'Seeing a less-qualified male preferred to a deserving woman was something that marked her from a very early age,' Jane replied. But her parents wanted her to go out and work, even before finishing high school, because there was a boy in the family, and money had to be made so that he could go to college.'Ĭorrespondent Erin Moriarty asked, 'How do you think that affected your mom?' Ruth's daughter, Jane Ginsburg, said, 'Her mother was the brains in the family. Ruth was inspired both by her mother's words and her life story. 'Be a lady' meant don't give way to emotions that sap your energy, like anger. Her mom, Celia, died of cancer the day before Ruth's high school graduation.Īs Ginsburg told Jane Pauley on 'Sunday Morning' in 2016, 'She said two things: Be a lady and be independent. Julie Cohen said, 'People say, 'Isn't this a weird connection between you and the rapper, the Notorious BIG?' And she's, like, 'Why would that be surprising? We have a lot in common! We were both born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.' Which always gets cheers when she says it.'īorn Joan Ruth Bader in Flatbush, Brooklyn, her father, Nathan, had emigrated from Odessa. The moniker 'The Notorious RBG,' a nod to the late rapper Notorious BIG, took off on social media, and indeed, notoriety followed. 'I'm 84 years old, and everyone wants to take a picture with me!' Ginsburg said in the film. 'She's an unlikely rock star, let's face it.'Īt just 5'1' tall, it was her seemingly superhuman ability to survive that made her a cultural icon, and perhaps the most recognized justice in the Court's history. West and Julie Cohen co-directed the 2018 documentary, 'RBG.' 'I think there's a certain authenticity to her,' said West.

'And that just exploded on the internet.' 'People really responded to the idea of this tiny, determined jurist who was standing up for the principles of equal rights, voting rights, reproductive rights,' said filmmaker Betsy West.

Rbg in her own words