I recently watched the 1981 film mommie dearest for the first time in decades. The film, which is directed by erin lee carr, is at first glance another runofthe. And the newest entry in the genre, hbos mommy dead and dearest, may be the creepiest story out of all of them. From mommie dearest the mother was hollywoods joan crawford. Mommie dearest, the film version of christina crawfords poisonpen memoir of her adoptive mother, joan crawford, looms as wretched excess. If there was abuse, it was seen as being part of the lower. But the book broke open certain taboos about the travails of the rich and famous, she says. The accusations in mommie dearest claim joan crawford. I know critics felt that this book was written to get even with her mother and her experiences were all lies, but her recollections are so specfic, christina had to have been telling the truth. In mommie dearest, christina wrote that after she had emergency surgery, she woke up to see that her 60yearold mother playing the her role on the series which was allegedly written for a 24.
When christina crawfords tellall book came out a year after her mothers. The woman who tells the painful, lurid litany of a lifetime of child abuse at the hands of mommie dearest is the eldest of her. Mommie dearest author christina crawford discusses the story. Mommie dearest most shocking joan crawford accusations. On the book s reissue, she gives her first interview in a decade to. At 1, joan crawfords mommie dearest gets a reprieve. Mommie dearest was the first celebrity tell all book written by a family member. A good read because of the story line what we think about the rich and famous can sometimes be a facade behind which they hide. One of hollywoods greatest stars, joan crawford, was redefined as a sadistic control freak by mommie dearest, her daughters 1978 tellall.
Surprisingly, one emerges from mommie dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable crawford than for her whining daughter played as an adult by diana scarwid, and as a. Considering the source, however, this illadvised and. Surprisingly, one emerges from mommie dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable crawford than for her whining. When crawford first adopted christina and christopher. Every book on your english syllabus summed up in a quote from the office. According to the film and the book that preceded it, joan crawford was a licentious, childbeating behemoth, who stalked and postured. Mommie dearest 29 movie clip christina stands up to. The last thing i would ever do is accuse christina crawford of lying about her. When joan crawford lays into christina over the wire hangers i tried to figure how an 8 year old got a hold of wire hangers. Published in 1978, it described the authors upbringing by an unbalanced alcoholic mother, whom she judged unfit to raise children. Joan crawford was an alcoholic and when she got drunk, she used to abuse her two oldest adopted children.
Christina crawford was dragged for filth for writing the book but mickey rooney said that it was true. In a gripping novel set in presentday england under a nazi regime, a sheltered teen questions what it means to be good and how far. A couple of days earlier, mommie dearest, the musical based on her blockbuster. Mommie dearest, by christina crawford, is an excellent book. In the first fully uncensored biography of joan crawford, bestselling author david bret follows crawford from working in a kansas city laundry to collecting an oscar for mildred pierce, including. Ive been wanting to see the mommie dearest movie for sometime, but i can honestly say i am no longer interested in the movie. Mommie dearest was written by christina crawford less than a year after her mother, joan crawford, died in the late 1970s. Mommie dearest is a memoir and expose written by christina crawford, the adopted daughter of actress joan crawford. This type of book gives validation to those who grew up in dysfunctional families.
To those of us who grew up in normal families, it helps us appreciate the good families that we have. The book attracted much controversy regarding child abuse and child trafficking, with many family friends denouncing it as fiction, but others claiming that it was a broadly accurate, if exaggerated, account of christinas troubled childhood. When christina crawfords harrowing chronicle of child abuse was fi. Buy mommie dearest new edition by crawford, christina isbn. Survival i found the second book in the collection to be a slow read. In 1978 christina crawford exposed her filmstar mother joan as a cruel, abusive alcoholic in the memoir mommie dearest. Bette and joan, which is also fittingly titled mommie dearest, thr revisits 11 of the most shocking allegations from the original memoir and subsequent tour. I have an odd fascination with joan crawford ever since i read the book mommie dearest since it replicated so much of my life except of course christine lived. Mommie dearest by christina crawford, paperback barnes. Why didnt anybody tell me about mommie dearest 1981.