The Truth About Tuesday Weld

Unsettling Facts About Tuesday Weld, The Teenager Who Survived Hollywood
HOME
PEOPLE
PLACES
THINGS
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Advertise
Contact Us
About Us
Unsettling Facts About Tuesday Weld, The Teenager Who Survived Hollywood
June 23, 2022 |
Byron Fast
Unsettling Facts About Tuesday Weld, The Teenager Who Survived Hollywood
Hollywood is filled with stories of child actors who grew up too fast, but Tuesday Weld might just be the ultimate one. Weld's penchant for scandal made people uncomfortable, but she still managed to become a star in her own right. Before that day, however, she was a verifiable hot mess. Let’s sink our teeth into these facts, and see what turned Tuesday Weld into an unlikely Hollywood survivor.
1. She Didn't Have It Easy
Actress Tuesday Weld was born Susan Ker Weld and it was not, as you might expect, on a Tuesday. It was Friday, August 27, 1943—a fateful day in the middle of Manhattan. But before you get images in your head of a privileged Manhattan upbringing, think again. While Weld’s father’s family had a lot of money, her father didn’t . Weld's family lived a precarious existence—one that could tumble at any moment.
Flickr, oneredsf1
Advertisement
2. She Carried His Baggage
Weld’s father, Lathrop Motley Weld, was the black sheep of the family. He had some serious baggage: addiction and a scandalous romantic history. After all, Weld's mother was her father's  fourth wife. It could be that the only thing good about Lathrop was his ability to access his parents’ money. If that tap were ever to dry up, Weld would be in a heap of trouble.
Flickr, Isabel Santos Pilot
Advertisement
3. She Faced An Early Tragedy
Just before she turned four, Susan Weld faced her very first crisis. Her small family became even smaller : Lathrop passed suddenly and left them in a terrible financial position. Weld’s mother, Yosene Balfour Ker, had her hands full with three kids and no source of income. What could she do? She needed a guardian angel. However, what she got was something altogether different.
Flickr, kate gabrielle
Advertisement
4. She Lived In A Slum
Weld, her mother, and her siblings were living in a shabby, cold-water flat in a Manhattan slum—and still barely making rent. Weld’s father’s wealthy family saw the difficult position that Weld and her family were in. They lived up in Tuxedo Park—which was about as fancy as it sounds—and could easily help out the family with some much-needed cash.
Out of the goodness of their hearts, they offered a home and education to the kids. They did, however, have one completely cruel stipulation.
Wikipedia
Advertisement
5. She Was At Their Mercy
The Welds offered to save Tuesday and her siblings, but there was a vicious catch: The kids could never see their mother again. It turned out that the Weld clan thought that Yosene had come straight from the gutter. It’s strange because Yosene’s father was a Canadian-American illustrator whose drawings appeared in Life Magazine. She was also related to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
Sounds fairly far from the gutter to me, except for one small detail.
Wikimedia Commons
Advertisement
6. Her Mother Was The Issue
Yes, Weld’s mother had come from a fine family, but it turned out she’d been an orphan. The Welds held this against her because they had no idea who her real family had been. They assumed that she came from trashy roots and wanted her as far away from her children as possible. Yosene took one look at her three lovely children— and made a bold decision.
Wikipedia
Advertisement
7. She Had Something Special
Yosene couldn't bear to part with her three children, so she said no thank you to the Welds’ twisted offer. That, however, left her alone and without an income to feed and clothe her three children. It was in this desperate moment that Yosene noticed something about her daughter Susan that gave her an idea. Susan was remarkably pretty, and Yosene had a brilliant idea that would solve her small family’s financial dilemma.
Flickr, monstersforsale
Advertisement
8. She Took On An Outrageous Responsibility
Yosene was desperate for money, so she tried to find work for young Susan as a model. Weld’s young life soon became filled with countless auditions. To make matters worse, she had the added pressure of earning money for food, as well as supporting her mother emotionally. Yosene expected Weld to fix all the problems in her life. All of this happened before Weld was even 10—and the consequences were chilling.
Flickr, Film Star Vintage
Advertisement
9. She Broke Down
At nine years old, the pressures of being a replacement father to a family of four were too much for Weld, and she had a nervous breakdown. Yosene took the opportunity to move the family to Fort Lauderdale, where Weld could finally attend school more regularly—away from all the auditions back in New York City. Sadly it was too late for Susan Weld to have a normal childhood.
Flickr, Mike McBey
Advertisement
10. She Found An Unhealthy Solution
Weld had very grown-up problems, so she turned to a very grown-up solution: booze. By 10, she already had a pretty serious addiction. However, the pressures of providing for a family still remained, so Weld had to start working again. This time, her mother left the other kids with a friend in Fort Lauderdale and took Weld back to the Big Apple.
It was time to make much-needed money.
Flickr, Film Star Vintage
Advertisement
11. She Had No Choice
Weld’s modeling soon led to something else: acting roles. When she was just 12 years old, she got in front of a camera for a small role in a television series. That same year, 1956, the big screen came calling and the director was a big deal in more ways than one. Alfred Hitchcock gave Weld a small role as a giggling adolescent in his film, The Wrong Man .
But appearing in a film was no fairy tale. For Weld, it was closer to a nightmare.
Getty Images
Advertisement
12. She Had Adult Problems
After her one stint on TV and one on film, Weld still had serious emotional problems. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for acting. Or maybe she wasn’t cut out for being the sole earner for a family of five. These pressures eventually led Weld down a dangerous path: adding pills to her booze addiction. And what about her young love life? Well, it was equally messed up.
Flickr, Laura Loveday
Advertisement
13. She Needed Help
Weld claims that she had her first full-on affair at the tender age of just 11. She also says that she tried to take her own life at 12, and for a very adult reason: She'd fallen in love with a gay man. On that disturbing day, Yosene found Weld unconscious and rushed her to the hospital. Because of her attempt, Weld ended up in a coma, temporarily losing her hearing and vision.
When she finally woke up, Weld begged her mother for some psychological help—but Yosene's response was infuriating.
Getty Images
Advertisement
14. She Took The Lead
Weld's mother refused to get her the help she needed. Instead, she continued to push her daughter into the spotlight against her will. Weld’s first lead role was in Rock, Rock, Rock!, called a jukebox musical because the songs in it were already hit singles of the time. While Weld was certainly the lead, the film’s real draw was the list of already established singers working on the film.
Still, Weld stood out—and for a scandalous reason.
Rock Rock Rock! (1956), Vanguard Productions
Advertisement
15. She Was Different
While there were plenty of young actors playing teenage roles, critics noticed something unique about Weld—she portrayed them as unwholesome. This led one critic from Time magazine to call her “the archetypal nymphet”. It seemed that Weld’s inappropriate childhood was coming out in her characters, and, sadly, she was receiving recognition for that.
While Hollywood is still famous for hiring adults to play teenagers, when it came to Weld, the opposite was true.
Rock Rock Rock! (1956), Vanguard Productions
Advertisement
16. She Looked Older
Weld must have looked…

Text scraped from the landing page for research purposes. © respective owners. This text is sourced from the advertiser's public landing page; for removal, contact dmca@luba.media.