О себе:I
was born in Covington, Louisiana,I am son of Edna and Robert
Somerhalder, a building constructur. I have got a brother, Joshua
Barnes, a former professional cyclist, and a sister, Robin, a broadcast
journalist. My father is from French and English descent and his mother,
who grew up on a pig farm in Mississippi, is of Irish and Choctaw
ancestry. The surname "Somerhalder" originates from my adoptive
biological great-grandfather was a wealthy English
landowner whose surname was Hull and he paid an immigrant worker to
marry his pregnant mistress and give their baby a name, which was
Somerhalder.
My parents divorced when I was thirteen. I grew up
with my mother, whom I have described as being "very spiritual;" she
raised the young Ian on Eastern medicine and organic foods. Says
Somerhalder, "She made my baby food and had me on blue-green algae
probably since I was in third grade. I never had sugar. I never got to
have white bread or any white-flour products." He led a life of soy and
homemade root beer (save for German chocolate cake once a year on his
birthday). He remembers being in Catholic school[1] and trading his
grilled vegetable sandwich on marble rye for a classmate's peanut butter
and jelly on Wonder bread—and getting sick from it. "I can't eat fast
food," he says. "I haven't eaten McDonald's in 10 years. I eat fish
every day." His family in Louisiana was significantly affected by
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and, as of June 2007, has not been able to
recover what it lost from the costliest and one of the deadliest
hurricanes in the history of the United States.[2] "I had a great
[childhood]. We had horses and motorcycles and boats, but I always
wanted more - a bigger horse or a faster bike or whatever," Somerhalder
remembers. So when he was in fifth grade, Edna suggested the 10-year-old
go out and earn a living by modeling, as she had connections in the
business. "So I said, 'Sure, sign me up,' and I got a three-year
contract with the Ford agency in New York."