Francis also tells of how her mother managed the money in the family and how she accuses Francis of overspending all of the money she made from acting and residuals from commercials and reruns. The mother battles with depression throughout Francis’s life. In the end the mother disappears. She goes off to live with her own sister after taking all of the money in the family’s bank account, virtually leaving the father and the sister homeless and broke.
There are also stories of determination and perseverance. Tiffany goes to Berkeley and tries law school. Melissa Francis graduates Harvard with a degree in economics and begins a long career in television broadcasting. She also marries and has children.
Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter is well written and a riveting read. The author takes the reader through a life that appears exciting and perfect on the outside but is troubled on the inside, and she does so in a can’t-put-the-book-down fashion.
Article comments
1 - MELISSA MOTHER
NO, THE FATHER IS A FALL DOWN DRUNK WHO INTRODUCED HIS DAUGHTERS TO ALCHOL , CIGARETTES AND DRUGS. HE WAS THROWN IN THE DRUNK TANK.
HE RENTED A HOUSE BEHIND THE MOTHER'S BACK LEAVING HER HOMELESS.
IT WOULD BE NICE IF SOMEONE WOULD DO SOME FACT CHECKING. HE MOVED THE FAMILY BUSINESS INTO THE HOUSE THUS LEAVING THE MOTHER PENNILESS. I KNOW, I LIVED IT. HOW DID SHE GET THRU HARVARD WITHOUT DEBT. A FAIRY PAID THE BILLS?
I FEEL SO SORRY FOR HER; she is her father's puppet.