Customer Reviews (39) 
"Christina Crawford Gets Her Revenge"
Of all the abusive episodes in this book, there is one that really disturbed me: Christina lived at the "Chadwick Boarding School", and Joan Crawford, movie star, demanded that Commander and Mrs. Chadwick give detailed accounts, via telephone, of Christina's behavior.Joan was drunk one evening, and she called as usual for her weekly report. It was unfortunate that, just that morning, Mrs. Chadwick had told Christina to grab a sweater and bring it to class, b/c it might be chilly in the classroom. Christina ignored her Headmistress, and left. She got to class, found it was, indeed, chilly, and left her coat on during the session. Mrs. Chadwick told Christina not to be so "short-sighted" again, Christina apologized, and that was the end of it, right? WRONG! Not as far as Joan Crawford was concerned. She said, "Since you're SO determined to wear your (expletive) coat to class, you can wear THAT-- and NOTHING else! ALL of your clothes will be picked up tomorrow." "Mother, sobbed Christina, "I can't wear just that coat to school- it only has ONE button!" Joan snapped, "You should have thought of that BEFORE you disobeyed!" Click, dial tone. Reading this, I thought, surely, she's not serious- no mother would do that to her own child! However, next day, Joan sent someone (God only knows who) to the school, and had ALL of Christina's attire picked up- leaving her with the shoes, underwear, and dress she was wearing, and one cotton dress in the closet. Now, Christina had only TWO dresses to wear, for the next FOUR MONTHS! Here was a glamorous movie star's daughter, surrounded by well dressed, privileged other stars' children, wearing two plaid dresses for sixteen weeks straight. I guess what really struck me about Miss Crawford is that, once punishment was meted out, she never seemed to soften, or shorten the punishment. It's as if she blocked all feeling out of her heart and mind- no matter how much the child in question was hurting.
As far as the adopted children go, there were four. Christina, Christopher, and the "twins" (actually born one month apart) Cathy, and Cindy. Following Joan Crawford's death, the older two claimed abuse, but the "twins" hotly disputed this, saying they'd only known kindness and fairness on the part of their Mother. Christina Crawford danced attendance on her famous mother all of her life, catering to her whims, writing loving letters, sending thoughtful gifts,etc. Personally, I think she was "waiting her Mother out", so to speak- thinking that, once Joan died, all of her loyalty and hard work would pay off. Yet, as she and her brother sat, hand in hand, in the lawyer's office during the reading of the will, waiting to hear precisely how much of Joan Crawford's multi-million dollar estate they had been bequeathed, Christina was shocked to discover that Joan, "knowingly and with forethought", had made NO provison for either of her older children "for reasons which are well known to them" Less than one year later, we were given this book, "Mommie Dearest".....
There was alot of detail excised from Christina's original manuscript, and in this, the Twentieth Anniversary Edition, all of it has been put back, making it roughly 100 pages longer than the original "Mommie Dearest"- there are alot more letters ( and instances of Joan's mean spirited parenting) in this edition. One complaint: For some reason, this book is FULL of typos- I mean, on almost every page. The proper pronoun "I" is written as "O"- i.e., "O wanted to kill her". The word "lose"- as in, "I thought I would lose my mind"- is spelled "l-o-o-s-e", almost exclusively. The letter "s" is left off of words like "babies", so that it reads. "Glad you sawboth of the babie"- and, in my opinion, there is no excuse for this, page after page- especially when Christina Crawford takes every opportunity to tell us how smart she is, how she was "skipped ahead" two grades,and graduated with a 4.0 gpa from college- and,since this book was published by her own company. That being said, it's STILL "Mommie Dearest", and therefore a fascinating read.
Thirty years on, "Mommie Dearest" still has people buzzing, with Christina still being sought after for interviews. I DO believe that the essence of what Christina alleges is true; however, I disagree with alot of her actions since publication. For one thing, there is an annual "Joan Crawford Festival", with men dressing in drag to look like Joan, and re-enacting various scenes from the movie, always screened at some point during the celebration. Christina makes appearances at these events, sometimes, and one thing REALLY baffles me: should she be there, the "actors" on the stage will employ Christina herself in their sketches. One that comes to mind is the "No wire hangers" scene. I've actually seen a dragged -out "Joan", chasing the REAL Christina Crawford around the stage, brandishing a wire hanger, and, upon catching Christina, hitting her with it, which Christina seemed to find hysterical, judging by her loud laughter (and her obvious glee in posing for "campy" pictures with her overly made-up "Mommie". Now, I ask you- if you were REALLY traumatized by something , would you then take to the stage and burlesque it, joining in on a chorus of "Scrub It Like You Mean It"" with Madame LipSynca? Christina can't seem to understand that it's things like this that make people wonder about the validity of her book.
