Abuse, abandonment, and situations so bad that kids had to file restraining orders against
their own parents.
It might seem glamorous to be born into the insane privilege of a celebrity, but there
are dark truths behind the limelight.
Keep watching to learn more.
Although Tom Hanks has been nicknamed America's Dad for his lovable persona, the actor's real-life
son, Chet Hanks, has had a slightly more rocky time in the public eye.
Over the years, he's come under scrutiny for his use of slurs, fake Jamaican accent, and
anti-vax rants.
The musician also made headlines in 2022 when he took a not-so-subtle shot at his dad.
On his YouTube channel, Chet revealed that while there were a lot of advantages to being
the child of a celebrity, it was still a strange experience.
He elaborated:
"I was just the son of somebody famous so I hadn't even done anything to deserve any
sort of recognition and that created a lot of contempt."
The musician also insisted that he didn’t have a strong male role model to reassure
him from ‘haters’ on social media when he was growing up.
Viewers quickly interpreted that anecdote as a criticism of Tom as a father — and
it's not the first time that their relationship has been publicly questioned.
One ex-girlfriend previously told Radar Online that Chet had been financially cut off from
his parents because of his drinking and drug use.
However, Tom said in 2015 that he believed his son was brave for opening up about his
struggles with sobriety, telling ET:
"As a parent, you love your kids unconditionally.
You support them every step of the way."
When Joan Crawford died, it was revealed that the Hollywood star had cut two of her adopted
children, Christopher and Christina, out of her will.
She vaguely cited:
"[...] for reasons which are well known to them."
Christina then released a tell-all memoir called Mommie Dearest, which accused her late
mother of physical and mental abuse.
It was later made into a notoriously campy movie, which starred Faye Dunaway and won
several Razzies.
Reflecting in 2019 on the backlash she received for her depiction of child abuse, Christina
told The Guardian:
"We didn’t have a language for it.
We didn't have laws for it.
We didn't have a social context for it, and we had shame.
A tremendous amount of shame, coupled with fear.
It wasn't easy."
She recalled one incident in particular where police were called to the house.
She said:
"She would've been hauled off to jail for attempted murder.
What is the excuse for that?"
Although they seemed to reconcile in Joan's later years, the relationship was never fixed.
Christina explained:
"Towards the end, she didn't have any work.
She was an alcoholic.
She was ill.
She was drug-addicted.
And I think she just wasn't playing with a full deck."
Christina moved back to California and fell out of touch with her ill mother again, before
finally receiving the news that Joan had died.
Tatum O'Neal may have starred in the film Paper Moon alongside her father, Ryan O'Neal,
but their relationship off-camera was far from perfect.
The Oscar-winning child star has written books about both her parents over the years, accusing
them of being unfit to have children, and abandoning her to a life of drugs.
Ryan apparently resented her record-breaking success at the Academy Awards, where she won
best supporting actress at only 9 years old.
In Tatum’s 2004 memoir, she wrote:
"The feeling I most associate with winning an Oscar is an overwhelming sadness at being
abandoned by my parents — both of them, for my mother remained silent — one more
time."
Tatum later told Larry King that Ryan apparently punched her in the face after the nominations
were announced, although she blocked it out of her memory.
Ryan also took offense to Tatum’s memoir, declaring to NBC in response:
"It is a sad day when malicious lies are told in order to become a 'bestseller.’”
Although they've tried to repair their relationship over the years, it seems to be an uphill battle.
Tatum told The Guardian in 2011:
"He has a lot of anger.
I don't think he likes me.
I choose to be around people who see me as the person I've become, and that's not the
way he sees me.
I don't think he sees me in a positive light."
Kate and Oliver Hudson grew up around some of the biggest stars in the world, thanks
to their mother Goldie Hawn.
But the famous siblings have been open about the fact that they consider their stepdad,
Kurt Russell, to be more of a father to them than their biological dad, Bill Hudson.
