Paula White

==Early life==
White was born Paula Michelle Furr in [[Tupelo, Mississippi]], the daughter of Myra Joanelle and Donald Paul Furr III. Her parents owned a toy and craft store.<ref name="holymav">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Shayne |first2=Phillip Luke |last2=Sinitiere |title=Holy Mavericks |publisher=New York University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8147-5235-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OC__qJdUgeMC&q=holy%20mavericks&pg=PA107 |pages=107–128}}</ref>
Donald and Myra Furr's marriage began to fail when White was five years old. White's mother left Tupelo and took her to [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]]; her separation from her husband and his subsequent suicide drove White, her brother, and her mother into poverty.<ref name="cbn">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbn.com/700club/Guests/Interviews/Paula_White063005.aspx |title=Turning Trash into Treasure: The Testimony of Paula White |first1=Steve |last1=Hubbard |first2=Lisa |last2=Ryan |year=2007 |publisher=[[Christian Broadcasting Network]] |access-date=September 11, 2007}}</ref> White's mother became an alcoholic. While she worked, her daughter was looked after by caregivers. White has said that she was sexually and physically abused between the ages of six and thirteen by different people on different occasions. She has said that during that time, she suffered from [[bulimia]].<ref name="qtr">{{cite news |first=Sherri |last=Day |title=Questions tarnish rise to top |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=July 15, 2007 |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/15/Hillsborough/Questions_tarnish_ris.shtml |access-date=September 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920131436/http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/15/Hillsborough/Questions_tarnish_ris.shtml |archive-date=September 20, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="larryking">{{cite web |first=Larry |last=King |title=Interview with Paula White |website=CNN |date=November 27, 2007 |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/26/lkl.01.html |access-date=April 15, 2011}}</ref><ref name="OrlandoMag">{{cite web |title=Holy High Roller |url=http://www.orlandomagazine.com/Orlando-Magazine/May-2012/Holy-High-Roller/ |first=Mark |last= Pinsky |date=May 1, 2012 |website=Orlando Magazine |access-date=December 30, 2016}}</ref>

White's mother remarried to a two-star admiral in the [[United States Navy]] when White was nine years old. Her family moved to the [[Washington, D.C.]] area when her stepfather was stationed at the [[National Naval Medical Center]]. White graduated from [[Seneca Valley High School]] in [[Germantown, Maryland]].<ref name="OrlandoMag"/><ref name="wp1">{{cite news |first=Hamil R. |last=Harris |title=My Story Is a Story of Restoration |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 16, 2004 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1888-2004Dec15.html |access-date=April 15, 2011}}</ref>

While living in Maryland in 1984, she converted to Christianity at the [[Damascus, Maryland|Damascus]] [[Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)|Church of God]]. She later claimed to have received a vision from God shortly after her conversion.<ref name="holymav"/>