The story of Mary Ann Bevan, who was considered ‘The ugliest woman in the world,’ starts in the 19th century, a dark period of the American culture when ‘freak shows,’ traveling circuses showing people with certain deformities and disabilities, were at the peak of their popularity.
Today, it is highly unacceptable to treat people with disabilities with disrespect, but back in the day, no one believed it was morally wrong to dub them freaks.
Mary Ann Bevan was born on December 20, 1874, in Plaistow, East London, United Kingdom. She grew up to become a nurse and was respected by the society. On top of that, she was a very attractive woman who was offered many possibilities.
In 1902, Mary met the love of her life, a man named Thomas Bevan. The two married and welcomed four children together, but their happiness didn’t last long. After 14 years, Thomas passed away, leaving Mary heartbroken.
Her life became difficult as she was left to take care and provide for her children all by herself.
Unfortunately, around the time she turned 32, Mary started experiencing strange symptoms. Her face started changing gradually and she didn’t know what was happening or what caused that change which impacted her both psychologically and financially. Mary’s bones grew big, and her face became deformed. As a result, she lost her job and was unable to provide for her children any longer.
Back in the day, no one could diagnose her, but this poor woman suffered from acromegaly, a hormonal disorder that develops when the pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone during adulthood, when a change in height doesn’t occur. Instead, the increase in bone size is limited to the bones of the hands, feet and face.
Today, a lot more is knows about this condition and there are ways to keep it under control, which wasn’t the case during the time Mary lived.
Crushed, heartbroken, and poor, this woman saw an ad one day which read, “Wanted: Ugliest woman. Nothing repulsive, maimed or disfigured. Good pay guaranteed, and long engagement for successful applicant. Send recent photograph.”
No matter how awful she felt about this ‘job,’ she saw no way out of her situation. She simply needed to do anything in order to feed her children. Above all, she was a mother.
Mary answered the ad and she was soon contacted by the circus’ agent, a man named Claude Bartram, who later shared Mary’s story.
“She was not repulsive at all. She had the kind of face one usually finds in a giant, a powerful, masculine jaw, prominent cheek-bones, nose and forehead, but she was unblemished, healthy and strong. She told me she did not like the idea of placing herself on exhibition, she was shy and did not want to be separated from her children,” Bartram said, according to Daily Star.
“I told her she would earn £10 per week for a year, travelling expenses and all the money from the sale of picture postcards of herself, so she could provide for the education of her children.”
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In no time, magazines were filled with Mary Ann’s photos and everyone recognized her as ‘the ugliest woman on Earth.’
Her popularity brought her to the Dreamland Circus in Coney Island, New York, one of the most famous circuses there were. Mary Ann became an attraction, but then a doctor named Harvey Cushing, a leading neurosurgeon, spotted her and knew there was more behind ger huge face that he wanted to explore thoroughly.
“This unfortunate woman who sits in the sideshow of Ringling Brothers ‘between Fat Lady and Armless Wonder’ and ‘affects white lace hats, woollen mittens and high laced shoes’ has a story which is far from mirth-provoking.
“She, previously a vigorous and good-looking young woman, has become the victim of a disease known as acromegaly,” he wrote in a letter to Time magazine.
Mary Ann spent her life working at the circus and she was reported to have earned a small fortune which enabled her to send her children back to England where they attended boarding schools.
She endured a lot, but she did it all for her children.
Mary Ann died at the age of 59 of natural causes. Her final wish was to be buried in her homeland, England, and her children fulfilled her wish. She is resting at the Ladywell and Brockley Cemetery in South London.
This woman’s sad, yet fascinating life story speaks of the mother’s love for her children more than anything else.
The Victorious Journey of Macaulay Culkin the Man Who Overcame Massive Difficulties
Macaulay Culkin is a figure that almost every child has engraved into their childhood memories due to the movie franchise Home Alone. The actor himself has been under the spotlight for almost all of his childhood and early adult years. Despite the many hardships he faced, he managed to get past them and build a happy life.
- Macaulay’s career didn’t start with Home Alone. Actually, the role of Kevin wasn’t even his first main role: the first main role he had was in Uncle Buck when he was only 8 years old.
