List of Famous People Estranged From Their Parents
Along the way to writing The Ghost of My Father, I came across many stories of famous people who had difficult relationships with one or more of their parents. The samples are too random to assign any particular significance, as I learned in my own research, family estrangements are common. Are they more common among famous families or with children who become stars? Hard to say.
Here’s the rundown:
- Jennifer Aniston: her mother, Nancy Aniston, wrote a memoir about their troubled history. They have recently reconciled.
- Steven Spielberg: many of his early films center on absent fathers, a reflection of his experiences as a young adult.
- Macaulay Culkin: has been estranged from his father for many years.
- Michael Jackson: well documented history of abuse at the hands of his father, Joe Jackson
- Adele: her father has made several public pleas to reconnect with her and her family
- Tom Cruise: his father was absent for most of his life
- Demi Lovato: her father Patrick Lovato died while estranged from his daughter
- Kate Hudson: has stated “my biological father doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall”
- Drew Barrymore: she doesn’t speak to her mother anymore
- Lindsay Lohan; There is a long history of conflict and estrangements between her and her father, too many to mention
- Jay-Z: his father was absent for most of his life, but they did meet before he died
I’m certainly not famous, but if you want to read a great book about understanding family and learning from the past, check out The Ghost of My Father. Read the free chapter here.
Family estrangements are common. Personality disorders are common. Hmm…
Read the excellent book TOXIC PARENTS by Dr. Susan Forward, the psychologist who counseled Nicole Simpson, and told her to eliminate O. J. from her life.
Looking forward to reading this book. Planning a review in my blog, http://www.Ingenuity.Guru.
I agree it’s “hard to say” if estrangement is more common among famous people.
I’m still thinking over something I read a couple decades ago. While I had then (maybe still have) a subjective impression that child stars turn out damaged, I read a quote by the kid (Danny D) on The Partrige Family, who’s life did not go well. As an adult he commented that a false impression is given of (the status of former child stars) because the ones who turn out dysfunctional get so much publicity.
Speaking of dysfunction, and addiction, I can confidently predict that rehab didn’t work for Ms. (Mean Girls) Lohan; because I never see her going in for supporting roles, bit parts and walk-on parts. Only the starring role. But rehab, as I understand it, starts by teaching a person to be humble as opposed to grandiose, on the path to reasonable sanity.
It’s hard to find a great reason for the child for an adult to want to push them into early stardom. No surprise there are so many sad stories there. But it’s hard to find a good sample without bias to make any kind of real comparison – there are plenty of bad parents everywhere it seems.