of History
Now there will be a story about a flower that could walk. No, it's not about a famous Spanish muse, but about a woman who lived in England at the end of the 19th century.
Nature gave this woman a “test” appearance that repels people from her. But underneath her was a kind and brave heart that helped her start living an extraordinary life, secure her children's future, and make friends.
Mary Anne Bevan, an Englishwoman, lived happily with her husband and four children. She was a pretty pretty woman when she was young.
Wikipedia
Everything changed when, as an adult, she began to develop a rare, disfiguring disease — acromegaly.
A benign tumor in the brain provokes excessive growth of bones, cartilage, and soft tissues. In addition, it disrupts the functioning of vital organs — the heart, kidneys, and circulatory system.
This is now known about the disease, and it is possible to make life easier for patients, and at that time, a woman whose face, arms and legs are distorted beyond recognition was simply considered a freak. With no other options, Bevan used this feature to earn a living and support herself and her family.
Mary Anne Bevan when she was young
Mary spent her childhood on the eastern edge of London. She was no different from her many siblings.
She became a nurse at age 20 and married a farmer in 1903. During 11 years of marriage, the couple had two daughters and two sons. Unfortunately, Mary's husband passed away in 1914, leaving her with children and a small household.
Trouble doesn't come alone, and soon after losing her husband, she began to show signs of acromegaly, a disorder marked by overproduction of growth hormones in the pituitary gland.
Very quickly, her appearance changed terribly. The limbs became huge, the forehead and lower jaw moved forward. No one wanted to hire a disfigured woman, so she started doing whatever she could to provide for her family.
One day, the farmer she worked for noticed that Mary had what it takes to compete with the ugliest women (I must say that they were popular back then).
The career of the “ugliest woman in the world”
Mary would probably kill herself if she were weak. But this woman had a steel rod in it. She took these words as advice and soon signed up for the “Homeless Woman” contest, where she easily beat 250 competitors in the fight for the dubious title.
The owners of the traveling fair found out about it and invited them to join them. Mary knew from her doctor that her condition would only get worse, so for the sake of her children she decided to agree and began to travel to the British Isles.
In 1920, Bevan earned another regular income: she earned $12 each for posing for photos, which were then sold by the circus during performances.
By the way, the circus agent found that Mary had “what might sound like a paradox — an ugly woman's face that wasn't unpleasant.” At the same time, she was invited to join the famous show at Dreamland Park on Coney Island in the United States. At the time, this was the pinnacle of success for performers of this kind.
For £10 a week (a lot of money at the time), she showed herself to a laughing public, enduring humiliating treatment. She was often dressed in rough clothes that accentuated her non-feminine appearance. Mary smiled and offered to buy postcards with her image on it. All this brought her a very good income and gave her children the opportunity to get a decent education.
She later performed with the famous Ringling Brothers Circus, and her fees reached 20,000 pounds a year (she would now be considered a millionaire, in modern money, 1.6 million pounds. dollars).
A scary woman with a kind heart
Mary had friends in and out of the crowd. Even romances have happened. While performing at Madison Square Garden in 1929, she had an affair with giraffe warden Andrew.
She even agreed to go to a beauty salon for treatments, but when she saw herself in the mirror, she said she'd better get back to work.
In fact, everything Mary was going through could not but affect her psyche. Although Mary's physician wrote in an article in Time that it was unethical to classify people with illnesses as freaks, ridicule and insulting attacks from the crowd knocked her down, and she began abuse alcohol.
Recent years
Mary stayed on Coney Island until 1933, performing until she died at the age of 59. She was buried in London, just as she asked her children to.
The last scandal involving Mary Ann occurred in the early 2000s, when a well-known postcard maker used her image for an unethical joke. After the complaint, all postcards were withdrawn from sale.