Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, to William Perske and Romanian born Natalie (Weinstein) Perske. She spent her earliest years in Brooklyn. When she was six years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother relocated to Manhattan. At age eight, her father stopped his weekly visits, and they remained estranged for the rest of his life. ,Vs an only child, Bacall was brought up in the close-knit, extended Weinstein family. In addition to her mother, Natalie Bacal (who changed her and her daughters last name to the Romanian version of Weinstein), Bacall was especially close to her grandmother Sophie, aunt Renee, and uncles Charlie and Jack and their spouses.