The stunning bombshell shot to fame with one of the biggest box-office hits of the 2000s.
But long before she became one of Hollywood’s hottest actresses, she was just a kid trying to make it.
Grew up in rural Tennessee
It’s striking how often Hollywood stars seem to run in the family. If your mom or dad is a well-known actor or works in the entertainment industry, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself following in their footsteps.
Over the years, countless examples have proven that talent, and opportunity, can be a family affair. We could just point to Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas as an example, or even Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson.
But the actress we’re focusing on today didn’t have any Hollywood connections at all. She wasn’t born into fame and had to fight her way up entirely on her own.
Even as a child, she dreamed of becoming an actress, seeing it as a way to escape the hardships of her early life.
But when she finally reached the success she had always longed for, she realized it didn’t magically fix her struggles. She reflected, “It just always seemed really glamorous. As a child, you think everyone who’s famous is very wealthy and very powerful. I felt like, once I achieved that success then all of my internal issues would be solved, and I would be this really confident person. And I’m not.”
This actress, whose name is now widely known all over the world, was born in 1986 and raised in the small town of Rockwood, Tennessee. She has described her hometown as a “semi-mountain town, very rural.” She recalled, “My dad used to hunt ducks, and my mom would put them in the pot. We lived really modestly. We had very little money.”
Emotionally abusive
Tragically, her parents — her mother and her father, a parole officer — divorced when she was just three years old. Her mother later remarried, and she and her sister were raised by their mother and stepfather, Tony. She grew up “very strictly Pentecostal,” though she later attended Catholic school for 12 years.
”I was grounded for all of my childhood. Not most – all,” she once shared.
The actress wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend or even invite friends over to her house. In fact, she wasn’t even allowed to decorate her own room. Every detail was chosen for her.
And what made things even worse, according to the star, was her stepfather’s behavior. He was “verbally, mentally, and emotionally abusive” until his death.
After her parents’ divorce, her real father was barely around, and she felt the absence keenly. Even as she got older, she reflected on how much the split affected her. “It’s also a feeling of not being acceptable, and wanting to be. Of course, I think that has something to do with my parents’ divorce and not seeing my dad, and always feeling rejected. You don’t ever really get past that,” she admitted.
Slut-shamed in middle school
Despite her striking looks and talent, school wasn’t a safe haven either.
She faced relentless bullying and even had to eat lunch in the bathroom to escape torment. “I think, for me, what was intimidating was that I’ve always gotten along better with boys. That rubbed some people the wrong way,” she told Elle.
“Everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn’t like me for that. I’ve had only one great girlfriend my whole life,” she added.
”I’ve always felt different and alien, and that only confirmed my suspicions of being strange,” she told Rolling Stone.
And the actress definitely had a mind of her own, and it could be a little mischievous. At one point, she got caught sneaking Mary-Kate and Ashley cosmetics from a local Walmart – and ended up banned from the store for life.
When she was 12, she began receiving a lot of stares and attention from grown men, and for a time, she misused that attention.
In middle school, older girls would throw ketchup packets at her and hurl cruel names like ”slut” and ”whore” — for reasons she still doesn’t understand, since she didn’t lose her virginity until she was 17. ”Anyway, it spread like wildfire,” she recalls. ”As soon as you’re established as the weak one, everyone preys on you.”
Body dysmorphia
Her challenging childhood took a heavier toll during her teen years, leading her to develop an eating disorder and struggle with manic depression.
”I have body dysmorphia — I don’t ever see myself the way other people see me,” she said in 2023. ”There’s never a point in my life where I loved my body, never, ever.”
”When I was little, that was an obsession I had of, like, but I should look this way,” the actress explained. ”And why I had an awareness of my body that young I’m not sure, and it definitely wasn’t environmental because I grew up in a very religious environment where bodies weren’t even acknowledged.”
”The journey of loving myself is going to be never-ending, I think,” she added.
