Four months after her father's death, Lucy's brother, Fred Henry, was born (Ball & Hoffman 5). .
After the birth of her brother, Lucy was largely ignored and she became very jealous. It was hard for her to have been an only child for four years and now to have an infant sibling in the house (Ball & Hoffman 5).
Lucy's mother became more and more depressed after Fred Henry was born, so it was decided she would go away for a complete change of scene. Lucy stayed with her mothers younger sister, Lola. Freddy stayed with Lucy's grandparents (Ball & Hoffman 6). .
DeDe was miserable away from her children. After a year or so, she came back to Jamestown (6). After three years of being a widow, DeDe married Ed Peterson (Brady 9). Ed was not the father type. He preferred Lucy and Freddy to call him Ed (Ball & Hoffman 7). Ed was never mean or abusive, but his presence in the house was shadowy. They barely had time to get aquainted with him before he and DeDe went to Detroit to look for jobs, leaving Lucy and Freddy behind. Freddy stayed with DeDe's parents and Lucy stayed with the Peterson's, Ed's parents. Nothing had ever prepared her for such hard sour, cheerless people. The Peterson's believed nothing in life was ever to be enjoyed, only endured (Ball & Hoffman7). Lucy, being sad, but inventive, created an imaginary friend, Sassafras, to share secrets and adventures (Brady 9).
Setting her mind on becoming an actress early in life, she left high school at the age of fifteen, and with the permission of her mother, enrolled in the John Murray Anderson Drama School, in New York City. Though she auditioned repeatedly, Lucy was never accepted to the school (American Masters).
With no experience behind her and very few acting roles for women available, Lucy took a job as a model, using the name Diane Belmont (Lucille Ball/Entertainers).
Moderately successful as a model, Lucy became a showgirl and began modeling for Hattie Carnegie, a popular fashion designer.
