She was orphaned at 6 when her mother, a prostitute, died of AIDS.
Sexually abused throughout childhood, she was then homeless as a teen.
Maria Fabian's early life was a tragedy. But after spending the last half decade as an advocate for area homeless by talking seriously about her past, she is now also turning her childhood into a comedy.
For the past year, on Wednesdays at Ybor City's Improv Comedy Theater's open mic night, Fabian has regularly been cracking jokes about her past.
"If I sit alone and think about my life, I can cry for days," said Fabian, 28, a 2008 Hillsborough High School graduate. "I have to find humor in it."
For instance, while her relationship with the aunt who raised her was so contentious that it led to Fabian's homelessness, there were funny moments too.
Her aunt found unique ways to use the phrase "woman of the night" to describe the most innocent of females, even police officers, and blamed her cousin's hatred of bathing for most of his problems.
"He'd come home with a bad grade and she'd say it was because he didn't shower," Fabian chuckled.
Crime was so normal for her, she quips on stage, that she'd knock on the door of the abandoned apartment she called home to make sure she wasn't being robbed, even though a bus pass was the only thing of value she owned.
And if her stolen bus pass was later up for sale, she'd buy it back if the price was right, she jokes.
"On a serious note ... never let anybody discourage you," she said in an earnest tone at a recent show, before smiling and adding, "Never let anyone discourage you from selling your food stamps."
Still, Fabian does have a serious side.
To advocate for the homeless, she wrote her memoirs, Invisible Innocence, serves on the advisory board for the non-profit Camelot Community Care that assists abused and neglected families and children, and shares her story on public service announcements meant to call attention to the cause.
"Maria is not embarrassed by her past and is willing to talk publicly," said Fred Smith who co-authored Fabian's book and documented her in a PSA. "She talks to kids, social workers, teachers. She never stops."
But it's her ability to laugh at her tragedies that is garnering her national attention.
Comedian and actress Sherri Shepherd heard Fabian's routine and of her story through the nationally syndicated radio program the Tom Joyner Show.
She then booked Fabian gigs in Los Angeles in March, paid for the flight and lodging and continues to provide career guidance.
And if Fabian ever attains fame as a comedian, it's not the celebrity or fortune she says she'll relish most. Rather, it will be that she can show other homeless people "anything is possible," she said. "You have to believe."
She has no knowledge of her father, and memories of her mother are few.
"She'd put us in a closet at night, so she could do her job," Fabian said. "We'd wake in the morning with breakfast waiting like nothing had happened."
When Fabian was molested by one of her mother's clients, she and her two older brothers were sent to live with an aunt. A year later her mother died.
Fabian claims she was then regularly verbally assaulted by her aunt and sexually abused by other relatives, though she never went to the police.
It was during her senior year at Hillsborough High that Fabian became homeless. Her aunt moved and rather than taking Fabian and her two adult brothers along, rented them an apartment and initially helped with the bills.
The financial assistance ended a few months later.
When one brother landed in prison and another sought refuge at a friend's house, Fabian was left alone. She could not afford rent so she stayed illegally in the apartment with no running water or electricity.
It was then that she first sought to cloak her despair with jokes.
"If I was funny no one would know anything was wrong," she said.
But after a few months of being hungry and filthy, desperate, she turned to her teacher Mary Jackson for help.
"It was mortifying for her to come to me," Jackson, now a teacher in Oregon, said. "She told me she was homeless and took me to the apartment. It was awful. Dirty clothes were everywhere. There was no food."
Over the next few months, Jackson looked out for Fabian
Jackson fed and clothed Fabian, and provided shelter, sometimes at a hotel and sometimes opened up her home to her student.
Eventually, Jackson helped Fabian get into a group home for women. And, within nine months Fabian had a steady job and could afford her own place.
Despite the assistance she provided, Jackson now knows she is fair game once Fabian steps on stage.
"I hope she makes fun of me," Jackson said. "I know it will be funny."
Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.