Joy Bryant

Bryant was born on October 18, 1974, in the Bronx, New York to Joyce Bryant. She was raised by her grandmother, who helped support her on welfare. She started dancing at age three. Bryant would later reveal that she was conceived from a sexual assault against her mother, who was fifteen years old at the time of her birth, by an older adult male. Bryant stated: "[My mother] gave birth to me, not in love but in shame, after hiding her pregnancy from my grandmother for six months." She described herself as a "nerd" growing up: "I read encyclopedias all day and watched TV. My grandmother, who raised me, emphasized the importance of education. For me it was about being self-sufficient and using my brain." While living in the Bronx, she graduated from CJHS 145x and was a member of the Fieldston Enrichment Program, an elite high school preparatory program. Bryant is a graduate of Westminster School, a boarding school in Simsbury, Connecticut. She studied Latin for a number of years in high school and was the president of the Latin club. After graduating from Westminster, Bryant was a gifted student and earned a scholarship to Yale University, where she studied for two years before dropping out to pursue a modeling career. Bryant's grandmother died during her freshman year at Yale, which made her lose interest in studying, saying "I lost my biggest cheerleader, my rock. Being 'smart' didn’t matter to me anymore." She later completed her degree and graduated from Yale.