When Davis published her own memoir in 1987, she ended the work with a letter to Hyman refuting Hyman's allegations. Usually Bette pushed me first or something. We had physical fights, but not much more than the average family. Bette and I were both big drinkers, and sure I slapped her and B.D. In 1985, Merill told People that the claims were exaggerated, saying, 'There are kernels of truth in it, but multiplied. She claimed these alleged abuses included Davis staging suicides as punishment when her children did something wrong and taking Hyman out of school at age eleven to be Davis’ personal assistant.

According to the memoir, Davis never acknowledged this alleged abuse, and Hyman alleged her mother was abusive too. It describes Hyman’s young life of mansions and pet horses, adopted siblings (so she wouldn’t be an only child), and alleged abuse from her stepfather, actor and Davis’ All About Eve co-star Gary Merrill. Hyman’s book, My Mother’s Keeper, came out in 1985. That is the tell-all mother book that everyone knows, but Bette Davis’ daughter, B.D. The book eventually became a movie of the same name starring Faye Dunaway. Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Joan Crawford, wrote a tell-all book about her mother, called Mommie Dearest, in 1978. We know from Feud that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford didn’t get along with each other, but from a little bit of digging, it doesn’t seem like they got along with many people in the outside world, either, including their families.

Christina crawford memoir