Early Life
Fashion Designer. Born April 9, 1963, in New York City. Jacobs' home life was turned upside-down at the age of 7, when his father died from ulcerative colitis—a condition that Marc also suffered from. According to Jacobs, his mother responded poorly to his father's death, embarking on a life of power dating and failed marriages that caused serious upheaval in the family. With each remarriage, Jacobs and his siblings would be forced to relocate to a new home, bouncing from New Jersey to Long Island and then the Bronx.
Feeling alienated from his mother and siblings, Jacobs moved in with his paternal grandmother on the Upper West Side of Manhattan when he was still a teenager. It was while living with his grandmother that Jacobs truly felt at home; well-traveled and educated, her love of aesthetically beautiful things and her appreciation for Jacobs' creative designs helped the grandmother and grandson forge a close relationship. "I always say I lived my life with my grandmother," Jacobs says. "She was emotionally stable, and she was very encouraging to me." Jacobs' grandmother also allowed Jacobs to enjoy a permissive adolescence full of self-exploration. "No one ever said 'no' to me about anything," he said. "No one ever told me anything was wrong. Never. No one ever said, 'You can't be a fashion designer.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't take tap-dancing lessons.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't have long hair.' No one ever said, 'You can't go out at night because you're 15 and 15-year-olds don't go to nightclubs.' No one said it was wrong to be gay or right to be straight."