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Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter-A Memoir, Melissa Francis (Kindle Edition) 4 out of 5 stars.
From amazon:
"The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis.
When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother’s ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows.
Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter is a fascinating account of life as a child star in the 1980’s, and also a startling tale of a family under the care of a highly neurotic, dangerously competitive “tiger mother.” But perhaps most importantly, now that Melissa has two sons of her own, it’s a meditation on motherhood, and the value of pushing your children: how hard should you push a child to succeed, and at what point does your help turn into harm?"
~~~
I was always a Little House fan, but by the time Ms. Francis came on the show I'd largely lost interest in it. Still, I remember her from the show and from many of her appearances on TV commercials when I was young, so when it came up as a bargain download for Kindle and I read the teaser on it I decided to give it a go. I was NOT disappointed! Wow, what a ride this young woman had! :/ Her relationship with especially her Mom was incredible!! WOW! At times I read her story and did a bit of a double take in my head because it all sounded so outrageous, but at the same time, so outrageous it just had to be true. A haunting, compelling tale of some of the darker sides of being a child star...
From amazon:
"The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis.
When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother’s ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows.
Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter is a fascinating account of life as a child star in the 1980’s, and also a startling tale of a family under the care of a highly neurotic, dangerously competitive “tiger mother.” But perhaps most importantly, now that Melissa has two sons of her own, it’s a meditation on motherhood, and the value of pushing your children: how hard should you push a child to succeed, and at what point does your help turn into harm?"
~~~
I was always a Little House fan, but by the time Ms. Francis came on the show I'd largely lost interest in it. Still, I remember her from the show and from many of her appearances on TV commercials when I was young, so when it came up as a bargain download for Kindle and I read the teaser on it I decided to give it a go. I was NOT disappointed! Wow, what a ride this young woman had! :/ Her relationship with especially her Mom was incredible!! WOW! At times I read her story and did a bit of a double take in my head because it all sounded so outrageous, but at the same time, so outrageous it just had to be true. A haunting, compelling tale of some of the darker sides of being a child star...
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