Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as a cruel, unbalanced, and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same name starring Faye Dunaway. Upon the death of their mother in 1977, both Christina and her brother Christopher were disinherited. Synopsis In the book, Christina contends that Joan, whom she describes as not wishing to be involved in parenting her, was an alcoholic who hit her regularly for frivolous reasons and placed more importance on her career than her family life. Christina suggests that Joan may have adopted children as a publicity stunt to sustain her career. She implies Joan had a long list of affairs with men, whom Christina was required to call "Uncle" and, on some occasions, "Daddy". Christina writes that as she grew older and more challenging to control, Joan found excuses to remove Christina from home by sending her to various boarding schools and strict religious academies, often specifying in her instructions that Christina must be allowed no contact with the outside world. Usually, the threat of boarding school or the actual sending of Christina to these schools was used to punish Christina for defying her mother or fighting back against her abusive behavior. Christina recounts several events in which Joan's behavior was unbalanced and at least one encounter with her mother where Joan attempted to strangle her. In another encounter, Joan reportedly discovered Christina's clothes hanging in a closet on wire hangers, which Joan detested instead of crochet hangers, and reprimanded her harshly. In an incident in which Christina refused to eat rare beef, Joan ordered the meat returned to the refrigerator and refused to allow Christina any other food for a day and a half until she finished the meal; Christina managed to hold out until her mother gave up and allowed her regular meals again. Joan allegedly disposed of her children's possessions to punish them for minor transgressions. Christina also wrote that Joan strapped Christina's younger adopted brother, Christopher, to his bed each night until he was 12, ostensibly to control his sleepwalking. Christina reported that Joan's controlling and erratic behavior continued throughout Christina's adulthood. She asserts that Joan was jealous of