Hudson told the Daily Mail that Kate and Oliver were no longer a part of his life.
This response arrived shortly after Oliver Hudson made a Father's Day post captioned:
"Happy abandonment day."
Bill called the Instagram post a:
"[...] malicious, vicious, premeditated attack."
He then went on to publicly cut off both children, telling the Daily Mail:
"He is dead to me now.
As is Kate.
I am mourning their loss even though they are still walking this earth."
Kate spoke with Today about her father in 2021, admitting that their bitter relationship
was a 40-year issue rather than a new development.
She reflected:
"I think that estrangement is unfortunately quite common.
I think it's important for people to talk about that."
She also insisted that she still dearly loves her family despite their challenges.
Jennifer Aniston has admitted to having a strained relationship with her late mother,
actor Nancy Dow.
The pair were estranged for years after Dow published a 1999 memoir about raising Aniston,
called From Mother and Daughter to Friends, without asking her daughter's permission.
Aniston reflected on the book in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
"I knew that this person was giving me an example of what I'd never want to be, and
I will never ever be that.”
She also told Elle that her mother put a lot of pressure on her to look attractive.
"She was from this world of, 'Honey, take better care of yourself,' or 'Honey, put your
face on,' or all of those odd sound bites that I can remember from my childhood.”
Aniston noted that Dow, a former model, wasn't trying to make her daughter self-conscious.
She also acknowledged that her mom probably had a difficult time as a single mother, and
that affected their relationship.
Speaking to Elle, she concluded:
"I think she was just holding on and doing the best she could.”
Although Frances Bean Cobain has made up with her rockstar mother, Courtney Love, over the
years, she has admitted to having intense resentments around her mother’s drug addictions.
She told Rupaul on his podcast, What’s The Tee:
"Some kids were like, 'f—, I didn't do my essay,' and I'd be like, 'f—, I had to call
the paramedics to get my mom's stomach pumped last night.
Just a different set of priorities."
Cobain also said Love was a good person, even if she could be, quote "highly self-destructive"
during tough times.
The New York Daily News reported that Cobain had been granted a restraining order against
Love following a violent altercation.
Love wrote in an interview with the outlet:
"I should have never gotten mad at her.
I love her so much.”
The musician then vowed that she would be reunited with her daughter soon.
Although Brody Jenner was introduced to the public as part of a big happy family on Keeping
Up with the Kardashians, he's been candid about feeling distant from stepmom Kris Jenner
and her daughters.
Brody told The Mirror in 2015:
"Kris and I don't speak.
We just don't speak.”
He insisted that the famous ‘momager’ was just too busy, and there hadn’t been
a big falling out.
He followed up:
"Anyway, I have a mother who I speak to.
I don't need two of them."
When Jenner appeared on The Hills: New Beginnings in 2019, he was equally frank about his feelings
toward Caitlyn Jenner, who was absent for Brody’s childhood.
He confessed:
"When he started, you know, obviously with the family, the Kardashian family and all
of that, I didn't really see much of him."
He also revealed that Caitlyn hadn't come to his graduation or the majority of his birthdays.
The reality star expressed support for Caitlyn and her journey with transitioning, but added
that they were still going steadily in separate directions.
He noted, during his stay on The Hills:
"She’s off living her life.
But what I've learned is to not expect too much from her."
In a 1993 interview with Oprah, Michael Jackson shocked the world by revealing that his father,
Joe Jackson, had tormented him throughout his childhood.
Michael alleged that when he and his brothers became stars as The Jackson 5, their self-appointed
manager, Joe, would target him for beatings and call him ugly.
Michael reflected to Oprah:
"I don't know if I was his golden child or whatever it was.
Some may call it a strict disciplinarian or whatever, but he was very strict — very
hard."
In a BBC interview with Louis Theroux, Joe admitted that he used to hit Michael as a
punishment, but objected to the term ‘beating’ and insisted it wasn't accurate.
