Gloria Hemingway
Gloria Hemingway (born Gregory Hancock Hemingway, November 12, 1931 – October 1, 2001) was an American physician and writer who was the third and youngest child of author Ernest Hemingway. Although she was assigned male at birth and lived most of her life publicly as a man, she struggled with her gender identity from a young age, and in her sixties she underwent surgery to transition, preferring the name Gloria when possible.
Gloria Hemingway | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gregory Hancock Hemingway November 12, 1931 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | October 1, 2001 (aged 69) Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Ketchum Cemetery Ketchum, Idaho, U.S. |
| Other names | Vanessa |
| Alma mater | University of Miami Medical School (MD) |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, writer |
| Spouses | Shirley Jane Rhodes
(m. 1951; div. 1956)Alice Thomas
(m. 1959; div. 1967)Valerie Danby-Smith
(m. 1967; div. 1989)Ida Mae Galliher
(m. 1992; div. 1995)
(m. 1997) |
| Children | 8, including Lorian and John |
| Parent(s) | Ernest Hemingway Pauline Pfeiffer |
| Relatives | Patrick Hemingway (brother) Jack Hemingway (half-brother) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | U.S. Army |
| Years of service | 1956 |
| Rank | Private |
A good athlete and a crack shot, Gloria longed to be a typical Hemingway hero and trained as a professional hunter in Africa, but her alcoholism prevented her gaining a license, as it also cost her her medical license in America. Gloria maintained a long-running feud with her father, stemming from a 1951 incident when her arrest for entering a bar "in drag" caused an argument between Ernest and Gloria's mother Pauline. Pauline died from a stress-related condition the next day, which Ernest blamed on Gloria and Gloria later believed to have been caused by Ernest.
Her bestselling 1976 memoir of her father, Papa: A Personal Memoir, was seen by some to reflect troubles of her own. These included wearing women's clothes, which she ascribed to gender dysphoria.