It paints a picture of a self-absorbed, spiteful and controlling alcoholic diva, seemingly without conscience and prepared to meet out excessive punishments behind closed doors to her adopted children whom she ruled with a rod of steel. The level of cruelty and abuse suffered by Christina, and her brother Christopher (to a lesser, though still traumatic extent) is harrowing and moving. By comparison, the audiobook is shocking and often difficult to listen to. And Christina Crawford expressed her disappointment with the film saying “It was meant to be a window into a tortured soul.

Faye Dunaway had regrets about making the film, “I think it turned my career in a direction where people would irretrievably have the wrong impression of me,” she told People magazine. The film is like a trailer for the book in terms of content. If you have seen it and think you know the whole story, think again. Most people will probably have seen Faye Dunaway’s performance as Joan Crawford in 'Mommie Dearest' (1981). This edition features an exclusive new introduction by the author, plus rare photographs from her personal collection revealing material not found in the original manuscript. 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. A fierce battle of wills, their relationship could be characterized as an ultimately successful, for Christina, struggle for independence. But at home, her lonely, controlling, even ruthless mother made her life a nightmare.

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.Ĭhristina was a young girl shown off to the world as a fortunate little princess. When Christina Crawford’s harrowing chronicle of child abuse was first published in 1978, it brought global attention to the previously closeted subject. The 40th anniversary edition of the “shocking” number one New York Times best seller with an exclusive new introduction by the author ( Los Angeles Times).

Mommie dearest christina