As a young teenager, Mary was raped by a man claiming to be a director looking for new actors, a pastime Mary had become interested in during her years at camp.
She wrote in her memoir: “It took a long time for me to understand how it was that I had switched so quickly from a self-assured girl into a passive victim.
“Despite the cloak of specialness I’d pieced together for myself from the kind words and encouragement I got from Jane, camp counselors and others, I had been subtly groomed to be a victim all my life.”
She told Jane at the next camp she went to, after which she told her family, and Jane offered her a place to stay if she needed it.
Soon, Mary moved in with the family and was looked after by Jane.