Sara Andrews, raised in Cookville Tennessee, spent most of her youth in the recesses of the deep south. Her family came from a lineage of impoverished southerners, who despite their best, fell on many hard times. Sara recalls, “My mother came from completely nothing and strived to do her best to take care of me. I was incredibly feminine growing up, and she never scolded me for that… She let me play with barbie dolls and let me be myself. Even when it came to my father, who hated my feminine side.. my mother stood up to him, telling him his behavior was unacceptable”. Sara however would later end up in the foster care circuit from 10 to 17 years old, and for that time period she moved around to various different cities and different homes.
Sara, despite the many odds against her, fought her way through life with what she describes as an inherent rebellious nature. “I was really born with this incredible rebellious streak,” Sara says,” I remember when I was a kid, I wanted my mother to buy me a toy and she couldn’t afford it. I was just a kid so I didn’t understand anything about money or being poor.. so I threw an incredible tantrum. When we got home I refused to go inside, and instead climbed up the apple tree in our yard. I stayed up there all day and into the beginning of the night. It was perfect because whenever I got hungry I would just eat apples. When it became super late, my mother asked me to come down and I still said no. .. So she called the cops. Let me tell you, … the cops came… the fire fighters came.. and EVEN THE PRIEST CAME.. And they pleaded for me to come down… I still said no. It came to the point where they were making an effort to bring me down, and I responded by hurling apples at them. Yep. I threw apples at all of them,.. even the priest. I think I was seven at that point?”