Nancy Wexler had lots of fun as a kid in Topeka, Kansas. And things got even more interesting when her family moved to Los Angeles, California, where scientists, movie actors, writers, and artists became family friends. Nancy loved ballet lessons and struggled with math. She developed a strong interest in science, especially psychology.

After graduating from high school at the top of her class, Nancy attended Harvard University's Radcliffe College, where she enjoyed studying folklore, literature, anthropology, and psychology. Later, she even got the chance to study in London under Anna Freud, the daughter of the famous Dr. Sigmund Freud. Would she become a psychoanalyst like her father, helping people dig deeply into their emotional states? Or would she do something else?

Nancy's three uncles all died of Huntington's disease. Their sister (Nancy's mom) Leonore Wexler developed the disease, too, and died when Nancy was 32.