I am totally into this author. I have read the 20th Anniversary Edition of "Mommie Dearest" over and over. This book has some more brief stories of Mommie, which I could listen to all day. Christina has definitely done her homework for this book, with extensive research and her own firsthand experience. Anyone looking for recommendations for Self Help books should surely give this book a try.

Christina Crawford tells a story that has gone on for years in this country. Child abuse can happen to any family. Unfortunately some narrow minded folks seem to think this only happens in poor or uneducated families. It can and does happen to anyone. Thousands of children are abused and/or killed in this country each year. We hardly hear enough stories about it to scratch the surface. It's a sin and a shame on this whole country that rich people can buy anything, even children. Some have called Christina a "cry baby". Is that perhaps because you feel that since she seemingly lived in a wonderful mansion and had every little frill a child could dream of? You can live in the most marvelous of mansions and have everything your little heart desires. It would still be a living hell if you had to share it with an abusive and/or mentally ill person who controlled your every move.

Someone who has never seen the movie or read the book called it, "Sickening and an abomination" that she would do this to her "foster" mother. I'd like to remind you that she was SUPPOSED to be a little more than her "foster" mother. She legally adopted these children which means she was supposed to love and protect them as any mother would. If she was unfit mentally then she shouldn't have used them to make a publicity splash or at least realized that she wasn't giving them the love they deserved. The only thing sickening and an abomination was that there were people around who witnessed all this and chose to turn their heads and a deaf ear because she was "Joan Crawford. Hollywood Glamour Star."

I too was abused but I don't have the courage that Christina has because most people don't want to "get involved" or they simply don't want to believe that someone could act so nice in public and be so different behind closed doors. So the victims go on in silence. Ms. Crawford spent 60 years developing her film career? Well, good for her. I'm so glad she was so narcissistic that she chose to spend all her time on her selfish vain needs and "bought" these poor children to live in misery for her own selfish vain need to be looked upon with respect. It only took Hitler 14 years to rise to dictator of Germany and only a few years to kill 6 million Jews and 5 million other people he considered to be mentally deficient or political enemies. So what? It doesn't take hard work to be vain.

Sickening and abominable? Yes that this country will turn it's head and let these things happen because we are so enamored with the rich and famous. I will go on in silence working behind the scenes at abuse shelters and charities. I can sleep at night. Good for you Christina. God bless you. I hope you too can sleep at night now, without fear of a drunken crazed woman coming in to wake you up with her latest torture. God bless America, and thank you for trying to open some of our eyes to the facts of child abuse and to this horrible habit of worshiping people with money and fame.

The people who want to discredit Christina's work by saying it isn't true and can't be believed are obviously dillusional. Is it really so hard to discern the truth of this woman's life? I didn't even have to read the book to be able to tell. She was a social climber, marrying more for notoriety and money than for love, and had a larger-than-life ego that shined through her pictures and performances very clearly. It's pretty easy to figure out that if things didn't go Joan's way, Joan wasn't happy and found ways to make herself feel better, either by belittling her children or by becoming inebriated every chance she got. Sure the woman had a rough life as a child. So did my dad. My dad's childhood was horrible. My father didn't turn into a monster and abuse me. He has been a good father all of my life, so I don't buy the excuse that because Joan's childhood was so crummy, she had no other option but to turn into the diva she became.

Also, of course her friends and maybe even her own children would lie on her behalf. Many people choose to live in denial and I'm sure these folks are among them.

All in all, a terrific book and kudos to Christina for having the guts to come out and tell it like it is.

In her astonishingly painful autobiography, Christina Crawford takes us into the world that she and her mother inhabited when the lights dimmed, the sets were torn down, and when the fans and photographers disappeared. And it was a shocking world indeed.

Joan Crawford was a woman who should never have been blessed with children. Too vain, too narcissistic, and too unstable to even care for herself properly, she was a woman who adopted her children for extra publicity in order to impress the moviegoing public with her kindness and generousity. But what the world didn't know was that the facade of loving mother was just another "performance" by the Oscar winning star. For, disguised by the public spectacle was a cruel, alcoholic tyrant whose children were the victims of her merciless whims, who seemed hell bent on self destruction and hell bent on the destruction of 2 of the children entrusted to her care.

Some people have labelled this book as "sick," "trash," and "venting." I disagree. Christina used this book to draw attention to the then neglected, now fashionable, issue of child abuse, eloquently stating that child abuse is not merely the scourge of the poor and uneducated, but that it can, and DOES, exist in the marbled hallways of the homes of the rich and famous.

That Christina and Christopher survived their nightmarish childhood years with their mother without committing suicide is remarkable. I do not know what Christopher is doing now, but I have seen Christina on television many times and I am always impressed by how refined and sophisticated she is. She is a classy lady. She is highly regarded as a human being and expert in the field of child abuse. Most importantly, she is a survivor.

I found this book after researching the beginnings and the ending of Mommie Dearest. I was lucky enough to find a sequel to the ultimate Hollywood biography of the most notorious stars of Hollywoodland. This was a good read, the book starts off where Mommie Dearest left off...at the reading of the will. It seems Christina's troubles all though life was only the beginning. She received a backlash of support and criticism right after the publishing. Survivor accounts for the talk shows, the play in London, and goes into the depths of the making of the film "Mommie Dearest". Christina also battles with Paramount on the screenplay, ultimately losing to the high-powered executives. Then there is a whole chapter devoted to Christina when she is stricken with a stroke, and eventual recovery. This book ends in 1988 when after a failed marriage, stroke and trips to Sedona, Arizona,Christina finally finds her way out of a place she calls "Lost".

I got my copy at a used bookstore and it was full of underlines and personal notes from the nut who had it before me. I'll have to get a clean copy. Christina's is an exciting tale. I will never get bored of listening to anything she has to say. "Survivor" talks mostly about her life in the 1980s- her marraige, stroke, recovery, and how she published her book. It had new pictures not published in "Mommie Dearest".

I think it's insulting that people say she wrote her books as revenge for being disinherited, but even if that is true, GOOD! For someone who was so badly treated, I say more power to you.

I wonder if Christina still has all those letters Joan wrote to her while she was in boarding school? Imagine if she put just one of those up on e-bay!

It's too bad the people who discredit Christina are blinded by the fact that they don't want to believe their favorite movie star would do such a thing, or believe it's OK because she's a star. That's the whole point of her books.

First thing- this is NOT "Mommie Dearest part 2". I have read Christina's three other books, and have enjoyed them all, mostly "Mommie Dearest 20th Anniversary Edition". I looked everywhere for information about "Black Widow" and found nothing, didn't know what it was about. So I figured I'd just order it.

It's about a woman named Vivian who is selfish and evil, a recent widow, who tries to rid of her son and stepdaughter. Clearly the character of Vivian is based on "Mommie", and some of the events in the story (like the son being imprisoned and Vivian leaving him in jail) are similar to "Mommie Dearest".

I didn't care too much for it because with this author, all I want to hear about is Mommie, Mommie, MOMMIE! I LOVE her tales, and prefer reading about real life. I can't wait for Christina's new book about the Inquisition, due out later this year. But I understand that Christina Crawford probably doesn't want to spend the rest of her life talking about the woman who made her life a living hell. Totally understandable. I'd say "Black Widow" is maybe a good one-time read, but I'd recommend "Survivor", or of course, the classic "Mommie Dearest".