# Christina Crawford
**Christina Crawford** (born June 11, 1939, in Los Angeles) is an American actress and author, best known for *Mommie Dearest* (1978), a memoir describing an abusive childhood as the adopted daughter of the Hollywood star [Joan Crawford](https://www.edgepedia.org/joan-crawford); the book was adapted into a 1981 film starring [Faye Dunaway](https://www.edgepedia.org/faye-dunaway).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) She has also written fiction, a study of family violence, and women's history, and has worked in television, county government, and publishing.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | June 11, 1939, Los Angeles, California, to teenage parents; adopted through a baby broker and renamed Christina at about 11 months old[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) |
| Signature work | *Mommie Dearest* (1978), a #1 New York Times bestseller recounting alleged physical and emotional abuse by Joan Crawford[3](https://earlybirdbooks.com/mommie-dearest-christina-crawford-interview) • [4](https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/1012/10-memoirs-by-children-of-famous-parents/Mommie-Dearest-by-Christina-Crawford) |
| Film adaptation | *Mommie Dearest* (1981), Paramount, directed by Frank Perry, 128 minutes, with Faye Dunaway as Joan and Diana Scarwid as Christina[5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/mommie-dearest) |
| Screen deal | Rights sold to Paramount in June 1978 for $300,000, plus $250,000 to adapt the screenplay; the film cost $10 million to produce[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68145-MOMMIE-DEAREST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=46ea2fa6-75fa-490b-b010-a614145c5042&sr=0.109709814) |
| Other books | *Black Widow* (novel), *Survivor* (1988), *No Safe Place: The Legacy of Family Violence* (1994), *Daughters of the Inquisition: Medieval Madness* (2003)[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/christina-crawford.html) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) |
| Public service | First Childrens Services Commissioner for L.A. County and first woman county commissioner in Benewah, Idaho[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) |
## Early life and adoption
Crawford was born to unwed teenage parents in 1939 and was adopted as an infant by Joan Crawford, then a single mother; IMDb's biography states the adoption was arranged through a black market baby ring.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) She was originally named Joan Crawford Jr. and was taken to Nevada at 11 months old for the formal adoption, where she was renamed Christina.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) When she was three, Joan married Phillip Terry, and the couple adopted a baby first named Phillip Terry, Jr., renamed Christopher Crawford after their divorce.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) Twin sisters Cathy and Cindy were adopted when Christina was about nine.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/)
In her account, the household changed after the Terry marriage: her mother assigned chores, some physically impossible for a child, required everyone to walk on tiptoe and whisper in the mornings, and conducted what Christina calls "night raids," including the episode later dramatized as the "No Wire Hangers Ever" scene.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) She was sent to the Chadwick School, a boarding school in Rancho Palos Verdes, and says she was removed after an incident with a boyfriend and sent to Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, a Catholic girls' boarding school run by Dominican nuns, which she describes as punishment and isolation.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) She has said she was sent to boarding school at age 10 and never lived at home again for any length of time.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
## Acting career
After a year of college in Pittsburgh, Crawford took acting jobs, moved to New York, and worked in a restaurant while auditioning.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) Her screen credits include the role of Monica George in the [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley) film *Wild in the Country* (1961) and, from 1968, the role of Joan Borman Kane on the soap opera *The Secret Storm*.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) • [8](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/208043.Christina_Crawford) During her recovery from surgery in 1968, Joan Crawford, then well past 60, substituted for her on *The Secret Storm*, playing a 28-year-old woman.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) When Christina began acting, her mother asked her to change her last name so it would not look as if she were trading on the family name; she refused.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) She spent nearly fourteen years as an actress in television, theater, and film, including several Broadway productions, before graduating magna cum laude from UCLA.[3](https://earlybirdbooks.com/mommie-dearest-christina-crawford-interview) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
## Mommie Dearest
Joan Crawford died in 1977, and it made headlines that her will cut out Christina and [Christopher](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher), for "reasons which are well-known to them," from her $2 million estate.[9](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0%2C29239%2C2089859_2089888_2089855%2C00.html) • [10](https://www.okemosalumni.org/000/4/8/8/29884/userfiles/file/Byrnes_1963/Volume%203%20-%20Chapters%208-14%20%28for%20website%29.pdf) Christina published *Mommie Dearest* in October 1978, a year after the death, describing beatings, choking, and a severe regime of cleaning and household chores driven, she writes, by her mother's alcoholism.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/25/christina-crawford-on-life-after-mommie-dearest-my-mother-should-have-been-in-jail) • [12](https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/) The book was one of Hollywood's first and darkest celebrity tell-alls, and its timing led some people to doubt the claims, since Joan had cultivated a public image as a model parent; others in the Hollywood community said they had witnessed Joan's abusiveness.[9](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0%2C29239%2C2089859_2089888_2089855%2C00.html)
The book sold widely, grossing $3 million in paperback sales alone, and producer [Frank Yablans](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-yablans) persuaded Christina to sell the film rights to Paramount.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68145-MOMMIE-DEAREST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=46ea2fa6-75fa-490b-b010-a614145c5042&sr=0.109709814) • [13](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ashley-hoff/with-love-mommie-dearest/) The 1981 film, directed by [Frank Perry](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-perry) with a score by [Henry Mancini](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-mancini), was poorly received by critics but became a cult classic, and the line "No wire hangers, ever!" remains among the most recited in film history.[5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/mommie-dearest) • [9](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0%2C29239%2C2089859_2089888_2089855%2C00.html) Crawford has drawn a sharp line between the two works: "The book is a piece of nonfiction. The movie is a piece of fiction." She has said the film was made on a deal memo only and that she was never paid beyond the advance.[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-30-ca-34152-story.html)
