“If you've ever seen Christina in person, there's no question something happened to her, or at least she feels it did. The twins' personalities were more docile.Įven taking into account Joan's own upbringing as an excuse/explanation, and the corporal punishment standard of the day, it's practically unavoidable to come to the natural conclusion that JC was an abusive parent and there is significant truth to what Christina writes, even though there are place and time details in MD that are provably inaccurate.įor the record, Christina is 81 now, and Mommie Dearest is still her main gig. Also, by many accounts, personality-wise, Joan and Christina and Christopher were just bad matches for each other. In addition to the strict measures in the book that Joan pridefully admitted in her lifetime (like the sleep-safes, the shoelace washing), she was both an alcoholic and an abused child herself, probably sexually abused, trying to bring up her kids in a pressured situation as a star and single mom. It brings up the bigger question of who really gets to decide when an action is abusive? If you've ever seen Christina in person, there's no question something happened to her, or at least she feels it did. Sadly for all Joan fans, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. In both cases, they knew if they had certain scenes in there, the book and film would get publicity and sell, regardless of accuracy. Christina wrote an unused screenplay for the film, and even her book was greatly punched up/ghostwritten. The movie is an exaggeration of the book, which is a one-sided version of what likely went on.

Mommie dearest christopher