This article contains references to sexual assault.
So who was she?
If you had uttered the name 100 years ago, there would have been no confusion.
However, her life wasn’t all glitz and glamour.
Let’s uncover some of the heartbreaks that haunted this pop culture icon.
Clara Bow’s birthplace was referred to as ‘hell on Earth’
The place?
Brooklyn, New York.
This was the Brooklyn that future starlet Clara Bow was born into on July 29, 1905.
He goes as far as to describe these Brooklyn apartments as “slum buildings.”
These conditions made the Bow family home a perfect breeding ground for disease.
Her mother struggled with mental illness
Like many young girls, Clara Bow worshipped her mother.
In 1911, a head injury accelerated her mental turmoil.
A mysterious affliction followed.
Without warning, she erupted into seizure-like “fits” that made breathing difficult.
In one tragic instance, Clara awoke to her mother holding a knife to her throat.
The next day, Robert Bow officially took his wife to a facility for treatment.
Between her unstable mother and abusive father, her childhood in Brooklyn was one that no one should envy.
However, her early days weren’t all dark.
Bizarrely, Bow biographer David Stenn reported that Gordon was no loving husband or father.
In fact, he was downright cruel to his daughter, Sarah, during her own childhood.
However, true to Bow lore, it wasn’t long before tragedy struck.
In 1921, Bow got her start in entertainment after winning Brewster Publications' Fame and Fortune Contest.
With the publicity the 16-year-old garnered from the beauty contest, she won some bit parts in films.
However, this great career boost was overshadowed by the turmoil in her private life.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
Visit theRape, Abuse & Incest National internet websiteor contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Speaking to the celebrity magazinePhotoplayin 1928, Bow gave an account of how the tragedy unfolded.
I could lick any boy my size."
It was after their school run one afternoon when Bow heard “a terrible noise” coming from downstairs.
What she found was Johnny aflame, having been caught in a house fire.
Though she was just a child herself, the young starlet-to-be came to her friend’s aid.
She recalls Johnny screaming “Clara, Clara, help me” before falling into her arms.
Tragically, her efforts were to no avail and Johnny died in her arms.
Looking back, Bow remembers crying “for hours” after the event.
She said, “I have never cried but once like that since.
That was when my mother died.”
She had a childhood stammer
As a child, Clara Bow was an outsider.
They constantly mimicked Bow’s stammer and made fun of her clothes.
They were always hurting my feelings."
At the start of her career, rejection was everywhere.
Often, this rejection came with a heavy dose of body shaming on the side.
Later in life, Bow would reveal that her rejections were almost always down to her weight.
She said, “I was too young, or too little, or too fat.
Usually I was too fat.”
Hollywood bosses in particular regularly made fun of what they saw as Bow’s lack of intelligence.
But what does the title refer to exactly?
It’s simple: sexual charisma.
However, her real life wasn’t too far off.
Her social presence was taboo."
Unfortunately, Bow couldn’t say the same for her own sobriety.
In sympathy, the reporter wrote, “Maybe Clara has worked too hard.”
Stenn wrote that Bow was drawn to sedatives to help cure her insomnia.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Talkies nearly ruined her career
Between 1926 and 1930, a sound revolution took place in Hollywood.
Bow’s childhood stutter also caused her much inner turmoil.
For Bow, she learned the hard way that money and fame corrupt even those you would least expect.
According to Matt MacNabb’s 2020 book"Hollywood’s Dark History,“the case kept getting messier.
DeVoe told sensational stories of Bow’s partying ways, accusing her of drug use and wild affairs.
Clara Bow’s reputation, and thus her relationship with the studios, was in free fall.
Not one to cower from tabloid journalists, the head of Paramount decided to give her one more shot.
Before the film could be completed, the harried starlet suffered from a nervous breakdown.
She simply couldn’t face another morning of filming.
The medical staff diagnosed her with “shattered nerves.”
And with that, a chapter of the Bow saga had closed.
Her biographer David Stenn recounted one morning when Tony and George brought their mother breakfast in bed.
They ran to a neighbor’s house to ask for help, and a medical team eventually arrived.
It was Tony, Bow’s eldest son, who found the note she had intended for her husband.
There, she reportedly asked her nurses for a cigarette.
He too had gone to Hollywood looking to make a name for himself in the pictures.
While their relationship took off, Bow’s career and mental health began to decline.
Eventually, she said goodbye to the pictures, and Rex was beginning a career as a politician.
Bow was anxious and hated public life.
She was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the road to recovery included several rounds of electroshock therapy.
This is largely because the aftereffects of ECT can include long-term and short-term memory loss.
Clara Bow became a recluse
Clara Bow’s life was nothing if not a roller coaster ride.
By the end of her life, Bow was living away from her two sons and her estranged husband.
She remained in close contact with her mental health team and was involved in ongoing therapies.
She had to live a different life.
She needs the constant care of a doctor.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available.
Call or text 988 or chat988lifeline.org.
