The Glass Castle Real Family lived a similar life as depicted in the 2017 film of the same name. Jeannette documented her childhood upbringing in her book published in 2005.

The Glass Castle family pictures are scarcely available on the internet, only a handful of publications have been able to get their hands on the old photographs of the author and her kin.

Jeannette Walls family comprised her parents Rex and Rose Mary Walls including Jeannette's two sisters and a brother. They lived difficult childhood and even had to resort to dumpster diving for survival as kids.

Jeannette Walls Father Rex Walls

Rex Walls was a very loving father but had serious alcoholism issues.

According to New York Times Magazine, Rex was most probably bipolar and had a lot of skepticism about the modern lifestyle. He was also convinced the FBI was after his family and often moved everyone around to avoid debt collectors. 

He worked odd jobs and stole money from his children's piggy bank to fund his booze addiction. Although Rex's personality appears to be unpleasing, Jeannette had a very deep connection and unique relationship with her father. 

He was a dedicated father as he tied himself to bed for nearly a week to quit his alcoholism. Jeannette had asked him to quit the booze as the gift for her 10th birthday and Rex had been successful until he relapsed later. 

Rex had dreamt of building a glass castle and his life came a bit short to achieve his dream as he could not find the gold to fund his project. Guy Phoenix from Nottingham also has a similar dream of building a glass castle. 

He was not fortunate enough to see his daughter Jeannette build one with her book The Glass Wall published in 2005, nearly 11 years after Rex passed in 1994 at the age of 59 years old.

Jeannette Walls Mother Rose Mary Walls

Rose Mary Walls lived a few paces away in a cabin from Jeannette's farmhouse in West Virginia during her last years.

According to New York Times Magazine, Jeannette's readers were ready to crucify Rose Mary for her selfishness after she saved a Hershey bar for herself even though her children were hungry. The magazine also alleges Mary might be bipolar. 

However, that is not the only time she acted for herself, Jeannette starts her memoir with an instance of a 3-year-old herself sitting on a chair in front of a gas stove trying to cook a hotdog for lunch as her mother was busy painting and could not be bothered with making lunch for the kids. 

The lunch-making process ended as expected, Jeannette spent six weeks in the hospital for the treatment of her burn wounds after her pink tutu dress caught fire. 

Although the author might have bitter memories with her mom Rose Mary, she melted after seeing her mother dumpster dive in Manhattan while she rode a cab past her returning to her home from work, after establishing herself as a successful gossip writer in New York. 

Rose Mary and Jeannette mended their relationship towards the end of Rose's life as the writer believed there was nothing to forgive but to accept as Rose Mary was not the kind of person who would ever love her children as mothers do. Rose Mary passed away on August 21, 2021, at the age of 87 years old.