Janis Joplin's hometown of Port Arthur Texas didn't always feel like home. As Biography describes, she was pretty well-liked at school until the kids no longer thought she looked pretty. At around age 14, the ravages of puberty caused acne and weight gain. In high school, she bucked popular fashion trends, opting instead to dress in men's shirts, short skirts, or tights. She became the target of taunting and lewd rumors.
College offered yet more lessons in human cruelty. As Texas Monthly details, while Joplin attended the University of Texas at Austin, she was nominated for the Ugliest Man on Campus contest. Her friends said the experience humiliated her. Weeks later, she wrote and recorded the song, "It's Sad to Be Alone." Sadly, she would forge a lasting friendship with hard drugs and alcohol.
According to The Guardian, the documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue paints the singer as a woman "haunted by self-doubt" and "cursed by body dysmorphia." This internal turmoil followed her to the peak of fame and brought about her downfall. In 1970, Janis Joplin died of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 27. Celebrity Net Worth estimates that she was worth $5 million.
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