Buttrose was born at Potts Point, Sydney, and named after her maternal grandmother, Ita Clare Rodgers (née Rosenthal), pronounced (rhyming with 'fighter'). She was raised as a Catholic by her parents.Pitt, Helen. (10 April 2011). "Girl talk: Cover story". The Sun-Herald, Sydney. p. 12. Buttrose's father, Charles Oswald Buttrose, was a journalist and at one time the editor of The Daily Mirror in Sydney. By her own account she had decided on a career in journalism at the age of 11. Buttrose spent her first five years in New York City when her father was the New York correspondent for The Daily Mirror.Helen Pitt, "Ita Buttrose on kick-starting a sexual revolution", Brisbane Times, 11 April 2011 She has Jewish ancestry on her maternal side.
