She Was Born With a Horse Face and Laughed At. What Happened Next Shocked People All Over the World

Grace was born with a facial deformity that made her face resemble that of a horse. As a result, she was an object of mockery and ridicule. But you won’t believe how her life turned out.

Grace was born on a farm close to the small town of Numa, Iowa, on the 14th of March 1888. She was a beautiful baby who had a normal face like many other kids out there. Her parents loved her and looked forward to the bright future they were sure was in front of her. However, a few short months after she was born, her parents noticed something they thought was a very weird birthmark on her face. They paid no attention to it at first, but as months passed, the mark increased in size, and Grace’s parents began to worry that something was wrong with their daughter.

By the age of two, the mark on Grace’s face had grown bigger, and the kids on the street began to make fun of her, making her childhood as hellish as possible. “That looks like a giant piece stuck on your face,” many of the children would say. “It is not little,” Grace would scream at them. Then she would run into her house and lock herself in a room and cry uncontrollably.

Her mother, Rebecca, knew well not to disturb her whenever she was crying, so she would just let her be. Whenever Grace was done crying, she would open the door, and her mom, the elderly woman, would then place Grace on her lap and comfort her, telling her not to let the words of her peers get to her. “Don’t worry about the things they say. Your birthmark makes you very unique. You’re specially created by God, and God loves you no matter what your friends think,” her mom would say.

Apart from the physical defect, Grace had difficulty speaking, which made her peers ridicule her more. Luckily for her, her immediate family gave her all the support she needed. As time passed by, Grace stopped caring about her peers’ opinions regarding her looks, all thanks to her mother’s advice. She began to accept her special birthmark, as her mom would often call it. But nothing could have prepared either Grace or her mother for what happened next.

Rebecca believed Grace’s birthmark would reduce over time, and she made it a point of duty to always tell her daughter that she only had to walk around with a birthmark for a little while. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. As Grace grew, the growth on her face grew in size, gradually disfiguring her face. By the time she turned 14, her face had doubled in size, and she was almost unrecognizable.

Confused and troubled, her parents took her to the clinic, and after running several tests for months, the doctors finally diagnosed Grace with Sturge-Weber syndrome, a rare neurological disorder present at birth and characterized by a port-wine stain birthmark on the forehead and upper eyelid on one side of the face. The worst part? The doctors had no cure for this condition, so Grace was told that she would have to live with the physical deformity for the rest of her life.

After the diagnosis, Grace’s face, especially her lips, began to increase in size. It was just as if it grew by the hour; it was that bad. As a teenager, Grace learned how to wear makeup so she could hide some of her deformity. Sadly, there was only little the makeup could do. In fact, her peers would make fun of her that she still looked very ugly despite using makeup.

It wasn’t enough that Grace was constantly bullied; no one except her family wanted to be seen with her as well. She had no friends. In fact, the street kids would burst into tears whenever they saw her, so many parents asked Rebecca to keep her scary-looking daughter indoors so she wouldn’t make their kids suffer a panic attack. It didn’t matter that Grace was a kind and sweet girl; many people considered her a freak.

Grace knew her family was worried because of her condition, and she didn’t want to add to their troubles, so she began putting on a bold front whenever she was with them. However, when she was alone, she would cry bitterly, shuddering from head to toe and wishing she would wake up from this nightmare. Often, she suffered a mental decline in addition to facial deformity. Luckily for Grace, she showed no signs of intellectual disability. She had an excellent memory and learned to speak fluently. Grace understood that her chances of happiness were slim because of her deformity. Still, she wanted a meaningful and fulfilled life regardless. It was this desire that made her take part in the ugliest woman contest held in 1935.

When Grace broke the news to her mother that she had signed up for the contest, her mother was distraught. “How can you do that to yourself? Do you want to be a laughing stock?” she asked, fighting back tears. Grace said, “I’m already a laughing stock. It doesn’t matter what I do or not. I just want to live my life. What’s wrong with that?” “Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with that, my child. I understand you. Just do whatever makes you happy. You have my support,” Rebecca said tearfully, and the duo shared a long warm hug.

In due time, Grace went for the ugliest woman contest, and guess what? She was declared the winner. Harry Lewiston, the owner of a traveling circus, was present at the beauty contest. His traveling circus had performers who were labeled freaks because of their unusual appearances. Regardless of their appearance, people loved the shows and paid to watch the entertainers, so the company made lots of money. Harry immediately knew that Grace would make a perfect addition to this theme, so he approached her and offered her a position in his company.

At first, Grace hesitated. For some reason, she knew that if she accepted it, she would be casting away her pride and fully accepting that people regarded her as a freak. Also, she understood that she would no longer be able to live a simple and private life. Grace liked her privacy and didn’t like pictures of herself taken, but if she agreed to Harry’s offer, she knew she would have to be in the public eye, and many pictures of her would be taken and would circulate the world. But then, after she thought about the fact that no man would want her for a wife, nor would any employer hire her with such a face, she finally accepted Harry’s offer.

In a short time, Grace became famous. Whenever they came to a new city and held a show, many people came to watch her. It was true that they laughed at her and even called her “horse face” as well as some other cruel remarks. But Grace was also rewarded generously. She earned over 170 dollars in a week, and at that time, few people got paid that kind of money, and even fewer of them were women.

A few years later, Grace had become very wealthy. She often treated herself to the things she liked, including the latest fashion items like clothes, shoes, and hairstyles. Her makeup was always exquisitely done when she stepped out. And over time, some people started to admire her sense of style and carriage. One of the male circus performers also admired Grace, and when she shared with him how much she wanted to be loved, he took advantage of the opportunity. Consequently, Grace got pregnant, and she wedded the circus performer. Grace gave birth to a son, Elmer, and he became her whole world. She started to build her priorities and life around him.

When he was young, she didn’t travel much so that she could have time for him, but as he got older, she took him with her to perform, and everyone in the company was enamored by his charm and wit. As a toddler, Elmer was extremely fond of his mother and was always by her side. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful person in the entire world, and this made Grace feel very special and happy.

Unfortunately, Grace’s marriage with the circus performer didn’t last long. The man left her one day and never came back. Grace was devastated. She had given everything to make her marriage work, but the man was just unable to look past her appearance. Many people made fun of Grace after her husband left her. They felt she deserved the betrayal and heartbreak. However, a few people felt pity for her and wondered how she would go forward from there. Would she marry? Would she quit being part of the traveling circus and give up on her dreams? No one knew.

But what happened next shocked people all over the world. Grace’s husband left behind a precious gift when he abandoned her. It was Grace’s second child, Stella. Stella was so beautiful, and her brother Elmer was handsome as well. Together, the siblings made such an attractive sight. Grace was an incredible mother to them. She often put her children before her career and went to great lengths to ensure their well-being.

Elmer and Stella shared a close relationship with their mother. Grace also made sure her children lacked nothing. When they came of age, they took over as their celebrity mother’s manager and traveled with her on her trips. Grace’s children were her greatest treasures, and she found true love and happiness with them.

Grace’s life looked so bleak at the beginning, but she refused to let her disability define her, and she left behind a great legacy. Until her death, Grace had a good source of income. Rumor has it that she died with a very big smile on her face, knowing that her children would uphold her legacy.