strictness of her mother, and the eventual loss of her grandmother shaped the way she saw herself. She longed for acceptance but felt like she was always chasing something she would never quite reach.
A Public Fallout and Years of Estrangement
By the time she was an adult, her relationship with her mother had become nearly impossible to mend. Then, in 1996, their fragile bond was shattered when her mother gave an interview about her to the tabloid TV show “Hard Copy,” discussing their strained relationship.
For someone who valued privacy, this felt like a deep betrayal. She had spent years keeping their tensions behind closed doors, only for her mother to expose them to the world. But the biggest blow came three years later.
In 1999, her mother published a tell-all book, “From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir.” The book detailed their falling-out, offering intimate insights into their complicated history. She had not given her mother permission to share these personal details.
Seeing them published for the world to read only widened the divide between them. The damage was irreversible. She stopped speaking to her mother entirely, cutting off all contact.
While she was rising to international fame, their relationship remained frozen in enmity, defined by old wounds and unresolved pain. Years passed without reconciliation, and despite the distance, the weight of their past lingered.
Breaking Free and Finding Her Own Identity
For years, she had struggled with feeling like she wasn’t good enough. On top of her mother’s constant criticism, academics were difficult for her. She would later discover that she had dyslexia, a diagnosis that finally explained why she had trouble reading and retaining information.
The challenges in the classroom only deepened her insecurities, reinforcing the feeling that she wasn’t meeting expectations — not just in her appearance but in other aspects of her life as well. But she found her confidence elsewhere.
She had a natural ability to make people laugh, and in school, she realized that performing gave her confidence in a way nothing else did. She developed a love for drama, art, and storytelling, and after high school, she pursued theater.
She landed roles in off-Broadway productions and supported herself by working as a bike messenger, telemarketer, and waitress while trying to break into the industry. Determined to make a career out of acting, she moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s.
