Thurman's mother, Nena Birgitte Caroline von Schlebrügge, was a fashion model born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1941, to German-born Friedrich Karl Johannes von Schlebrügge, and Swedish-born Birgit Holmquist, from Trelleborg. In 1930, Birgit Holmquist, Thurman's grandmother, modeled for a nude statue that stands overlooking the harbor of Smygehuk. Thurman's father, Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (b. August 3, 1941), was born in New York City to Elizabeth Dean Farrar, a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr., an Associated Press editor and U.N. translator. Thurman's mother was introduced to LSD guru Timothy Leary by Salvador Dalí and became Leary's third wife in 1964; she later wed Thurman's father in 1967.
Thurman's father, Robert, a scholar and professor at Columbia University of Tibetan Buddhist studies, was the first westerner to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk.