Mommie Dearest is a nonfiction book written by Christina Crawford. Released in 1978, it tells of Christine's turbulent childhood being raised by her mother Joan.
Due to its extremely critical view of Joan Crawford, many of Crawford's friends and relatives have spoken out against it.
Notable people within[]
- Christina Crawford
- Joan Crawford
- Clark Gable
- Howard Hughes
- Alfred Steele
- Barbara Stanwyck
- Shirley Temple
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
When Christina Crawford's harrowing chronicle of child abuse was first published in 1978, it brought global attention to the previously closeted subject. It also shed light on the guarded world of Hollywood and stripped away the façade of Christina's relentless, alcoholic abuser: her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford.
Christina was a young girl shown off to the world as a fortunate little princess. But at home, her lonely, controlling, even ruthless mother made her life a nightmare. A fierce battle of wills, their relationship could be characterized as an ultimately successful, for Christina, struggle for independence. She endured and survived, becoming the voice of so many other victims who suffered in silence, and giving them the courage to forge a productive life out of chaos.
Summary[]
Part I[]
Chapter 1[]
Shortly after Joan's death, her adopted daughter Christina meets with members of her family to plan out her funeral - as Joan had left very few instructions for her funeral. During this, Christina visits her mother's embalmed corpse and cries over it.
Chapter 2[]
In the 1920s, the celebrity culture of Hollywood was being established. The actors and actresses of the silver screen were slowly establishing themselves as a nouveau riche class but things such as actors' unions had not yet been made and most beginning actors were paid nigh-starvation wages. To become famous in Hollywood, one had to either be extremely eccentric or gossip-worthy. It was during this era that one Lucille LeSeur (soon to be dubbed Joan Crawford by publicists) became a Hollywood actress. Her career was cemented by a short-lived marriage to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and was quickly followed by a marriage to an actor named Franchot Tone.
Though they started out seemingly happy with each other, Franchot's declining career clashed with Joan's rise to stardom. This (along with Joan finding Franchot having an affair) put an end to their marriage - which Christina claims gave Joan "culture". Shortly after the divorce, Joan adopted a baby girl. At first, Joan planned to name the baby Joan Crawford, Jr. but by the time she officially adopted the baby girl in Las Vegas (due to Nevada's more liberal adoption laws) she gave her the name "Christina".
At first, Joan doted on Christina. The two travelled across America together - visiting Miami (something that Christina has barely any memories of) and New York. Soon, though, Joan's career began to decline. She left MGM (which she considered her family) due to "poor quality scripts" but went on strike shortly after joining Warner Bros. It was around this time that Joan married a largely-unknown actor named Philip Terry and adopted Christina's baby brother.
As Christina grew into a toddler, Joan and Philip began "physically disciplining" her. Spankings became common (with Christina claiming that Joan broke several hairbrushes while spanking her with them) and their relationship became more competitive.
Chapter 3[]
As a young child, Christina lived in Brentwood alongside major celebrities such as Shirley Temple and Barbara Stanwyck. Despite this and the fact that Joan set up extremely lavish and elaborate birthday parties for her daughter, Christina began to feel isolated around this time. Her only true companions (beyond the few neighbors she had actually befriended) were the servants that Joan had hired. This was also the time that Joan's punishments went from corporal to nigh-torture. When Christina accidentally removed a bit of drywall, Joan tore up her most beloved dress and forced her to wear it for a week. Around this time, Philip Terry left Joan. Enraged by this, Joan removed any trace of her former husband from her house.
Chapter 4[]
As Christina grew up, vacations to Douglas Camp and the beach became common. During one of these visits, Joan attempted to tell her adopted daughter something she only vaguely understood. Soon, Joan starred in her first role with Warner and enforced a strict schedule on her children. Along with this, she began trying to fob off blood-red beef on her children (claiming that it was extremely nutritious) due to meat rationing. Christina absolutely despised raw meat and remembers a time when she refused to eat a plate of raw steak for dinner and her mother refused to give her anything else to eat but that plate of meat for several days.
Chapter 5[]
After discussing the arrival of two mysterious "twin" babies into the Crawford household, Christina discusses the character of her adoptive mother. For some time, Joan enforced a vow of silence upon everyone else in the household while she slept (usually awaking after noon). She was a devoted Christian Scientist - bringing Christina to one of their churches and being extremely close friends with a devoted woman named Sorkie. She was also an extreme neat freak.
After discussing this, Christina discusses the "night raids". In the middle of the night, Joan would sometimes wake up in an extremely manic state and would take out her mania on anyone nearby her. During one of these "night raids", Joan ran into Christina's room and tore out all the clothes in her closet due to her young daughter daring to use wire hangers. During another of these raids, Joan began destroying the beautiful garden that sat in her backyard and forced everyone around her to join into it. This raid caused Joan's gardener to quit.
