Pozzi was born in Genoa , Liguria, Italy, the daughter of Alfredo Pozzi, a nuclear engineer, and Rosanna, a housewife. Her name, Moana, is a Polynesian name meaning "ocean". By the time she was thirteen years old, the family had returned to their native Italy, where she finished school. In , a few weeks before her 18th birthday, she gave birth to her only child, a son named Simone, who was raised by her parents and told that his mother was his older sister. The family moved to France in and Pozzi, then 19 years old, decided to stay in Rome.