An acting class refused a sixteen-year-old Lucille Ball and said that she had ''no talent''
For a woman of such success, it can be difficult to picture a world where Lucille Ball is not successful at everything she does. However, Ball was never one to shy away from her failures, aware that it simply meant that she was a human, just like everyone else.
Ball confided about her past during an interview with The Toronto Star. "I never thought I'd get this far, do so much, have such beautiful children," she said. "All I ever wanted was to get to vaudeville and I never made it."
Ball revealed that years ago, she left home for New York and enrolled in acting classes. Shortly after, the school refunded her mother's money, and sent Ball away with a simple message: "No talent."
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Such a rejection might have sent anyone to hide under a rock, but not Ball, who was determined to claw her way to success if necessary. Yet later in her life, reaping the rewards of her hard work, Ball was still quick to evade praise, crediting her former husband, Desi Arnaz for the success of their company, Desilu.
"Me? No way," she said. "Desi did the whole thing. He was a fantastic businessman. I only took it over to build it up and sell it. I mean, there was a certain amount of building up to do."
But while Ball relished her success, Arnaz pulled away in a move that even Ball couldn't explain.
"I don't know," she said. "I don't know what went wrong. I don't know why someone wants to destroy all the happiness and all the success. I'm not a psychiatrist. But you know, he took all that success and all that happiness and just threw it away."
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