Christina Crawford––adopted daughter of Joan Crawford, and author of Mommie Dearest, the woe-is-me memoir on which the Faye Dunaway camp classic was based––has always had a bizarre/brilliant way of promoting herself. This week, the woman who is only famous for having been adopted by a celebrity is promoting a 30th anniversary edition of her memoir about being adopted by a celebrity by saying that celebrities shouldn’t adopt. From The Guardian:
“I have tremendous concerns about celebrity adoptions by people like Madonna and Angelina Jolie,” she said in an exclusive interview to mark the publication of a 30th anniversary edition of her memoir. “From the adoptee’s point of view, it is vitally important to know who they are, where they came from, or it can have profound medical and psychological effects.”
Crawford alleges that her mother, who was one of the biggest film stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, adopted her four children for publicity purposes…When asked if today’s celebrities are driven by the same motivation, she replied: “What do you think? Why are they so keen on getting the maximum newspaper and magazine coverage?”
Of course, taking advantage of one’s relationship to a celebrity to attract media attention, and then using that opportunity to rail against how celebrities shouldn’t do things to attract media attention, is completely different. And none of this has anything to do with that new book about Joan Crawford, recently excerpted in Vanity Fair, which basically contends that Mommie Dearest was pure fiction manufactured by Christina in a desperate ploy for attention. Why can’t you give her the respect that she’s entitled to?!?!
