Hollywood icon Joan Crawford, best known for her roles in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane and Mildred Pierce, left her two eldest children out of her will in a final act from beyond the grave. The movie star started out as a silent film actor and quickly became one of Tinseltown's leading ladies. Today, she is almost as well known for her turbulent personal life as for her sparkling career on the big screen, particularly regarding her children.
Adoption and Family
After learning that she could not have children of her own, Crawford adopted her first child, Christina, in 1940. Two years later, she adopted a son with her third husband, actor Phillip Terry, and named him Christopher. When Christopher was reclaimed by his birth mother, the doting parents adopted another boy. For the first four years of his life, their son was known as Phillip Terry Jr, but when Crawford and Terry's marriage broke down in 1946, she decided to rename him Christopher.
One year later, Crawford adopted twins Cathy and Cindy, completing her family of four. However, things were far less perfect behind closed doors for the film star. Her relationship with her children was difficult from the beginning.
Abuse Allegations and Memoir
Following their mother's death in 1977, Christina and Christopher claimed she had been abusive, caring more about her career than her children. Christina wrote about her experience in her tell-all memoir, Mommie Dearest, which was published in 1978. The book paints Crawford as a controlling alcoholic who would hit her children when they didn't behave. The explosive memoir later inspired a movie of the same name, starring Faye Dunaway in 1981.
The book attracted fierce criticism, particularly from twins Cathy and Cindy, who claimed that they had never experienced any abusive treatment from their late mother. But Christina and Christopher's relationship with Crawford had clearly been strained over the years, as was evident by her will.
The Will
While Crawford reportedly left Cathy and Cindy $77,500 each (approximately $380,000 or £300,000 today) from her $2 million estate, she did not leave a penny to her eldest children. The star simply wrote in her will: "It is my intention to make no provision herein for my son, Christopher, or my daughter, Christina, for reasons which are well known to them."
Today, Christina is the star's only surviving child, with Christopher passing away in 2006, Cindy in 2007 and Cathy in 2020.
