isolation, family friendly heath care and jobs policy. Parenting classes before having children family wage jobs, community involvement vs. From your perspective as the survivor of a dysfunctional home, what do American families need the most today? Crawford by email about her work and about her personal recovery from an abusive family background.Īs you recall in the recent documentary “Surviving Mommie Dearest,” movie star Joan Crawford adopted you from a baby broker after you were born to unwed teenage parents in 1939, but she turned out to be an alcoholic and abusive mother.

She has also hosted a regional TV show which won three Telly awards for excellence, run her own businesses for 30 years and published her own books.

County and as the first woman county commissioner in Benewah, Idaho. She served as the first Childrens Services Commissioner for L.A. Her acting credits include several Broadway productions, the Elvis Presley vehicle “Wild in the Country” (1961) and several television productions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Crawford’s other books include “No Safe Place: The Legacy of Family Violence” (1994) and “Daughters of the Inquisition: Medieval Madness” (2003). In 2012, she wrote and starred in “Surviving Mommie Dearest,” a documentary film based on her own one-woman multimedia play. it's a masterpiece.Christina Crawford is an American actress and author best known for “Mommie Dearest” (1978), an autobiographical account of her abuse-filled childhood as the adopted daughter of Hollywood star Joan Crawford, later adapted into a 1981 movie starring Faye Dunaway. One day people will realize that Mommie Dearest is an incredible film about child abuse. A shame that their powerful performances are written off as simply camp. They perfectly capture the strained and complex relationship between Joan and Christina. Long before Aguilera, Crawford was the original XXXtina, who knew where to find the boys and the booze.ĭunaway and Scarwid have so much tension in their scenes, it pops off the screen. A powerful performance.ĭiana Scarwid wonderfully plays Christina, the troubled adopted daughter who is passive at home but a tramp at school, who lets out her inner whore when she's away from her mother's reign of terror, bringing shame to her mother in front of the headmistress and even more shockingly, in front of a reporter. Faye Dunaway gives the performance of a lifetime as Joan Crawford, struggling with mental illness and self-control. It's a no-holds-barred look at child abuse. Mommie Dearest is a masterpiece, which doesn't get enough credit.

Survivor christina crawford