Documents

Excerpt From Christina Crawford's Sworn Under Oath Deposition Testimony (pages 52 - 55)

February 9th - 10th, 1978

Manhattan, New York

      On page 254 of Christina Crawford's 1978 memoir, "Mommie Dearest," she wrote that Joan Crawford's "last coherent words" were: “Dammit … don’t you dare ask God to help me!” Christina later stated during her 1978 appearance on "The Phil Donahue Show" that the woman who was present at the time of Joan Crawford's death told her this story.

     Darinka Papich, the woman who was with Joan Crawford when she died, has directly countered this claim. According to Papich, not only did Joan Crawford never say this, Papich insists she never told such to Christina. Below is an excerpt of Christina Crawford reading this passage from her memoir followed by the statements by Darinka Papich, which are read by a voice over artist. 

     For added measure, to demonstrate there is no confusion as to who Christina spoke with regarding her mother's death, excerpts from Christina Crawford's 1978 sworn deposition are provided below. Within these excerpts, Christina states it was Darinka Papich with whom she had spoken in regard to her mother's illness and death.