According to Sactown Magazine, Dorothea Puente was born in Redlands, California in 1929. She was the sixth of seven children and had a childhood that was anything but easy. Her family was poor and when she was just 8 years old, her father died of tuberculosis, which left her with her alcoholic mother who ultimately lost custody in 1938 — and was killed in a motorcycle accident just a few years later. Dorothea then lived with relatives through her early teenage years.

At 16 she moved to Olympia, Washington, and worked as a sex worker. Some years later, after her first marriage — one of several — fell apart, Puente was arrested for trying to pass a check under a fake name. She reportedly spent time in a psychiatric ward in the early 1960s, at which point doctors placed her on antipsychotic medications.

Puente also claimed to be friends with prominent California politicians like Governor Jerry Brown and President Ronald Reagan. There is, however, little evidence to back up her having any relationship with these politicians outside of quick photo ops at charity events.