She is an only child. Her parents separated when she was six months old, and thus, Jessica was raised by her single mother near Bad Nauheim, in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse. After her parents' divorce, Wahls had little contact with her father, and her mother worked as a personal assistant to support the family. In 1999, Jessica's mother Gabriele married Wahls' Barbadian stepfather Tosh.