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:

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.

5 Responses to “List of Famous People Estranged From Their Parents”

  1. Human

    Family estrangements are common. Personality disorders are common. Hmm…

    Reply
    1. Laurence Almand

      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.

      Reply
  2. Sean Crawford

    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.

    Reply
    1. Scott

      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.

      Reply

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