Talk:Mommie Dearest

Shirley Temple

It needs to be discussed why Shirley Temple is mentioned in the article. This article does not state a clear connection between the Crawford family and Shirley Temple. And Temple's article does not have any mention of Joan or Christina Crawford, or Mommie Dearest. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.225.54.127 (talk) 17:09, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Name issues

Just FYI - I know normally we would refer to a person by their last name. Since both Joan Crawford and Christina Crawford share a last name, I used Christina's first name, since she was the child in the relationship. Listing both as "Crawford" could create serious confusion. NickBurns 19:28, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

In several reviews, I've seen Crawford described as being afflicted with Narcissitic personality disorder. This would aptly explain why acquaintances and friends argued over Crawford's behavior and abuse; and why two children were apparently abused, and the other two were not. Apparently NPD was not on the books of the DSM-IV (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) when Christina's book was first published. If anyone finds concrete info about this (of course, I'll look for it also), this should be taken into account. Noirdame 09:30, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Sexual Abuse?

I've read this book several times since it's original publication (finished again about a month ago) and I don't recall any situation involving Christina being sexually abused by one of Joan's employees. Please verify. JLo

"the twins"?

They weren't really twins, were they? 68.219.59.4 00:08, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

No, they weren't; in fact, in her book, Christina remarks on the oddness of referring to 2 children with different birthdates, adopted from different families, as "twins." Yet another of Crawford's oddities.

Yes, Cathy and Cindy were indeed twins. Joan changed the date on their birth certificates so that their natural mother would not be able to find them and take them away, as had happended with one of Joan's other adopted children. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.208.188.203 (talk) 06:58, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

"First book of its kind"

I modified the wording that originally stated Mommie Dearest was the first celebrity tell-all book. This is not true as Elvis: What Happened?, a tremendously controversial expose on Elvis Presley's personal life written by several of his bodyguards, was published in 1977. 68.146.81.123 (talk) 17:46, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Bette Davis

I have removed Bette Davis' name among the celebrities who "confirmed" the details of the book. Davis and Crawford were not friends, their only extensive contact being during the 1960's, while filming What Ever Happened to Baby Jane and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Davis' only public statement following the book's release was she did not believe Christina could have made up the story. This does NOT constitute a "confirmation" of the abuse, only her opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.232.70.41 (talk) 00:07, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Actually Bette Davis strongly objected to Cristina Crawford's claims and referred to her as a "coward" because she waited until her adoptive mother was dead and could not defend herself. Davis described MOMMIE DEAREST as an "abomination" and said she could not imagine the devastation Crawford would have felt if she had been alive when it was written. What a sad irony, that Bette Davis's own daughter later wrote a highly critical account of her mother. Younggoldchip (talk) 14:12, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Abuse

I have met people who didn't believe the abuse happened but I believe it did because of the description of the dynamics in the relationship. I have noticed that some abusive mothers play games with the food or withhold it. 70.140.216.78 (talk) 21:36, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Request for comments

I had added this to the page but Ryan undid it. So as to stop this silly edit war, I am trying to use the method outlined elsewhere.

Starting in 1978, in response to the book and later, the film, hundreds of Joan's friends and family members took out annual advertisements in Variety for many years after her death in protest. Among them were Jane Kesner Ardmore, co-author of Crawford's first autobiography; Fred Astaire; Betty Barker, her secretary for over forty years; Jeanine Basinger; Robert Bloch; Robert Cummings; Dore Freeman, who started her first fan club and, thanks for Crawford, rose through the ranks to become a Hollywood executive; Virginia Grey; Sydney Guilaroff (who was the driving force behind the ads); Edith Head; Bob Hope; Leo Jaffe; Van Johnson; Myrna Loy; Jeanette MacDonald; Elva Martien, a long time friend; Jack Oakie's widow, Victoria Horne; neighbors Marty and Selma Mertz; Michael Sean O'Shea, Eleanor Powell; Mary Martin, who worked with Crawford at the USO for over two decades; Lester Rawlins; Cesar Romero; Liz Smith; Hollywood publicist John Springer; Barbara Stanwyck; Howard Strickling friends with Joan from her early days at MGM; Barry Sullivan; publicist Linn Unkefer; Crawford's NY secrtary for over a decade, Florence Walsh; Monty Westmore; Crawford's God-daughter, Joan Evans Wetherly; Bill Zuckert and, surprisingly, Faye Dunaway herself, as well as dozens of the people she had known and worked with over the years.

Now, my reason for wanting to include some if not all of this is that it IS in direct relation to the book and the REACTION to it. Ryan has suggest that my comment about there being hundreds is likely untrue but tt is not. I can provide a complete list of every person who's name was on those advertisements, as well as the dates and page numbers. If need be, I am also happy to scan and email a few of them as proof they not only exist but also that, over the course of time, there were indeed a few hundred names on those lists. To be clear, the same names did not always appear on every list. Also, in rereading the above, I am aware that the first statement can be a bit misleading, lending the notion that there were hundreds of ads. There were not - just one a year. Thanks!Tal1962 (talk) 00:59, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

References

Trafficking?

The book attracted much controversy regarding child abuse and child trafficking.

Are you sure about trafficking? It seems an extraordinary claim. Might this be vandalism? Valetude (talk) 16:01, 13 August 2017 (UTC)

Needs NPOV tag

This article has been steadily hacked away at over the course of the past few years to remove anything that might be construed as corroborating Christina's narrative.

The most problematic example of this is this passage has been removed entirely:

> Betty Hutton have verified some of the stories in Christina's book and claimed they also witnessed some of the abuse in person. Hutton had previously lived near Crawford's Brentwood home and has stated that she saw the children during or after various moments of abuse. Hutton stated she would often encourage her own children to play with Christina and Christopher to draw them away from their challenges at home.

This is direct corroboration of Christina's allegations, and it had been removed on the very weak excuse that the "source link expired", as if Archive.org doesn't exist (source: https://web.archive.org/web/20110824095627/http://www.meredy.com/joancrawford/bio.html). 174.127.225.95 (talk) 01:10, 4 August 2024 (UTC)