Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford

by Donald Spoto

had to make our beds and wash our dishes. She wasn’t the kind of person Christina wrote about. She was very caring and loving.” WHATEVER THE EXTENT OF Joan’s discipline with Christina and Christopher, her tactics had changed by the time the twins were out of infancy. Cathy and Cindy Crawford always insisted that they had a loving home life without any of the harsh treatment Christina described. “I think Christina was jealous,” said Cindy Crawford years later. “She wanted to be the one person she couldn’t be—Mother. But our mother was very good to us—I think she was good to all four of us, really. She cared for us. We grew up knowing what was right and what was wrong.” “My mother was a very warm person,” added Cathy, speaking for both twins. “She was always there when we needed her. She was a working mother, but she always had time for us, and as far as Mommie Dearest is concerned, it’s a great work of fiction. Christina must have been in another household. She says Joan was rotten, but I say she was a good person. She was tough on us, sure—you’d get a swat once in a while, but there were none of those physical beatings. Christina committed matricide on Mother’s image.” After working as the first editor of Mommie Dearest, Judy Feiffer felt that “Christina had, in a way, tried to be Joan.”