10 Of The Craziest "Momagers" In The Business
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When parents get their kids into the entertainment industry, they automatically think they know what is best for them. On a parent level they do, but on a manager level it is a whole different story as they fail to realize that being a good parent does not mechanically make you a good manager. When parents become managers they sometimes let emotions and an overprotective nature get in the way of making business decisions. However, there are a few different types of momagers; the business-minded one, who knows how to manage her kid's career but also knows when it is time to put the parenting hat on. The gullible one; who means well but has no idea how business works and signs her kid up for roles that are not the best choice. And thirdly, the worst parent ever; this is the mom who thinks it is okay to exploit her kid, steal from them on the sly and knowingly makes horrible decisions.
Hollywood invented momagers and over the years they have only gotten worse to the point where there are laws in place named after kids whose parents exploited their talent and earnings, like The Shirley Temple Act and the Jackie Coogan Law which make sure that child actors have money put aside for their future and education. The Jackie Coogan Law also makes sure that children have certain work hours when on set so their time is not being exploited. Here is a list of some of the craziest momagers in the business and here’s to moms being moms and managers being managers. At least you can COMFORTABLY sue your manager if they screw you over.
10. Kate Gosselin
Yes, we all understand raising 8 kids as a single parent is beyond hard, but when you watch Kate Gosselin parade those kids around like show ponies you have to wonder how miserable they must be. Now that they are more grown up and vocal you can tell that they are forced to do more than they care to do. Every “special” episode they appear in they seem to hate life, unless they get to go on a big fancy trip somewhere. There was one particular incident where the twins Madelyn and Cara were just not feeling it and instead of reciting the rehearsed lines their mother had written for them, they chose to shrug it off. Bad idea, as news reporters flew off the handle with the news that Kate had ripped into her twins just for trying to be themselves.
9. Chrystal Workman
You know you’re a bad momager when a judge takes away custody of your kid and asks one of your other kids to play the role of mom. This was the case with Modern Family star Ariel Winter's mom Chrystal Workman. Winter accused her mom of “psychological control and harassment”; the news spread like wildfire throughout the media and Winter was promptly removed from her mother’s care. Some of the other accusations included working long hours and allowing her child’s education to suffer in order for her to make more money and gain more fame. This lady should be ashamed of herself.
8. Lynne Spears
Britney Spears’ mom Lynne Spears, helped Britney launch a highly successful career and earn a whole bunch of money. Unfortunately, she also helped her daughter fall off of the wagon. The more popular Britney got, the more in trouble their relationship was. Lynne was unable to control Britney who was on a steady decline and instead of bowing out like a mother would and focusing solely on her daughter's well being, Lynne wrote an autobiography spilling all of Britney’s secrets. They had a few public battles which forced Britney to cut managerial ties with her mother. This did not stop Britney from a very public downfall and an embarrassing marriage or two.
7. Nuala Barton
Back in 2015, actress Mischa Barton had to sue her own mother for mismanaging her funds or as the courts would call it ‘systematically withholding earnings’ and exploiting her fame. Mischa may have a questionable career now but she made a decent penny from her time on the T.V. show The O.C. and her mom just seemed to be spending all her cash. In addition to taking her money, her mother also allegedly lied about how much money she made for the horror film Hoarder (2015) so she could collect an undisclosed fee without her daughter knowing. She even opened boutiques with Mischa’s name affiliated without her knowing, which is absolutely crazy.
6. Teri Shields
Brooke Shields' mom was one of the first momagers to be publicly called out for her overbearing ways. She managed her daughter’s career for all of her teen years as well as for some of her adult years, and let’s just say she made some pretty poor decisions. Teri allowed her 10 year-old daughter to participate in an erotic photoshoot, play a teen prostitute in films at age 12 and reportedly went on record admitting to being jealous of her daughter. Brooke has talked extensively about her mother’s mistakes and even had the chance to (somewhat) mend ties with her before she passed away.
5. Jack Birch
Now, we are not haters here at The Richest, nor are we sexist. It is not always the moms who are crazy and to prove that, we have added an honorary member to our list. His name is Jack Birch. If the name does not sound familiar to you it is because you are not watching enough vintage adult entertainment (that’s a story for another day). Jack is actually the father of underrated actress Thora Birch, and he could possibly be worse than all the moms on this list. He has gotten Thora fired from several acting gigs for various reasons; he always wanted to be present for her sex scenes just so he can make sure they are being shot correctly, he has physically threatened a few of her co-stars and production staff, and he even creepily gave a thumbs up to one of her co-stars while they were filming a sex scene.
4. Debbie Malone
Jena Malone (pictured above) is known for her super emotional roles like in Bastard out of Carolina (1996) and Stepmom (1998); being so successful at such a young age must have been exciting until she realized that her mother was ripping her off. At age 14, Jena had to take her momager to court to keep her away from her money and emancipate herself from her wealth-hungry mama. She had accused her mother of spending $1 million of her hard earned cash and because of Debbie mismanaging her daughter's cash she owed $20,000 in back taxes and only had $80,000 left in a $360,000 trust that no one should have been able to take money out of. What did her mom do with the $1 million? Well she bought basically everyone in her immediate family homes and invested in a few shady business schemes.
3. Constance Meester
She is the mother and manager of Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester and while they still remain friends, their professional relationship had to be cut short because her mom seemed to love Leighton’s money more than advancing her career like a manager is supposed to do. They have gone back and forth suing one another for ridiculous claims, Constance even made an outrageous claim that Leighton promised to pay her $10,000 a month (we are assuming this is on top of her manager fee) for god knows what. Leighton is not a huge star and probably does not have a whole lot of money (compared to other big names in Hollywood) but it is safe to say that she is doing better than her mother and does not mind helping her out every once in a while. But $10,000 a month? Come on, the judge though that was ridiculous, too.
2. Dina Lohan
This lady does not know when it is time to call it quits. It is clear that Dina Lohan is still chasing her own dreams of fame as she rides her daughter Lindsay Lohan's coattails all the way to the top. Unfortunately for Lindsay, Dina has kind of screwed up her career and regrettably her mental state as well. Dina “managed” Lindsay for several years and yes, she got her some great film roles like Mean Girls (2004) and The Parent Trap (1998), but when Lindsay started to derail, her mother chose to book her for gigs that focused solely on the money. One of those gigs was posing nude for Playboy Magazine and a few not so great films that focused on Lindsay being naked as opposed to her exceptional acting chops. Now that she has killed Lindsay’s career she has swiftly moved on to her other daughter Ali. Let’s hope she has learned from her past mistakes.
1. Krista Keller
Her daughter is the over-sexualized Courtney Stodden who married actor Doug Hutchinson when she was 16 years-old and he was 51 years-old; that was her first mistake as a new manager. Keller has gone on record saying she justified her daughter marrying a grown man because “even though she was just 16, I knew it was going to take a pretty big man to handle her because of her sexuality and because of the attention she gets”. Umm, okay. Fast forward to 2016 and Keller is no longer Stodden’s manager, partly due to getting her poor gigs, but mostly because she allegedly tried to have relations with her daughter’s husband. This drama is set to play out on the new reality show The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition. Looks like she is still trying to nab the spotlight.
Sources: usatoday.com, mommyish.com, latimes.com, wetpaint.com, imdb.com
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