But how did this young woman manage to break free from all those dark thoughts and rise to the very top of Hollywood? Her passion for performing showed up early.
By age five, she was already training in dance and drama, and by 13, she began modeling, quickly winning several prestigious competitions. She lived at home with her mom until she was old enough to support herself, and at 17, she made the bold move to California.
Skyrocketing to fame
Her acting debut came in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, playing the spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival to Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen).
She soon landed a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006), which put her on the map. And then came 2007 — the year the world couldn’t ignore her any longer. With her breakout role as Mikaela Banes in Transformers, Megan Fox rocketed into superstardom almost overnight, proving that talent, ambition, and a little Hollywood magic can truly change a life.
After skyrocketing to fame in Transformers, Fox was set to return for two more sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
But tensions flared on set when director Michael Bay reportedly asked her to gain ten pounds for the role. Fox later admitted to GQ that she had lost roughly 30 pounds during filming, living mostly on water and vinegar, and the disagreement over her weight became a public talking point.
By the time the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, rolled around, Fox was out of the franchise, famously comparing her experience working under Bay to “working for Hitler” — comments that sparked headlines and controversy.
2009 also saw her land her first lead role outside the Transformers universe: the horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body, written by Academy Award–winning Diablo Cody. While critics were mixed at release, Fox’s performance drew praise, and over the years, the film has grown a loyal cult following, even being reassessed as a “forgotten feminist classic.”
Beyond the Transformers saga, she took on the role of April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Out of the Shadows (2016), and showcased her comedic chops with appearances in seasons five and six of New Girl (2016–2017).
Why she got breast implants
Over the years, her striking looks have often been in the spotlight. Widely recognized as a sex symbol, she’s graced the pages of magazines like Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. At one point, she was ranked #14 on Men’s Health’s list of the 100 Hottest Women of All Time.
But coping with the public’s constant scrutiny of her looks has been a lifelong struggle for Megan Fox. She’s battled body dysmorphia since she was just five.
And she vividly remembers the very first time it hit. “I even remember what I was wearing,” Fox recalled in an interview with Men’s Health. “I had black shorts that had white polka dots on them, and I was five…I was in the back seat [of the car], looking at my legs.”
Another early source of insecurity, she said, was her developing breasts.
“My mom said that I used to go into the bathroom and stand on the toilet and pull up my shirt to see if my boobies had grown, and I would get really upset that I didn’t have big boobs,” she explained, something that partly motivated her later decision to “take more control” over her body by getting breast implants.
Megan Fox’s love life has been a whirlwind of highs, lows, and second chances. She began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, when she was just 18 and he was 30. “I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18,” she admitted.
The couple became engaged in 2006, broke it off in 2009, but were reportedly re-engaged and married in 2010 in a private Hawaii ceremony.
Together, they had three sons and Fox also became stepmother to Green’s son from a previous relationship. Their marriage was rocky, with multiple separations and divorce filings, finally ending in 2021.
In June 2020, she went public with her relationship with singer Machine Gun Kelly, appearing in his “Bloody Valentine” video. They got engaged in 2022, but called it off in March 2024. Later that year, Fox announced she was expecting a child with him, and in March 2025, she gave birth to their daughter, Saga Blade Fox-Baker.
The actress says her children have helped her grow into a better person, telling The Washington Post that they “kind of saved me.” In turn, she focuses on supporting them without controlling every step.
“They were born to be who they are, and it’s my job to support that process, not to get involved and micromanage and mold them into what I think they should be,” she explained.
Having endured relentless scrutiny, body-shaming, and even cruel slut-shaming in the public eye, Fox now hopes her story serves as a reminder to approach others with compassion.
Fox has urged, in her own heartfelt words, that people be a little gentler and more empathetic when commenting on someone else’s appearance. And that’s definitely something I can relate to. Did you know about Megan Fox’s turbulent childhood and all the hardships she had to go through? Share your thoughts in the comments.