She had planned to move to New York for college but decided to leave a year early and complete her senior year there. In researching The Glass Castle true story, we learned that the real Jeannette Walls moved to New York City after her junior year in high school. When did Jeannette move to New York City in real life? Jeannette was offered a babysitting job in Iowa for the summer but decided to give it to Lori so that she could work in exchange for a ticket to New York. However, just as Lori was about to move, their father stole the money from the piggy bank they kept it in. Jeannette, her sister Lori, and her brother Brian worked for nearly a year to save up enough money to move away from their parents to New York City. The kids became fed up with their situation, especially after their mother Rose Mary decided to quit teaching to focus on her art. She was soon back to cooking hot dogs by herself.ĭid Jeannette's parents have any job skills? She remained in the hospital for several days recovering from her burns until her father showed up and took her home against the doctor's wishes. A neighbor drove them to the hospital, where Jeannette was placed on a bed of ice. Her mother, who was too busy painting to make her lunch, ran in and wrapped her in a blanket. Jeannette was trying to cook her own hot dogs on the stovetop when the gas flame caught her dress on fire.

In this sense, he correlates to Max Greenfield's wealthy accountant character David in the movie, despite the character being polished with fiction to play up the contrasting worlds.ĭid Jeannette really set herself on fire while trying to make her own lunch on the stove as a three-year-old? Born and raised on Park Avenue, Goldberg contradicted her own alcoholic father and impoverished upbringing. Not exactly, though he's intended to be a streamlined version of her real-life boyfriend at the time, Eric Goldberg (who she ended up marrying). Is Jeannette's fiancé David, played by Max Greenfield, based on a real person? Ella Anderson (right) portrays young Jeannette in The Glass Castle movie. As a child, the real Jeannette Walls (left) was forced to dumpster dive in order to survive.

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