Hollywood and family: some books about the difficult relationships between parents and children in the midst of fame and money

Drew Barrymore is no longer looking for a boyfriend on Tinder

The splendor of Hollywood, whether that of those golden years of black and white movies, to the mega productions of the big studios today, has been taken to countless movies, works of art, photographs, of what Not much is said about the stories of suffering and loneliness that the big stars live. We know that in that “dream machine” not everything is happiness, the entertainment press has faced in the last decade a series of findings and statements about the other side of the show in which the actors we see on the red carpets of the season of awards reveal the abuse and indolence they experienced.

The literary industry has gradually become one of the preferred media for telling stories, some authorized by their protagonists, even written by themselves; in other cases, some unauthorized biographies that come to light at the risk of facing legal lawsuits. These books are indicated if you want to know more about the secret life of the great stars.

Little Girl Lost, Drew Barrymore and Todd Gold, 1991

Little Girl Lost, Drew Barrymore and Todd Gold, Paperback, 1991
Little Girl Lost, Drew Barrymore and Todd Gold, Paperback, 1991

This actress has gone from being a child star in films like “ET”, to being one of the mythical Charlie’s Angels, but what not many know is that from a very young age she suffered the pressure to embody the perfect girl model for the cameras and the show, while going through harsh episodes of confrontation and attacks by her own mother, which would lead her to alcohol and drug addiction, which would trigger her admission to therapy at the age of 13.

This book is co-written by Todd Gold, an American author who has collaborated on several dozen books and biographies of well-known Hollywood figures such as Larry Hagman, the Osbourne Family, Billy Ray Cyrus (country music star father of Miley Cyrus), Ann -Margret, among others, to which were added the sales rates she achieved with Barrymore’s book.

Jennette McCurdy, I’m Glad My Mom Died, 2022

I'm Glad My Mom Died Cover / I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy (2022)
I’m Glad My Mom Died Cover / I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy (2022)

It seems that Nickelodeon’s child stars have dark stories behind all their success, Jennette mccurdy, the unmistakable Sam from iCarly, exposes a cynical view of all the suffering she lived in silence at her earliest age while her mother psychologically abused her taking her to extremes such as eating problems with restriction or calorie counting, an absurd regimen to control her weight being just a girl, which would lead her to addictions and eating disorders being very young and entering the world of auditions to be an actress since she was 6 years old. The tone of this reading is realistic, comic and very crude, very much in the style of McCurdy, who faces her public life as an adult with a new perspective as a bearer of the reins of her life ready to tell her version.

The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and 1930s America, 2014

In Latin America we get closer to the figure of this great child star through his film The Little Princess (1939), embodying a little girl who arrives at an orphanage to wait for her father who is at war, facing a path towards the recognition of the most important values ​​such as friendship and companionship, accompanied by her peculiar dance, song and unique charisma; The truth is that Shirley Temple had the emotional burden of entertaining America as they went through the Great Depression, a global economic crisis that had the greatest impact in the 1930s; Shirley radiated through her productions the emotion of hope, optimism and courage to lift the spirits of millions in those dark days.

In 1988 Shirley would publish her autobiographical book Child Star: An Autobiography, in which he would reveal an overwhelming and unpleasant episode that he had to live through at the young age of 12. when in 1940, a producer from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who was recognized for receiving sexual favors in exchange for characters in the movies, exposed his private parts during the first work meeting after lowering his pants. She, being still very small and innocent of these situations, only smiled, provoking the wrath of the abuser who could not retaliate since the child actress had already signed a contract with the mythical producer.

Jamie Lynn Spears, Things I Should Have Said, 2022

Cover of Things I Should Have Said, Jamie Lynn Spears, 2022
Cover of Things I Should Have Said, Jamie Lynn Spears, 2022

Although this book -probably- written by the pop star’s younger sister Britney Spears It is not an authorized biography, it summarizes in large part the excesses that the family committed on the music diva, in fact it presents her as a person with mental and attitude disorders, washing her hands of any relationship she may have had with continuous theft to the artist’s heritage and the abuse of her independence in complicity with her parents.

Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears. Image: Getty
Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears. Image: Getty

From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir, Nancy Aniston, 1999

Cover of From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir, Nancy Aniston, 1999
Cover of From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir, Nancy Aniston, 1999

Of Jennifer Aniston We know a lot about his romantic life, his appearance in great series and movies, however we don’t know much about his childhood. Nancy, Jennifer’s mother, took on the task of publishing a book with stories, information and photographs of her daughter’s personal life to sell it without her authorization. An unforgettable episode for the press of the turn of the century show in Hollywoodwhich framed the launch of this book, was the interview that the actress had with the journalist Diane Sawyer in the prime time of the chain ABC where the presenter confronts Jennifer with the text, showing it to her in the middle of the interview to conclude that she had never seen it and evidencing the great pain it caused her to see her privacy attacked by her own mother, a person who always manipulated and mistreated her.

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Hollywood and family: some books about the difficult relationships between parents and children in the midst of fame and money