Their Ugly Duckling Was A Goddess

I was the world’s most unexpected late-blooming masterpiece.

My parents were devout worshippers of physical and acoustic perfection. My father was an Academy Award–winning actor; my mother, a multi-Grammy-winning pop diva. Yet, when I came into this world, I looked like a half-formed, squawking creature. My newborn cries were raspy and grating, like a frog in a swamp, rattling the maternity ward until even the nurses winced.

My parents gave me the dismissive nickname "Bean," treating me like an unsightly pebble to be kicked out of sight, and shipped me off to my grandmother’s quiet…