Chapter 6[]
After describing her mother's somewhat psychotic character, Christina discusses her mother's relationship with her family. Shortly after Joan was born (in 1904, though she said she was born in 1908 for many years), her biological father left. This was closely followed by Joan's mother marrying a new man - who left while Joan was just eleven. Joan's mother directed most of Joan's schooling - which led her to only have an eighth-grade education by the time she enrolled in college. This led to her quickly dropping out of college. Once Joan became a star, her relationship between her grandmother and Christina's uncle Hal waxed and waned. Christina only vaguely knew her grandmother and uncle - with Christina cutting contacts with the two after an argument with an extremely drunk Hal.
Chapter 7[]
After describing the revolving door of Joan's lovers, Christina describes her relationship with her fanbase. By 1946, Joan received an Academy Award for Mildred Pierce. Instead of being overjoyed by this, Joan thought that it defined the end of her career. Despite this, Joan gained a massive following. Christina remember an incident in which Joan was effectively attacked by a mob of fans while out with family. Along with this, Joan started obsessing over her fanbase and personally replying to every single letter they sent.
Chapter 8[]
Christina next describes Christmas in the Crawford household. While Joan's children got many presents, most of these were taken from them almost immediately after they were opened and given away to charity. Along with this, Joan treated the Christmas season as a publicity event - with the children opening their presents while being closely watched by visitors. Christina appends the script of a radio talk show Joan did which discussed Christmas at her house to this chapter.
Chapter 9[]
After describing how she and her mother spent time together in restaurants (and her mother's relationship with Howard Hughes), Christina discusses her time in public school. Somewhat gifted, Christina skipped most of the third grade. While she was academically gifted, Christina found herself with very few true friends. Numerous children attempted to befriend Christina due to her famous mother but Christina remained oblivious to this. Christina remembers a time that she tried to run away from home but was caught by her mother and brought back home.
Part II[]
Chapter 10[]
Shortly after Christina skips another grade at school, Joan moves her to a boarding school. Though Christina initially hates her time at the boarding school (feeling extremely homesick) but soon acclimates to her new surroundings. Unfortunately, an incident in which Christina nearly has intercourse with a slightly older student shatters this world and enrages Joan (who seemingly blames her eleven-year-old daughter for it). While Christina returns to her house, she finds the Crawford household declining and she becomes aware that her mother is a barely functioning (if that) alcoholic. As such, she decides to stay at the boarding school.
Chapter 11[]
For around six months, Christina returns home to her mother and is kept on a very tight leash by her mother. Shortly after her daughter returned to the boarding school, Joan started calling the school while extremely drunk and making extremely negative and somewhat unhinged claims about her daughter. One of these calls led to Christina being forced into wearing only two pieces of clothing for several months (most likely due to Joan's influence). During Summer break, Christina spent most of her time with her family but spent a memorable week with another family.
Chapter 12[]
While Christina returned to school and began trying to get a boyfriend, numerous big events within Hollywood (such as McCarthyism) culminated in Joan leaving Warner Bros. Though this was seemingly her own decision, Joan became extremely manic over fears that she would go broke (even though she was nominated for several Academy Awards at this time). Once Christina returned home, Joan began lying and saying that her daughter had been expelled from boarding school. Christina called her out on this - which led to Joan flying into a nigh-animalistic rage. Though she nearly killed her daughter, the authorities refused to do anything about this (most likely because of Joan's status).
Chapter 13[]
Though Joan claims that she is unable to pay the tuition for the boarding school, her children continue to go. As Joan has (presumably) returned to MGM and makes various movies for them, she is in a much better mood than she was immediately after she left Warner Bros. Along with this, Christina began to prepare for college. Due to this, Christina remembers 1954 somewhat fondly.
Chapter 14[]
Soon, though, this calm period broke. While Joan was extremely drunk, she decided to pull Christina and her siblings out of the boarding school and move them to new schools (as she believed that the staff of the Chadwick boarding school had "turned Christina away from her"). While the couple running the boarding school tried to keep Christina in their boarding school, their efforts were futile and Christina was moved to a Catholic boarding school. Initially, Christina was completely despondent (believing that her life had been torn away from her by her mother for no good reason) and effectively did nothing but stay in her room and lie in repose. During this time, her mother sent her letters as a way to bolster her public image. Soon, Christina began to take part in studies and began to acclimate to her surroundings.
One day, Christina heard on the radio that her mother was getting married once again. She was enraged that her mother had told her nothing about this. While Joan and her new husband went on their honeymoon, she refused to allow Christina to leave the Catholic school even though everyone else had left for Summer break. As such, Christina was left alone with the nuns as they took part in a vow of silence.