Since the book's publication, alot of things have happened- people have come forward, some condemning, others validating Christina's recollections. The strongest authenticator,Christopher Crawford, had no contact with his adoptive mother Joan Crawford from the age of fifteen, until her death, nearly twenty-five years later. She NEVER saw him again,and never mentioned him, even when he was Missing in Action in Vietnam. (Except once:she'd heard that Christopher was married and father to a new baby, so she invited him and his young wife to one of her luxurious hotel suites.Upon examining the baby, she supposedly said "It doesn't look like you- it must be a bastard." He took his little family and left.) Christopher, who infamously deserted his second wife and all of his children, has since died. One of the "twins", Cindy,who was bequeathed a total of $77,000, to be spread out over twenty years, has also passed away. The remaining two-- Cathy Crawford, who was left the same amount as her "twin", (besides all of Joan's earthly belongings), and Christina Crawford herself,now in her seventie--do not speak. So Joan's little "family", started so joyously and optimistically in 1939, is totally gone. Now, that's a tragedy...
No wire hangerrrrrrrrrrrs!!
(For the record, I actually own and read the original 1978 book, not the 20th anniversary edition)
What a ride! This book is completely insane. Which doesn't mean I don't believe Christina. I do. I have friends whose parents are drunks and I have friends whose parents are just plain nuts. This kind of crap really does happen. The emotional manipulation especially -- the child constantly reaching, constantly feeling that if she does one more thing or something a little better that longed-for love and acceptance from mom will finally come, and the shattering that occurs when one realizes it never will. But someone should have mentioned to Christina that she is portraying herself in the same negative light as her mother.
At first I wondered, from the odd, melodramatic, ludicrously overblown writing, if Christina was doing some sort of James Joyce "Portait of the Artist" type thing, where each chapter is written as though it's by the age that it's about. But no, later I realized that Christina basically just has the emotional maturity of a middle schooler, and considering her upbringing, this is unsurprising. Still, where was her editor, to save her from this?
And don't be fooled by Christina's saying at the end that she's basically forgiven her mother. Anyone who has seen Christina on TV shows about her mom for the last 20 years knows that she is one bitter bitter lady.
The most ironic thing is that Christina is obviously just the flip side of her mother. Joan obviously thought of herself as the long suffering, martyred, giving mother who got no gratitude from her evil, selfish, ungrateful child. And Christina so obviously sees HERSELF as the long suffering, martyred, giving child who got no gratitude from her evil, selfish, ungrateful mother. Damn.
If you're looking for a thoughtful, sensitive portrait of growing up in an unpredictable household with an alcoholic parent, this is not the way to go. If you're looking for candy coated crack, you will RELISH this.
(PS: Was anyone else totally creeped out by how many men -- even apparently "good" men that Christina liked -- were purported to hit Joan? WTF is that about? I realize this was about 60 years ago and Joan was a pill, but ewwwwwwwww you horrible men.)
Expose' by a Survivor of a Hollywood Child Abuser
Credible commentary that has been repeatedly confirmed by Joan Crawford's adult contemporaries (even though certain of her fans remain in denial). This is a very healing text to read for a survivor of child abuse. It took a great deal of courage to pen this text of brutal experiences committed by a Hollywood personality. Of course, it would take great courage for any survivor of this type of child abuse to come publicly forth with the details of their history too.
What parents do behind closed doors can be extremely different from what they present to the public. Joan Crawford did not succeed in hiding her pathological level of jealousy from the public that is saavy enough to put the pieces of her personality together. Perhaps Ms. Crawford knew that getting jobs by way of 'the casting couch' could only last while she was desirable to studio heads. Perhaps her obsessions and compulsions had to be expressed violently on screen and in every day life.
