Gilligan’s Island Star Tina Louise Had No ‘Loving Situations’ As Child

Former Gilligan’s Island star Tina Louise opened up about the pain she endured during a very difficult childhood.

“I didn’t have hugs. I didn’t have loving situations,” Louise, 91, told the New York Times in an article published on Tuesday, March 18.

The legendary actress had a traumatic childhood where she bounced around from harsh boarding schools to her parents’ various homes since they divorced when she was only 4 years old.

Louise endured a long period of estrangement from her father, Joseph Blacker, from age 11 when her mother cut off communication between them. The actress recalled feeling betrayed that her father never fought to regain custody of her.

“I was mad at him because he didn’t go to court,” she insisted.

Louise felt more sympathy for her late mother, Sylvia Horn, who was only 18 years old when she gave birth and later went on to marry four times.

“She didn’t have the loving that she needed,” Louise said. “She always needed a man to lean on.”

As an adult, Louise helped struggling children during her 30 years working with Learning Leaders, a nonprofit organization that trained reading tutors in New York City. When Learning Leaders suddenly lost funding in 2017, Louise intervened to see if she could volunteer on her own.

“I loved it, being anonymous, just being the person who read to the children,” she said. “That was very important to me because nobody ever read to me.”

The star continued, “I love being in their presence for an hour. It’s better than vitamins. I can’t get back what I went through, but outside of being with my family, doing this is my special thing.”

Louise became one of the most recognizable TV stars of the 1960s from playing spoiled starlet Ginger Grant on Gilligan’s Island, where she was one of seven castaways shipwrecked on a deserted island. The actress was on hit series for three seasons between 1964 and 1967, but declined to return as Ginger for three TV movies in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Now, Louise says she prefers not to talk much about Gilligan’s Island, partially because the cast never received residuals despite the sitcom airing decades of reruns.

“I’m very grateful for all the things that have happened to me and the opportunities that I’ve had,” she added, but insisted: “I’d like to be known for other things.”

Aside from Gilligan’s, Louise earned a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her breakthrough film performance in 1958’s God’s Little Acre. She later had a recurring role in Dallas and starred alongside Brad Pitt in the 1992 comedy Johnny Suede.

Sixty years on from the premiere of Gilligan’s Island, Louise is the only living cast member. Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer, who played the Howells, died in 1989 and 1991, respectively, while Alan Hale Jr., who played the Skipper, passed away from cancer in 1990. Gilligan actor Bob Denver died in 2005 due to complications from throat surgery.

When Russell Johnson (aka The Professor) succumbed to kidney failure at age 89 in 2014, his wife Constance told ABC News that the actor was “at home, [and] peaceful” in his final hours. Dawn Wells, who played farm girl Mary Ann Summers, died at age 82 from COVID-19 in December 2020.