Meet Mary Ann Bevan, The Ugliest Woman In the World

Mary Ann Bevan is an English woman who was popularly known as the ugliest woman in the world after being diagnosed with a rare disease called Acromegaly.

She was born on the 20th of December 1874 into a working-class family in Plaistow, East London. She later became a nurse after completing her Medicine studies.

In 1903 she married Thomas Bevan with whom she had four children. Three years after her marriage to Thomas, Mary Ann was hit with acromegaly, a rare disease that medics at the time didn’t know much about.

Mary Ann Bevan before after being hit with Acromegaly

As stated earlier Mary Ann was not born as the ugliest woman in the world, but this rare disease caused her to suffer drastic physical changes and facial distortion, Her facial bones and muscles enlarged and became three times larger than usual and in five years she was unrecognizable and looked nothing like her previous pretty self.

In 1914, Thomas Bevan suddenly died from a stroke, leaving Mary Ann with four children to cater for. The family’s financial condition worsened as Mary could not get a job due to her physical deformities, she had to do humiliating jobs in order to keep her children fed.

The family suffering from accumulating debts and unmet financial needs, Mary Ann decided to enter the ‘ugly woman’ contest, with the hope of winning the prize money which could help the family. Mary Ann won the competition and hence was tagged the ugliest woman in the world.

Mary Ann Bevan and her four Children

Being the ugliest woman in the World, Mary Ann Bevan attracted media attention, they paid her small amounts in order to take photos and write horror stories about her.

She was also invited to work at the Dreamland Circus in Coney Island in 1920, where she toured different cities where people came to laugh and humiliate her, sometimes she was even beaten for her appearance. She endured the ridicule of others in order to raise her children and give them a better quality of life.  She died on the 26th of December 1933 from natural causes.