Why doesn't seem to be a mystery either. A single word can sum that up: ambition. What lies beneath ambition is the inordinate need for power-over. When an individual cannot control their own compulsions and obsessions they resort to becoming hyper-controlling. Nothing less than perfection from self and others is expected and imposed. It is easy to feel compassion for the adopted children who were exploited for professional purposes by Joan Crawford. What is much more difficult to do is feel any sense of empathy for the mother and Hollywood personality who was mentally ill.
Christina Crawford's journal of survival is a remarkable story that was well worth making into a major feature film. Highly recommended.
"The Book That Blew the Lid Off Hollywood's Elite"
Christina Crawford originally published "Mommie Dearest" in the fall of 1978. Immediately upon release the book went straight to the top of the New York Times Bestseller's List, where it stayed for many months. The book has sold millions of copies, both in hardcover and paperback, and Christina raised awarness for child abuse laws all around the globe. "Mommie Dearest" was the first book to ever depict a Hollywood actress as an alcoholic and abusive parent. The book destroyed Joan Crawford's reputation to shreds, but people dicovered, via the book, that child abuse doesn't always happen with the poor. Many have said that what Christina wrote was false, but over the years I have done much research on the legend of Joan Crawford: I love her. I believe she was probably the greatest actress that ever lived, but like so many people who were abused as kids (Joan was abused by both her mother and school teachers), the abusive parent grows up to be an abuser. Joan actually believed what she was doing to her children was the right way in rearing them. She would often discipline her children, but at times she went too far. People have come forward as witnesses, saying they saw the abuse or heard about it from reliable sources. Whatever the case, we will never know the real story as to what happened between Joan Crawford and her adopted daughter. Was Christina spoiled? I believe she was. She had everything Joan didn't have growing up, and once Christina became a teenager with her own thoughts and beliefs, that is when the trouble began.
"Mommie Dearest" is a fascinating book, the first of the Hollywood tell-all books. I only wish Christina had wrote the book while Joan was alive so Joan could have defended herself. However, according to Christina, the real reason the book was written was due to the fact Joan disinherited both Christina and Christopher. Christina felt that since people were going to wonder why Joan kept her two oldest children out of her will, they may wonder what they did to deserve such treatment. Many have said too the book was made because of money. Whatever the true story, "Mommie Dearest" is an amazing read. No one could ever make up such a story of abuse and survival at the hands of one of Hollywood's most powerful actresses.
"Mommie Dearest" has been published three times now; the second being in 1998 for the 20th Anniversary, which included pages that the original publisher kept out of the original edition, that mainly included Christina's adult years with her mother, and the third was published in 2008 for the 30th Anniversary. That edition, reportedly, has names of people who witnessed the abuse.
Faye Dunaway starred as Joan in the 1981 film "Mommie Dearest", that has gone on to be a camp classic in its own right. Dunaway gives a virtuoso performance, the best ever by any actress. Read the book and view the film and come to your own conclusion as to what really happened. My view is that yes abuse did take place, but I wonder if that abuse was as severe as we are led to believe. The problem that I have with the book is according to Christina she had reconciled with her mom when she had died, yet at the end of the book upon viewing Joan's body Christina states that it had been many years since she had seen her mother. You don't go years without seeing a parent and state upon their death that everything is perfect. Something doesn't jell here.
Entertaining (in a way)
Christina Crawford's purportedly factual autobiography of her abusive mother Joan Crawford.A lot of people think this book is an outright lie that Christina wrote because her mother didn't leave her a thing after she died.I disagree.Before "Mommie" was published there was a biography of Joan (written by Bob Thomas I believe) which comes right out and says Crawford abused her children.Also quite a few people defended Christina when this came out saying it was all true.Since we now know that Crawford had serious issues this is all the more plausible.Also Christina managed, through this book, to single-handedly destroy her mother's goody two shoes image.So--I believe it all.
It starts off pretty dull and the supposed child abuse Christina and her brother Christopher went through isn't THAT bad--except for the night raids.Indeed Christina comes off like a spoiled brat at times.But, as she got older, the abuse stopped but vicious mind games began.Also Crawford shipped off Christina to boarding schools and had her work there for her keep.These chapters are compelling and pretty well-written.Then she sent her to a convent(!!!) where she became a virtual prisoner.It follows how Christina got over all these and carved a life for herself.The last chapter it seems she and her mother are getting along for years--only to have her mother completely write her off of her will.
So--I tend to believe every word (even if she overdoes it at times) and I find this a compelling well-written story about a woman who managed to come through a life of abuse.
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