In 1998 she regained the rights from William Morrow and founded her own publishing company, Seven Springs Press, to issue a 20th anniversary edition reconstructed from her original 600-page manuscript as a 400-page self-published volume, adding eyewitness accounts she had received after publication and covering nearly 40 years of the relationship.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-30-ca-34152-story.html)
## Later life and other books
In 1981 Crawford suffered a major stroke, from which she has fully recovered; she has connected her healing to that illness and to two decades living in the rural Idaho foothills.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) • [2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) She married David Koontz in 1976; they divorced in 1986. Earlier she had married Harvey Medlinsky (1966 to 1968), and later Michael Brazzell (1994 to 1999).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/) She earned an M.A. from the Annenberg School at the [University of Southern California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-southern-california), served as the first Childrens Services Commissioner for L.A. County, hosted a regional TV show that won three Telly awards, and ran her own businesses for 30 years.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
Her later books continue the story from different angles. *Survivor* (1988) follows *Mommie Dearest* and the novel *Black Widow*, which featured a character based on her adoptive mother.[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/christina-crawford.html) *No Safe Place: The Legacy of Family Violence* (1994) briefly recounts the abuse episodes and her stroke, then examines the reactions of abused and neglected children.[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/christina-crawford.html) *Daughters of the Inquisition: Medieval Madness* (2003) is a work of women's history.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) In 2012 she wrote and starred in *Surviving Mommie Dearest*, a documentary based on her one-woman multimedia play of the same name.[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
## Disputed account
The truthfulness of *Mommie Dearest* has been contested since publication. Two of Joan Crawford's other adopted children, Cathy and Cindy, have vehemently disputed Christina's account; Cathy gave a wholly different portrait of their mother, and the biographer Scott Eyman, in *Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face* (2025), dismisses the most lurid charges while not whitewashing Joan's overly strict parenting.[15](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/scott-eyman/joan-crawford-2/) • [16](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/mommie-dearest-actor-joan-crawfords-daughter-publishes-damning-memoir) A 1998 lawsuit by Cathy LaLonde against Christina for defamation, arising from statements made during the anniversary book tour, has been reported by a site critical of Christina's account.[17](https://www.christinacrawfordlied.com/menu) Christina, for her part, has said that as a mature adult she views her mother's behavior as even more harmful, describing her as an alcoholic who probably was a sociopath, and has said her mother "should have been in jail."[2](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/25/christina-crawford-on-life-after-mommie-dearest-my-mother-should-have-been-in-jail) The debate over the book's accuracy continues decades after publication.[4](https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/1012/10-memoirs-by-children-of-famous-parents/Mommie-Dearest-by-Christina-Crawford)
## References
1. [Christina Crawford Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186726/bio/)
2. [Sean Salai, "Actress and author Christina Crawford on her journey from childhood abuse to recovery," America Magazine, August 26, 2015](https://www.americamagazine.org/all-things/2015/08/26/surviving-mommie-dearest-17-questions-christina-crawford/)
3. ["Christina Crawford on 'Mommie Dearest' and Her Childhood," Early Bird Books](https://earlybirdbooks.com/mommie-dearest-christina-crawford-interview)
4. [Molly Driscoll, "'Mommie Dearest,' by Christina Crawford," The Christian Science Monitor, October 12, 2011](https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/1012/10-memoirs-by-children-of-famous-parents/Mommie-Dearest-by-Christina-Crawford)
5. [Mommie Dearest, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/mommie-dearest)
6. [Mommie Dearest (1981), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68145-MOMMIE-DEAREST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=46ea2fa6-75fa-490b-b010-a614145c5042&sr=0.109709814)
7. [Books by Christina Crawford, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/christina-crawford.html)
8. [Christina Crawford, Goodreads author page](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/208043.Christina_Crawford)
9. [Frances Romero, "Joan Crawford vs. Christina Crawford," TIME, August 23, 2011](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0%2C29239%2C2089859_2089888_2089855%2C00.html)
10. [Okemos Alumni Association, Byrnes 1963 vignette volume (PDF)](https://www.okemosalumni.org/000/4/8/8/29884/userfiles/file/Byrnes_1963/Volume%203%20-%20Chapters%208-14%20%28for%20website%29.pdf)
11. ["Christina Crawford on life after Mommie Dearest: 'My mother should have been in jail'," The Guardian, June 25, 2019](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/25/christina-crawford-on-life-after-mommie-dearest-my-mother-should-have-been-in-jail)
12. ["5 Shocking Secrets That Celebrities Revealed in Autobiographies," TIME, October 7, 2014](https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/)
13. [Ashley Hoff, With Love, Mommie Dearest, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ashley-hoff/with-love-mommie-dearest/)
14. ["Christina Explains 'Mommie'," Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1998](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-30-ca-34152-story.html)
15. [Scott Eyman, Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/scott-eyman/joan-crawford-2/)
16. ["Mommie Dearest: Actor Joan Crawford's Daughter Publishes Damning Memoir," EBSCO Research Starters](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/mommie-dearest-actor-joan-crawfords-daughter-publishes-damning-memoir)
17. [ChristinaCrawfordLied.com](https://www.christinacrawfordlied.com/menu)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Br to C*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license