Early Life
Born in 1970, Brando was raised by her mother Tarita on the island of Tahiti, south of Papeete. Her parents divorced in 1972.
While growing up, Marlon Brando did not allow Cheyenne and her brother Tehotu to visit him in the United States. In 1976 he stated, "I don't think I will let them go to the States. As Tahitians, they are too trusting. They would be destroyed in the pace of life in the States." As a child, Cheyenne reportedly adored her father and bragged about him. As she entered her teenage years, her feelings towards her father changed. In a 1990 interview she stated, "I have come to despise my father for the way he ignored me when I was a child. He came to the island maybe once a year but really didn't seem to care whether he saw me or not. He wanted us but he didn't want us."
Cheyenne eventually dropped out of high school and began experimenting with drugs including LSD, PCP, marijuana, and tranquilizers. During this time, Brando began a modeling career.
In 1989, Brando was seriously injured in a car accident when she crashed a jeep she was driving after her father refused to allow her to visit him while he was filming The Freshman in Toronto. She sustained a broken jaw, a laceration under her eye, and a torn ear. Marlon Brando flew Cheyenne to Los Angeles to undergo extensive reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. The accident effectively ended Brando's modeling career. After the accident, she began experiencing bouts of depression and attempted suicide.
Read more about this topic: Cheyenne Brando
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