Christina Crawford was born on June 11, 1939, to teenage parents. She was later adopted by screen legend Joan Crawford and was originally named Joan Crawford Jr. When she was 11 months old she was taken to Nevada, were she was formally adopted by Joan and renamed Christina. Her early life was one of happiness living with her "Mommie Dearest."

When she was about three her mother married Phillip Terry and they adopted a baby originally named Phillip Terry Jr. but after the divorce of the two was renamed Christopher Crawford.

When Christina was about four things started to change for her. Her mother started making her do some odd assignments around the house,like doing the dishes. In the mornings everyone would have to walk on tiptoe and whisper so that nobody would wake Joan up. After this while Christina grew up doing the dishes was the least of her problems when Joan made her do things that sometimes where physically impossible for her to do. Around this time what Christina calls "night raids" started happening, such as the infamous "No Wire Hangers Ever" episode (as depicted in the film Mommie Dearest). These "raids" would sometimes last for several hours. When Christina was about nine she and Chris got the chance to be older siblings when Joan adopted twins Cathy and Cindy.

When Christina was about 10 her mother decided that she could not have her living in her household anymore and decided to take her to Chadwicks, a boarding school about an hour and a half away from their home. At first Christina didn't like it, but she eventually got used to it. Some things happened to Christina during her time at Chadwicks with her mother such as the time because she wore her coat to class Joan made her were only two dresses, one pair of shoes, and the coat for a whole semester. During this time there was also an unfortunate incident when Christina had her boyfriend over without the Chadwicks knowing and a couple days later Joan heard about it and picked Christina up to take home. While at home a friend stayed with them and asked Christina how school was and asked about children she knew that went there. Some of the people that the friend knew had been expelled and when Christiana told her this Joan said something like what are you to say anything you were expelled also. When they got back home Joan and Christina had an argument about this because Christina had not been expelled. Joan was mad at her for this and started beating Christina severely. Several hours later a policeman came to the house and told Christina that Joan wanted to have Christina arrested for being insolent. Several months later after another incident over Christmas Card list Joan had all four children sent from Chadwicks to different schools and taking Christina to a Catholic Boarding School (they were Christain Scientist.) Christina stayed there until she went to college back east when

She graduated from high school at 17 and started college in Pittsburg. She spent one year there and then started doing acting jobs. During this time she lived in New York. She worked at a restaurant and did odd jobs. She went to England for a while and while she was there her step-father Alfred Steele died. When she got back to New York she had her hands full. Her brother Christopher had gotten arrested for stealing his headmistresses car. He had been in jail for six months with no charges brought up against him and Joan Crawford wanted to send him to a prison. Christina tried all she could and with the help of a lawyer managed to make Christopher a ward of the state so that Joan could not do anything to him.

When she did a summer stock production of "Splendor in the Grass" she met a man she would eventually marry, but the marriage didn't last long. During that time Christina was on the TV soap opera The Secret Storm During her run she got sick and had to have surgery so Joan, who by then was past 60, took over for her, playing a 28-year-old woman Unfortunitly she was drunk during the tapings and made a fool of herself. After this Christina went to California and did some work, but then went back to school and met David, later her second husband. Joan Crawford died in 1977 and it made headline news when she cut Christina and Christopher out of her will.

Shortly afterward Christina wrote "Mommie Dearest" about her life with her abusive mother. In 1981 the book was made into a movie and then she had a stroke. She recovered, but a couple of years later she and David got divorced. Since then she has led a quite life in California on a farm that she used to live on with her husband and stepson.



Suffered a major stroke in 1981, from which she has fully recovered. The movie, Mommie Dearest (1981) is based on her best-selling book about her allegedly abused childhood with adoptive mother, Joan Crawford. Faye Dunaway portrayed Joan Crawford. Mara Hobel portrayed Christina as a child, and Diana Scarwid played her as a teenager and young adult. Formed her own publishing company in 1998, Seven Springs Press, to publish the 20th Anniversary Edition of 'Mommie Dearest' from the original manuscript. Suffered from an ovarian cyst in 1968 while appearing on "The Secret Storm" (1954). While she was recovering from surgery, her mother, Joan Crawford, 63 years old at the time, temporarily took over Christina's role as a 28-year-old on the show. Christina wrote in her book "Mommie Dearest" that when she watched her mother's scenes on the telecast, it was obvious to her that Joan Crawford had been drinking before the taping. Owns a 150-acre farm in Northern Idaho Stepdaughter of the late Pepsi-Cola Company President & CEO Alfred Steele. When Christina began her acting career, her mother asked her to change her last name so it wouldn't look like she was using the name to her advantage. Christina refused. Is portrayed by Mara Hobel and Diana Scarwid in Mommie Dearest (1981)