Thanks to such things as the daring motorcycle stunt that he performed in the timeless action
blockbuster The Great Escape, Steve McQueen has gone down in Hollywood history as one
of the manliest and most confident actors of all time.
However, behind Steve’s confident and manly demeanor was a scared child desperate to prove
himself.
Steven had a tough childhood.
Though this childhood only made him stronger on the outside, he could never overcome it
internally.
Join Facts Verse as we explore how Steve McQueen never recovered from his childhood traumas.
Early Life For decades on end, the late Steve McQueen
has held a reputation as one of the coolest stars to ever grace movie screens.
In fact, Steve was so cool during his time that he was awarded the moniker of “the
King of Cool”.
The legend of the actor was likely only made all the larger by the fact of his untimely
death, which occurred when the actor was only 50 years old.
Many fans were taken by surprise when Steve passed away from a heart attack at that relatively
young age.
Steven himself had known for years that he was on the losing end of a cancer battle but
he had kept the information away from the public.
By the time the public was made privy, it was already too late.
By the end of 1980, Steve was gone.
Steve McQueen’s last film was a vehicle by the name of The Hunter, and it was released
the same year as his death.
Steve already knew that he was sick during the film’s production, but he kept that
fact to himself and persevered as if nothing was wrong.
In secret, the actor was undergoing experimental cancer treatments in the desperate hope that
he’d be able to find something that worked.
These experimental treatments included animal cells being injected into Steve via intramuscular
injections of animal cells, as well as coffee enemas that the actor was given routinely.
In the end, it wasn’t specifically the cancer that got Steve.
However, the actor likely wouldn’t have passed away at the age of 50 if he weren’t
undergoing an incredible health battle.
What really did Steve in was a heart attack that he suffered while undergoing surgery
related to the cancer.
Steve was having a tumor removed, and he ironically ended up passing away as a result of a cardiac
arrest that he suffered during the process.
With that, iconic screen actor Steve McQueen was taken from the world far too early.
Therapist Interview Since Steve McQueen at least knew that he
was closer to death than he was away from it, he was able to take some steps towards
coming to terms with the fact that the end was approaching.
One of the ways in which the actor did this was by sitting down for some recorded conversations
with a therapist by the name of Brugh Joy.
Posthumously, these conversations helped fans get a much deeper understanding of what made
Steve tick.
The recording was used prominently in a 2015 documentary about the classic actor, which
was called Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans.
One of the most shocking things that this interview between therapist Brugh Joy and
the late Steve McQueen brought to the public’s attention was just how insecure the actor
was, even right up until the end.
After having accomplished what Steve did during his lifetime, one might think that fame and
celebrity alone would’ve vanquished even the strongest of insecurities.
However, the insecurities that plagued Steve were fundamental ones that the actor could
never shake, and they were instilled in him during his childhood.
According to the late Steve McQueen himself, the actor never received the love and attention
needed from his parents when he was a child.
Because of this, he was always lashing out and doing stuff for attention at every opportunity.
He was born in the state of Indiana, and his father abandoned his mother when he was still
young.
Steve’s mother was said to have been an underage prostitute, and it was also alleged
that she suffered from unchecked alcoholism.
Unable to take care of her son, she ended up passing Steve on to one of his uncles.
This uncle lived on a Missouri farm, and Steve didn’t feel that he fit in there.
By the age of 14, Steve had run away from his uncle’s farm and was living on the streets
of Los Angeles.
Homeless Teenage Years As a homeless teenager in Los Angeles, Steve
McQueen took up with a street gang.
It was hear that the angry youth finally got the chance to show the world that he wasn’t
to be trifled with.
Sadly, expressing his machismo in this street gang didn’t do much to ward off the trauma
of the future star having been abandoned as a child.
In fact, nothing ever would.
Still, the time that Steve spent on the streets of Los Angeles undoubtedly contributed to
his hardened visage and attitude.
If it wasn’t for Steve’s hardened upbringing, we would never have gotten the beloved screen
actor that he would go on to blossom into.
Even so, Steve himself may have considered a trade if given the opportunity.
After years spent living on the streets of Los Angeles, Steve McQueen made the choice
to step away from the gang that he had become a part of and join the United States Marines.
He joined the Marines in 1947 and served for a few years before being honorably discharged
in 1950.
Like his time on the streets, this time in service also undeniably contributed to the
way that Steve would present himself on the screen.
After returning to normal life in the wake of his honorable discharge from the United
States Marines, Steve McQueen was temporarily unsure of what to do with himself.
He went through various menial jobs, yet couldn’t decide on what field he wanted to try and
make a name for himself in.
Eventually, Steve got the idea that he might want to try acting.
The future star wasn’t so much interested in the craft as he was in the bounty of beautiful
women that could be found within the entertainment industry.
In addition to always being insecure, Steve was always a womanizer.
Perhaps, these two things went hand in hand for the beloved star.
Acting Years Even though Steve McQueen didn’t have a
whole lot of passion for acting, he proved pretty good at it!
The actor’s unique and troubled upbringing gave him a very special screen presence, and
audiences could tell that he was the real deal just by looking at him.
The actor wasn’t just tough, but he also had an effortless charisma about him that
couldn’t be learned… not to mention the fact that he was traditionally attractive
in a way other tough guys weren’t.
Steve McQueen loved women, and some may be surprised to learn that he was only married
thrice over the course of his lifetime.
Steve’s first wife was a non-famous figure who garnered the actor three children.
Steve and his first wife divorced towards the end of the 1960s because the actor was
having a hard time staying faithful.
After divorcing his first wife, Steve moved on to his second wife Ali MacGraw.
Whereas the actor’s first marriage had been more practical and traditional, his second
marriage was more akin to a torrid love affair.
Steve and Ali may have had great chemistry in bed, but they had a hard time getting along
elsewhere.
Steve McQueen’s third and final wife was just his style: a much younger woman that
waited on him hand and foot.
Steve was a traditionalist that preferred his women subservient.
His first wife had been subservient enough, but Steve had just been too much of a womanizer
at this time to keep it in his pants and do her good.
Ali MacGraw, on the other hand, never had any intention of being subservient to Steve
whatsoever.
If his first marriage was too hot and his second marriage was too cold, his third marriage
proved just right.
Steve’s third and final wife was named Barbara Minty.
She was nearly three decades his senior, and the actor didn’t have much energy to cheat
at that point in his life.
Final Years As early as during his marriage to Ali MacGraw,
Steve McQueen had begun flirting with leaving the entertainment industry behind.
Sadly, the actor never got to make good on the promise before his untimely death.
Him and Ali MacGraw had moved from Hollywood to Malibu in an attempt to give themselves
a modicum of space from the industry.
However, they ended up not taking this break very seriously.
With Barbara Minty, Steve had finally found the perfect person to escape from Hollywood
and settle down with.
Sadly, the two were only married for a couple of months before Steve’s death.
The actor had been envisioning a future where he could step away from it all and watch the
children that he had with his first wife grow up in peace alongside his third wife.
However, fate had other things in mind for the star.
Steve McQueen spent his whole life trying to prove how much of a man he was because
his parents didn’t love him.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Steve McQueen grew up on the streets
of Los Angeles and that he joined a gang at the age of 14?
Comment down below.