Mommie Dearest
- For the 1981 movie adaptation, see Mommie Dearest (film)
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The book was published in 1978.
Contents of book
The book depicts Christina's childhood and her relationship with her mother.
Among Christina Crawford's statements in the book:
- Christina contends that she was victim of child abuse during her mother's battle with alcoholism.
- The book suggests that Crawford was more concerned about her motion picture career than the well being of her four children, and suggests she may have adopted them for publicity purposes.
- Besides a long list of affairs with men - whom Christina was required to call "Uncle" - she suggested that her mother was involved in liaisons with other women.
- Christina recounts several evenings where Crawford's behavior was unbalanced, and at least one encounter with her mother where Crawford physically attacked her. Among some of the incidents that Christina recounts in the book is a tirade that she alleges occurred when her mother was looking in Christina's closet. Crawford discovered some of Christina's clothes hanging on wire hangers, instead of higher-quality hangers, and allegedly launched into a tirade that has become known as the infamous "No wire hangers" moment.
Reaction to the book
The book's publication in 1978 created an enormous amount of attention. Although "tell-all" books regarding celebrities are somewhat commonplace now, Mommie Dearest was the first book of its kind. The book received a great deal of press attention.
Several of Crawford's friends disputed Christina's book. In particular, Myrna Loy, Joan's friend since 1925, became one of her staunchest defenders in the aftermath of the book. Loy said that she had personally observed bad behavior on the part of Christina on numerous occasions, both during her childhood and when she was completely independent of her mother; especially during the Chicago stage production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, in which Loy and Christina both appeared. While acknowledging that Joan Crawford was a highly ambitious woman and was an alcoholic for most of her life, critics have also suggested that Christina largely embellished the areas of her story where she had legitimate grievances. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Crawford's first husband, admonished the book by stating, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is not the Joan Crawford I knew back when." The two younger Crawford children, Cindy and Cathy, born 1947, who grew up in the Crawford household, have stated categorically many times that they did not witness any events as described in the book, even though they were there, and have distanced themselves from their elder sister. However, when the twins were growing up, Christina and her brother had already been sent away to a boarding school; therefore, they would not have been aware of the majority of abuse the book recounts.
However, other stars such as Helen Hayes, June Allyson, Bette Davis, and Betty Hutton have verified some of the stories in Christina's book. Hutton had previously lived near Joan Crawford's Brentwood, California home and has stated that she saw the children during or after various moments of abuse. She would often encourage her own children to play with Christina and Christopher to draw them away from their challenges at home. Crawford's best friend, actress Eve Arden, even sided with Christina about Crawford's abilities of being a parent, saying that Crawford was a very good woman in many ways but was simply not fit to be a mother.
In the book Understanding the Borderline Mother author Christine Ann Lawson suggests that Joan Crawford may have had a Borderline Personality Disorder along with an Obsessive Compulsion with cleanliness.
Epilogue
The last pages of Christina's book suggest that Christina was not about to let her mother have the "last word" by omitting her daughter from her will. Christina appears to have gotten the last word, as Crawford's name has become a byword for parental abuse and cruelty.
Christina Crawford has stood by her story, releasing a "Twentieth Anniversary Edition" with one hundred pages of additional material and the omission of about 50 pages of original material. In the second edition, some individuals who were not named in the original edition were named. This second edition focused more on Christina's relationship with her mother from her high school graduation until the 1970s. It also revealed what became of her brother and several incidents involving him. The author promoted the republication of the book, which was done with a smaller publishing company, in some unconventional ways, including appearing at campy airings of the film based on the book (though she only lectured about the new edition of the book and did not stay for the screening) and appearing at readings with entertainer Lypsinka, who often appears as Joan Crawford in drag.
Mommie Dearest in popular culture
- Blue Öyster Cult wrote a song about the alleged events entitled "Joan Crawford".
- MAD Magazine had spoofed a book club with different "trendy" books, such as "the trendy diet book" with "the trendy celebrity child abuse book" titled "My Father, the Fink", written by George Burns, Jr., the fictional 2-year old son of George Burns. The book claims such "horrors" as "when he ran out of cigars, he smoked my pacifier!" or "I was subject to frightening off key lullabys!" and advertised "If this book is true, it will make the cruelties suffered by Bing Crosby's son and Joan Crawford's daughter seem like bedtime stories." MAD was showing its usual ridiculous style by suggesting a two-year-old could write and publish this type of book along with a barb at the authenticity of these books and their popularity.
- In an episode of Golden Girls, while at a bookstore, one of the characters (Sophia) announces that she's heading to the "bitter children of celebrities section."
- In the video game Destroy All Humans there is a part in the Turnipseed Farm stage where Crypto-137 can scan the mind of a woman who thinks to herself "Damn you Crawford! You are not my Mommie Dearest! Why do you not love me like the aliens do?".
- In the 2006 movie Another Gay Movie The main character's mom, portrayed by drag queen Lypsinka, goes to his closet and sees a wire hanger. She cringes, then gains her composure. Later, Lypsinka paraphrases a famous line from Mommie Dearest "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the crumbs!" and starts shaking the bleach disinfectant cleanser everywhere.
- In the Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted, one short story makes reference to an unnamed celebrity beating her child with a coat hanger.
Editions
- Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, William Morrow & Co., 1978, ISBN 0-688-03386-5, hardcover
- Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford, Seven Springs Press, 1997, ISBN 0-9663369-0-9, expanded edition, paperback
External links
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