Lewis bore a striking resembance to Gable as she grew older, including having ears that stuck out like his ears. Young often put bonnets on the toddler, and had Lewis undergo a painful operation on her ears as a child to pin them back in another attempt to hide her real parentage. As Lewis grew up, several people in Hollywood, as well as the public, began to believe that Clark Gable was her biological father. When Judy was fifteen, Gable came to her mother's house to visit her briefly. Gable asked Lewis about her life and then upon leaving, kissed her on her forehead. It was the only time that Judy ever spoke to Gable, and she had no idea he was her father. When Lewis met her Future husband at the age of twenty-three, it was he who told her that Gable was her biological father and that "everyone" knew, which stunned Lewis. Lewis, at age 31, finally confronted her mother when Gable had been dead for five years. Loretta Young became nauseated but confirmed the truth. Lewis wrote a book about her life titled Uncommon Knowledge, because it seemed that she was the only one who did not know about her true parentage. Loretta Young died on August 12, 2000, at age 87; her autobiography, published posthumously, confirmed that Gable was indeed Lewis's father. Loretta Young reportedly told her daughter-in-law in 1998 that she was date raped by Clark Gable, which was how her daughter was conceived. The family stayed silent about the claim until Loretta Young and her daughter Judy Lewis were both deceased.