Baskin has said that at age 14, she was gang raped by three men who lived across the street from her house, and says that she received no emotional support from her conservative Christian family.[5] She later dropped out of high school and left home with a local roller rink employee.[2][6] She then hitchhiked back and forth between Florida and Bangor, Maine, sleeping under parked cars.[6] She later purchased a Datsun truck and slept in the back with her pet cat.[6]