Jeanette Walls was born on April 21st, 1960, in Phoenix Arizona. She had 3 siblings, Lori, Maureen, & Brian. Her early life was often rootless, with her family often living in temporary homes or in the desert. Her family often shuttled from place to place, moving from Phoenix, Arizona to San Francisco, California, to Battle Mountain, Nevada, and eventually to Welch, West Virginia. As Jeanette grew older, she came into conflict with her parents many times over their inability to properly care for them. This led to her and her siblings forming plans to leave Welch to move to New York City when they graduated from high school.
Jeanette regularly came into conflict with her father, due to alcoholism and inability to hold down a job, but despite that, she always felt very close to him.Her families monetary status often made her feel isolated from her peers, with her often being bullied or even assaulted. As she grew, she realized that she would need to keep up where her parents fell behind, and got her first job at 13 years old, working as an assistant salesman at a local jewelry store.
As Jeanette went through high school, she joined the jouralism club that published the school paper , and eventually became Editor in Chief. When Jeanette moved to New York, she eventually became a reporter for a paper called The Phoenix. Her manager believed that her talents were wasted, and convinced her to go to college to try and pursue a better career.
After Jeanette graduated college, she began working with a magazine writing a gossip article, and started dating a man named Eric, whom she moved in with in his penthouse.