Kicked out of her own home, this girl became one of the funniest women in the world

She shot to fame in 1979 as a comedienne, actress, and sex symbol.

Later, she appeared in Superman III in Hollywood and reinvented herself as a U.S.-based psychologist, sex-and-relationships author, and broadcaster.

Today, she lives in a stronghold of Trump supporters in Florida, continuing her work and passions with the same energy and drive she has always shown.

A heroin addict forced himself upon her

Born under the crisp skies of Takapuna, Auckland in 1949, this actress arrived into a world brimming with curiosity.

By the age of four, her life had already become a journey across oceans, relocating to Australia alongside her brilliant scientist parents and two spirited sisters.

Everything seemed possible, until a harrowing moment changed her forever. According to her autobiography, she was raped at age 16 by a 35-year-old heroin addict and contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

She kept the incident to herself, but once her parents discovered her infection, they kicked her out of the family home. As she recalled, ”I remember the feeling well, because I still experience it every time someone rejects me, even in some relatively small way.”

As mentioned, the comedienne’s parents were academics — her dad a zoologist, her mom a biologist. They were distant, cold, and sometimes outright harsh, even telling her she was like an experiment.

“Did they deliberately deprive me of love and comfort to see how I’d turn out? Sometimes it felt that way,” the actress wrote in her book.