{"id":835,"date":"2026-03-07T18:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T18:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/?p=835"},"modified":"2026-03-07T18:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T18:10:30","slug":"she-nearly-died-at-8-then-became-one-of-hollywoods-most-powerful-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/?p=835","title":{"rendered":"She nearly died at 8 \u2014 then became one of Hollywood\u2019s most powerful women"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"321\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Geena Davis<\/span><\/span>\u00a0rose from model to Oscar-winning actress in the 1980s, becoming one of Hollywood\u2019s most distinctive stars. Born in 1958 in Wareham, Massachusetts, she grew up in a strict, old-fashioned New England household, later joking her parents \u201cwould have been Amish\u201d if they\u2019d known about it.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"323\" data-end=\"676\">Her childhood, however, included trauma. At 8, she narrowly avoided a fatal car crash with her elderly great-uncle. She also revealed in her 2022 memoir,\u00a0<em data-start=\"477\" data-end=\"498\">Dying of Politeness<\/em>, that she was molested by a neighbor \u2014 an experience that left her carrying shame and silence for years. Tall and shy, she was bullied in school and struggled with standing out.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"678\" data-end=\"929\">After studying drama at Boston University (without graduating), she moved to New York, modeled for Victoria\u2019s Secret, and was discovered by director\u00a0<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Sydney Pollack<\/span><\/span>, who cast her in\u00a0<em data-start=\"882\" data-end=\"921\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Tootsie<\/span><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(1982).<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"931\" data-end=\"1256\">Her career soared with roles in\u00a0<em data-start=\"963\" data-end=\"1002\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">The Fly<\/span><\/span><\/em>,\u00a0<em data-start=\"1004\" data-end=\"1043\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Beetlejuice<\/span><\/span><\/em>, and her Oscar-winning performance in\u00a0<em data-start=\"1082\" data-end=\"1121\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">The Accidental Tourist<\/span><\/span><\/em>. She became a feminist icon with\u00a0<em data-start=\"1155\" data-end=\"1194\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Thelma &amp; Louise<\/span><\/span><\/em>\u00a0and later starred in\u00a0<em data-start=\"1216\" data-end=\"1255\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">A League of Their Own<\/span><\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1258\" data-end=\"1583\">As she neared 40, strong roles became scarce. Davis, married four times (including to\u00a0<span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Jeff Goldblum<\/span><\/span>), became a mother at 46 and has three children with ex-husband Reza Jarrahy. Motherhood inspired her to found the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004, advocating for equality in Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1585\" data-end=\"1774\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Now 69, Davis remains active and is set to appear in Netflix\u2019s upcoming series\u00a0<em data-start=\"1664\" data-end=\"1703\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">The Boroughs<\/span><\/span><\/em>, continuing a career defined by resilience, reinvention, and advocacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Geena Davis\u00a0rose from model to Oscar-winning actress in the 1980s, becoming one of Hollywood\u2019s most distinctive stars. Born in 1958 in Wareham, Massachusetts, she grew <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/?p=835\" title=\"She nearly died at 8 \u2014 then became one of Hollywood\u2019s most powerful women\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions\/838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazefeed.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}