- His father used to be a Broadway actor but when his children were born, he stepped down. When Macaulay was a baby, his family was really poor.
- The role of Kevin was almost given to a different boy. If he had gotten it, Kevin would have had dark hair (John Mulaney was asked to audition), and Macaulay’s life would have been much different. But thanks to his experience in Uncle Buck, Culkin was given the part.
- The first Home Alone movie got Macaulay the Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture award and he earned $110,000. Just to compare: for the sequel, he earned $4.5 million.
- Of course, this wasn’t easy for Macaulay. He said that he just wanted to rest. In his parents’ apartment, he didn’t even have his own bed, let alone his own room.
- Culkin was one of the most famous children in the world — he was in the second position on the list of the 100 Greatest Kid Stars.
- His father was really bossy. His mother stayed at home with the other kids and his father went to the shoots with Macaulay. He totally controlled the career of this young star. During the process, Macaulay says, his father wouldn’t let him sleep and made him practice his lines.
In 1994, Macaulay Culkin did his last film and then he stopped working in the movie industry. He was going to continue studying at school since, before, he had to stop studying because he was working. By that time, he had appeared in 15 movies in just 7 years — not even adult actors can handle this much work. And the movies released after Home Alone were really heavily criticized, especially The Good Son.
- Soon after Macaulay stopped acting, his parents broke up and started suing each other over custody. He decided to take his parents’ names off his trust fund and find an executor that would make sure the 2 of them wouldn’t take any of his money.
- Before coming of age, Macaulay didn’t even know how much money he had earned. His parents made sure he didn’t know all the details of his contracts. Macaulay says, “When I turned 18, I sat down in my accountant’s office, it was basically the day where he put down a piece of paper in front of me and said this is how much you’re worth. It was interesting because it was one of these moments where it was like, I felt like this little boy had worked really hard and I inherited all of his money. I felt like I inherited this money in some odd way.”
- Macaulay first married in 1998. He and his wife were 18 years old. Rachel Miner was also an actress. The marriage didn’t last long and in 2000, they broke up. 2 years later, they got an official divorce.
- In 2002, Macaulay started dating Mila Kunis. Their relationship lasted for 8 years, and they didn’t really make it public. Mila later said that it was really hard to keep their relationship a secret because Macaulay’s fans were really amazed when they saw him with a girl on the street. The break-up was hard for both of them.
- After his split from Kunis, it seemed that Culkin had pretty much given up on love. That was until 2017, when he met Brenda Song while filming Changeland. The film’s director, Seth Green, would later go on to say that he “didn’t see [their relationship] coming.” But Brenda and Macaulay hit it off very quickly, it especially helped that the 2 were both child stars and they bonded over that fact. As Song explained: “Child actors, we don’t even get to talk about it, you just look each other in the eye, and you nod, and we know.”
- “People don’t realize how incredibly kind and loyal and sweet and smart he is,” Brenda says. “Truly what makes Mack so special is that he is so unapologetically Mack. He knows who he is, and he’s 100 percent okay with that. He’s worked really hard to be the person he is.”
- Just about a year after Macaulay and Brenda started going out, Culkin shared that he’s in for the long haul with his newfound love. He made it especially clear that he can’t wait to become a parent with her: “This one’s a good one, so I’m probably going to put some babies in her in a little bit.”
- And while babies were still in development, the happy couple surrounded themselves with pets, to have someone fill the household. By 2020, Macaulay and Brenda shared 2 cats, a dog, a fish, and a parrot.
- In 2021, Macaulay took part in American Horror Story. He plays one of the main roles in season 10 and his work has gotten a lot of very good reviews.
- He made a splash when he appeared in a Gucci show. He looks great at the age of 41 and he finally feels great.
- “Yeah, I’m a homebody,” he says. “It’s where these 2 former child stars, one still working as much as she can, the other not so sure, just want to be. With each other, doing whatever.”
Have you seen any works by Culkin other than Home Alone? Would you like to see him back on the screen and what roles would you like him to play?
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