Christina Crawford was born on June 11, 1939, to teenage parents, who later relinquished their parental rights and allowed screen legend Joan Crawford to adopt her. When Christina was just 11 months old, Joan adopted her in Nevada, renaming her Christina. She grew up in a household filled with happiness, often referred to as her "Mommie Dearest".
However, Christina's early life took a drastic turn when her mother remarried Phillip Terry and adopted a baby boy, later renamed Christopher Crawford. According to Christina, her mother began assigning her tasks around the house, including physically impossible tasks, and would often wake the family up in the morning by yelling and screaming. She also recalled "night raids" where her mother would rummage through her room, often lasting for several hours.
When Christina was around nine years old, her mother adopted twins, Cathy and Cindy. She was then sent to the prestigious Chadwick School, a boarding school in California, where she alleges she was forced to wear her coat to class due to her mother's strict rules. Christina was eventually removed from the school after being caught alone with a boyfriend without permission.
She then attended a Catholic boarding school and later moved to Pittsburgh to attend college. After a brief stint in college, Christina began working as an actress, doing odd jobs and moving to New York. During her time in England, her stepfather, Alfred N. Steele, the CEO of Pepsi-Cola, passed away. While performing in a summer stock production of "Splendor in the Grass", Christina met her future husband, although the marriage did not last long.
Christina was cast in the TV soap opera "The Secret Storm" in 1968, but was later replaced by her mother, who played a 28-year-old woman while Christina was recovering from surgery. After returning to California, Christina went back to school and met her second husband, David Koontz.
When Joan Crawford passed away in 1977, it was reported that she had cut Christina and Christopher out of her will. Shortly after, Christina wrote her memoir "Mommie Dearest", which became a bestseller and was later adapted into a blockbuster movie. Christina suffered a major stroke shortly after the book's release, from which she recovered. She and David divorced a couple of years later and she has since lived in Northern Idaho, operated a bed-and-breakfast, and continued writing.