Chapter 15[]
Once Joan's honeymoon finished and she returns to America with her new husband, she reveals that she plans to take her family on a trip across Europe for Christmas. Christina is overjoyed when she discovers that Joan plans to take her on the trip alongside her siblings. The trip begins with a shopping spree in New York before the family departs for Europe by luxury liner. Christina finds that Switzerland and France are peaceful places of high culture. The family then travels to Italy and is nearly attacked by a mob of impoverished Neapolitans while in Pompeii. Despite this, Christina remembers being enraptured with the ancient Roman architecture of Italy. While Joan and her new husband Alfred largely avoid fighting, Christina remembers this veil of a happy couple briefly falling every so often. Once the family returns to New York, Christina returns back home on her own.
Chapter 16[]
Soon, though, things return to normal. While Christina prepares to go to college, her mother discovers that she visited the Chadwicks and uses this to keep her trapped at the convent for several months until she leaves for college. She also uses college as a sort of Sword of Damocles against her daughter - threatening to not allow her to go to college in various letters. Soon, Christina graduates from the Catholic school (and remembers her family not attending her graduation ceremonies). Right before Christina leaves for Carnegie, she discovers that her mother has put the old family house for sale and she decides to visit it one last time - reminiscing over her early childhood memories while doing this.
Part III[]
Chapter 17[]
While Christina is in Carnegie, she begins to experience freedoms she has not experienced before. Even still, her mother holds some influence over her life. After a year spent at the college, Christina decides to leave and start a career in acting. Though her mother and father-in-law are disappointed in this, they allow it. Indeed, Joan begins "helping" her daughter, though this is only to make Christina an extension of herself instead of an established actress.
Chapter 18[]
While Christina begins to establish herself as an actress, her parents began work on a massive penthouse condominium in Manhattan. Christina was able to figure out that her parents did not have enough money and that her father was paying for it using his own salary from the Pepsi company. Christina also figured out that her father (who she thought of as a nice person) had been ensnared by her mother and "would not get out alive". These words turn out to be prophetic, as Alfred Steele dies in bed in April of 1959. Shortly after this, a family friend offered Joan and Christina a role in separate movies. Soon, though, Christina discovered that her contract had been destroyed and this began several years which Christina spent out of the spotlight examining herself.
Chapter 19[]
Once these years of solitude ended, Christina entered back into the world of acting - first by taking roles on stage and then taking a role in a soap opera. During this time, Christina and her mother had a somewhat good relationship. Along with this, Christina briefly married a producer (whom she divorced amicably). While Christina was still working in this role, she was struck down by fallopian cancer and her mother swooped in to serve as a replacement for her in her role. To Christina's horror, she found out that Joan was visibly drunk on set. Throughout her later years, Joan continued to drink and was drunk at various public events and even during taped interviews.
Shortly after Christina was fired from the soap opera she was working on, Christina decided to move back to California. While Christina was moving back to her home state, she noticed that Joan was still going through her "night raids". Shortly after moving, Christina had a personal epiphany and decided to stop being an actress and go back to college. Along with this, Christina met a man named David whom she befriended and married. Some time after this career change and marriage, Joan gave up drinking. Her sobriety lasted only a short period before her death in May of 1977.
In Memoriam[]
Shortly after Christina held her mother's dead hand, Joan was cremated and interred in the family mausoleum. While going over her will, Christina discovered that she and her brother were left nothing in the will for "reasons which are well known to them". Christina is shocked by this, not because of the money but because she thought things were going well with her mother. Shortly after this, Christina attended a Hollywood wake for her mother. During the event, she met with various figures within show business but found that the event celebrated nothing about her private life and her family besides a small mention of "friends and others".
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| You Don't Have to Say You Love Me | Sherman Alexie | 2017 | A memoir detailing the strained relationship between its author and his mother |
| The Cup of Fury | Upton Sinclair | 1956 | A nonfiction book detailing the effects of alcohol on various famous figures |
| Hollywood Babylon | Kenneth Anger | 1959 | A nonfiction book detailing the seedy side of Hollywood |
| Daddy's Boy | Chris Elliott | 1989 | A spoof of Mommie Dearest |
| The Bookmaker's Daughter | Shirley Abbott | 1991 | A memoir detailing the relationship between its author and her bookie father |
| Color Blind | Precious Williams | 2010 | A memoir detailing how its author overcame prejudice |
| Me | Katharine Hepburn | 1991 | A memoir of one of Joan Crawford's contemporary actresses |
| Ava: My Story | Ava Williams | 1990 | A memoir detailing its author's life in 1940s Hollywood |
Sources[]
- Goodreads