Seductive Facts About Lana Turner, The Hollywood Glamour Girl
From the moment she was born, Lana Turner was a magnet for tragedy: She had a heartbreaking childhood, slept with awful men, lost her babies, and even attempted suicide. But it gets worse.
Living a real-life horror story, her darkest moments led her straight to the most disturbing scandal imaginable.
1. She Was Poor
Lana Turner truly had a Hollywood rags-to-riches story. She was the beloved only child of John Virgil Turner and Mildred Frances Cowan, who both came from sturdy Midwest mining stock. But sadly, her family was on the brink of falling apart. Poor and struggling to get by, the Turners ended up moving to San Francisco—and that’s when the nightmare began.
2. She Faced A Life-Changing Loss
A brand new city did not usher in better times. Lana stood by as her parents finally admitted defeat and separated for good. But the worst was yet to come. When she was only nine years old, her father met a gruesome end. On that fateful day, John Turner had won a craps game, storing his winnings in his left sock. But he never made it home.
3. She Never Forgot Him
The horror that followed haunted Lana for the rest of her life. Officers found his body, bludgeoned to death, at the corner of Minnesota Street and Mariposa Street in San Francisco. His left shoe and sock were missing.
This sudden loss had an acute effect on Lana, who later said, “I know that my father’s sweetness and gaiety, his warmth and his tragedy, have never been far from me”.
Her father’s unsolved murder cast a shadow across her childhood—but her suffering was far from over.
4. She Went Hungry
Even from a young age, Lana happily sacrificed everything she had for her loved ones. All alone with her mother, Turner took to staying over at friends’ houses just so Mildred could save a little money and keep them afloat. She later remembered times when the two were "living on crackers and milk for half a week”. However, this desperate period of her life also had a darker side.
