Betty Mae Page, who in childhood began spelling her first name “Bettie,” was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second of six children to Walter Roy Page (1896–1964) and Edna Mae Pirtle (1901–1986). At a young age, Page had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings, particularly after her father was convicted for car theft and spent two years in an Atlanta, Georgia, prison. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old, and her mother worked two jobs, one as a hairdresser during the day and washing laundry at night.Unable to care for all her children, Edna placed Page, at 10, and two sisters in a Protestant orphanage for a year. Their father remained in the area, at one point renting a basement room from the cash-strapped Edna. Page said he began sexually molesting her when she was 13 years old.
As a teenager, Page and her sisters tried different makeup styles and hairdos imitating their favorite movie stars. She also learned to sew. These skills proved useful years later for her pin-up photography when Page did her own makeup and hair and made her own bikinis and costumes. During her early years, the Page family traveled around the country in search of economic stability.
A good student and debate team member at Hume-Fogg High School, she was voted “Girl Most Likely to Succeed.” On June 6, 1940, Page graduated as the salutatorian of her high school class with a scholarship. She enrolled at George Peabody College (later part of Vanderbilt University), with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, the next fall she began studying acting, hoping to become a movie star. At the same time, she got her first job, typing for author Alfred Leland Crabb. Page graduated from Peabody with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944.
Shortly before graduating from Hume-Fogg High, Page had met William E. “Billy” Neal, a former rival high school sports star two years older than her. In September 1942, he was drafted into the Army for World War II, and he and Page married on February 18, 1943, before he shipped out. For the next few years, she moved from San Francisco to Nashville to Miami and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where she felt a special affinity with the country, its people and its culture. She and Neal divorced in 1947.
