Christina & Joan Crawford
The police told Christina they couldn’t help her.
Her mother was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but Christina, 84, claimed there was another side to Joan that nobody ever saw. In her infamous 1978 memoir Mommie Dearest, Christina revealed that her adopted mother Joan would burst into alcohol-fuelled furies with no warning and physically abuse her. She was even forced to call the police, believing her mum might kill her. Christina detailed one incident, when she was nine, when Joan dragged her out of bed to beat her with a cane. “People fantasised about who or what I was – that I had this privileged, wealthy, film-star family life,” says Christina. “I didn’t have any of that.”
Brooke & Teri Shields
Teri sat in on all Brooke’s interviews, the actress says.
In her recent documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, the 58-year-old former model slammed her alcoholic mother Teri for standing by while she was exposed to highly sexualised situations at a very young age. Working as Brooke’s manager, Teri allowed her daughter to be photographed nude at just 10 and to star as a child prostitute in the 1978 movie Pretty Baby when she was 11 – despite Brooke making it clear she was uncomfortable. And let’s not forget her infamous Calvin Klein ads, where she posed in nothing but jeans. Brooke says the pair had a complicated, codependent relationship and her mum – who passed away in 2012, aged 79 – was “needy” and “in love” with her.
Judy Garland & Ethel Gumm
Judy was forced to start performing at age three.
She faced many dangers as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, but Judy claimed that her mother Ethel was “the real Wicked Witch of the West”. According to the book Get Happy: The Life Of Judy Garland, Ethel gave 10-year-old Judy a bizarre mix of energy pills and sleeping pills to ensure she could work long hours, and she was verbally abusive to her daughter. Judy once said, “She would stand in the wings when I was a little girl and if I didn’t feel good, if I was sick to my tummy, she’d say, ‘You get out and sing or I’ll wrap you around the bedpost and break you off short!’ So I’d go out and sing.” Judy claimed her mother was obsessed with making her daughters famous.
Drew & Jaid Barrymore
“She created a monster and didn’t know what to do with the monster,” Drew says.
After spending much of her childhood in the public eye, Drew emancipated herself from her parents, John and Jaid, at the age of 14. When she was only nine, Drew’s mother introduced her daughter to the infamous club Studio 54, where Drew danced with famous men and took cocaine. By 12, Drew had been in rehab for drugs and alcohol, then at 13, her mum put her into a psychiatric ward. “My relationship with my mum is so complicated,” Drew, 48, told Marie Claire. “I’ve always been empathetic toward my mum and we had a really amazing conversation about it. However, it hasn’t enabled me to lessen the distance. It’s the hardest subject in my life.”
Tori & Candy Spelling
Tori claims she learned of her father’s death via email.
Tori and her mother have shared a fraught relationship over the years, but they first became estranged when Tori, 50, had an affair with Dean McDermott, now her estranged husband, while she was still married to Charlie Shanian. Candy, 78, then blamed Tori for her father Aaron’s death, saying he “didn’t want to live” after Tori stopped speaking to the family. When he died, the bulk of his $975 million fortune went to Candy. Meanwhile, Tori, whose struggles with finances regularly make headlines, received just $1.3 million. Candy also publicly criticised Tori for overspending and has been slammed by the public for not helping her recently when she ended up living in an RV. However, they now appear to have kissed and made up.
Natalie Wood & Maria Zakharenko
Natalie’s life ended in tragedy in 1981.
Maria was a controlling stage mum who reportedly forced Natalie into acting at age five and used controversial methods to ensure her success. When a seven-year-old Natalie was unable to cry on cue for a film, Maria tore a butterfly to pieces in front of her so she would break down sobbing. Maria continued to coach Natalie and micromanage her career for many years, even after she acquired agents. Maria died 17 years after her daughter.
Jennifer Aniston & Nancy Dow
Jen struggled with her mother’s temper.
The Friends actress cut off all communication with her mother Nancy in 1999, after she published a memoir that chronicled intimate details of their relationship. Jennifer, 54, has since discussed their difficult relationship, sharing how disapproving her mother, who died in 2016, was. “She was critical – she was very critical of me,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Because she was a model, she was gorgeous and stunning. I wasn’t. I never was.” Jennifer made peace with her in 2005, saying, “It was going to happen when it was supposed to happen.”