He elaborated:
"I whipped him with a switch and a belt.
I never beat him.
You beat someone with a stick."
In response to Michael saying that he, quote, “regurgitates" from fear in his father's
presence, Joe quipped:
"He regurgitates all the way to the bank.
That's right."
The King of Pop's sister, La Toya Jackson, later accused Joe of abusing her as well.
She told Regis and Kathie Lee in a 1991 interview:
"There wasn’t just physical abuse.
It was also mental abuse, which was very disturbing, and sexual abuse as well."
She alleged that it had begun when she was 11, after her sister, Rebbie Jackson, had
left home.
Latoya insisted that the whole family was ‘living a lie.’
Out of all the sad stories in the entertainment industry, Mackenzie Phillips might have one
of the most tragic.
In 2009, the One Day At A Time actor wrote a book about her father, John Phillips, the
frontman of The Mamas and The Papas.
The memoir detailed years-long sexual abuse she received from him.
Mackenzie spoke to Oprah about her perspective, in an interview following the book’s release:
"My father was not a bad man.
He was kind of a testament to what drugs and alcohol — in huge quantities — can do
to a person's priorities.
Their motives.”
The actor also revealed that the sexual abuse began when she was a teenager and lasted for
decades, although she stopped it after getting pregnant.
Facing the implications of not knowing who the father was, Mackenzie had an abortion,
which was paid for by John.
After that moment, she never let him anywhere near her again.
In an interview with Joy Behar, Mackenzie later clarified her opinions about what occurred
between her and her dad.
She said:
"There really is no such thing as consensual incest due to the inherent power a parent
has over a child."
Mackenzie also spoke about how the long-term trauma led to her struggling with drug addiction,
and described her anger toward her father when he died in 2001.
Although Michael and Dina Lohan have both become famous due to their daughter’s success,
Lindsay Lohan has publicly admitted to a turbulent family life.
In 2010, she spoke to Vanity Fair about former Wall Street trader Michael, and how he had
put their family through hell.
She accused her father of threatening murder and physical violence.
Lindsay reflected, with Vanity Fair:
"I grew up really fast just because of the situations I was subjected to because of my
father.”
She also claimed that Michael's endless interviews with the press about her were a cry for attention.
She further wrote that his accusations of drug use were hypocritical, and even admitted
to pitying him.
After pictures emerged of her fighting with her fiancé, Egor Tarabasov, in 2016, Lindsay
told the Daily Mail that her family had prepared her for a life of difficult relationships.
The actor also explained why she wasn't currently talking to Michael, pointing out that he had
a reputation for selling stories about her life.
The actor seemingly had a clash with Dina in the same year as well, per Page Six.
She posted and deleted an enigmatic Instagram caption:
"Sometimes it sucks when your mom isn't there for you."
Angelina Jolie has had a rocky relationship with her father, the actor Jon Voight, ever
since childhood.
She revealed on a podcast, per E! News:
"I didn't feel that close to my father.
I felt more of my mother's daughter."
In 2002, Voight brought their dispute to rock-bottom, when he publicly accused his daughter of having:
"[...] serious emotional problems."
As he told E! News, the star had been estranged from Voight for months and had not let him
meet her first child, Maddox, whose adoption he had announced to reporters without Jolie's
permission.
He told E!:
“It's a great pain that I haven't been able to see the baby.
I want to tell Angie that I love her and I want her to get the help she needs."
In response, Jolie legally dropped “Voight" from her name.
Jolie told The Hollywood Reporter:
"I don't want to make public the reasons for my bad relationship with my father.
I will only say that like every child ... I would have loved to have had a warm and loving
relationship with our dad.”
By 2017, however, the pair had reconciled.
Jolie shared that although her and her father cannot talk politics, due to Voight’s support
of Donald Trump, they can bond over their love for Jolie’s children.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp
National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat
services.