Brief

Living in the shadow of her narcissistic mother, a young woman endures hardship after hardship that ultimately enables her to relate to her adopted son as he deals with his own demons.

What We Liked

This brings awareness to the perils of mentally ill parenting. It could offer an inspirational message of sorts to adult survivors of childhood abuse and mistreatment.

Film: This could be developed into a character study in a feature form, or perhaps fictionalizing the story would make it more adaptable for long form entertainment.

TV: Bettyrose’s story could be presented as a segment in a documentary style series dealing with adult children of mentally ill parents.

Key points: Based on a real person; Brings awareness to mental illness; Strong female lead; Potentially positive message to survivors of childhood abuse; Niche subject matter

Synopsis

Bettyrose grew up in an abusive household created by her narcissistic mother, Jackie Greer. Jackie had several children from a previous relationship and Bettyrose was the first born of Jackie and her new husband. Jackie mistreated and belittled everyone in the family. She even had Bettyrose’s father committed to a mental hospital. While he was hospitalized, Jackie went around with a man named Ed, whom she would pass off as her brother.

Never feeling her mother’s love, Bettyrose had a tendency to run away. She was raped twice in one day at the age of eleven and missed the wedding of Jackie and Ed as a result. When she became pregnant from the rape, her distraught father attempted to get her help to no avail. Bettyrose ultimately miscarried. It was a blessing in disguise, but she mourned the loss of the baby and the promise of unconditional love that having a child of her own would have afforded. In her grief she hitched a ride out of state with some male college students, who ditched her once her true age was revealed. Bettyrose survived among a homeless population living out of a bus station until someone took pity on her and send her back home. Ultimately, Bettyrose is committed to a mental institution by her own mother. The place was not nice and it traumatized her further. However, she was able to befriend some young women close to her age. Mary and the other girl, known to Bettyrose as the Willliams girl, escape the first chance they get. Bettyrose found herself the only white person at the Williams’ house where she was ferreted away by some of the Williams girl’s male cousins where she is drugged and gang raped. After ultimately being rescued from the horrific situation, she was sent home. Bettyrose’ mother never cared or even acknowledged her hardships.

After such a horrific childhood, Bettyrose sought comfort with a sweet and gentle man named Ali. He came from Iran and wanted to marry her. Ultimately, Bettyrose broke up with him and chose to marry Fassad, another Middle Eastern man, instead. Fassad was not sweet and sometimes let his macho personality get the best of him. During the United States war with Iraq, Fassad could barely stand the horrors he saw befalling his countrymen. He even tried to kill himself with Bettyrose’s finger on the trigger of his gun.

Though the marriage to Fassad did not last, it did provide Bettyrose with the best thing in her life. Together they adopted a Romanian baby and named him Allen. Having a child of her own provided Bettyrose with the unconditional love that was always missing from her life. As a young man Allen became involved with a woman several years his senior. The relationship led him into the world of addiction and crime which ultimately landed Allen in jail. However, the relationship also produced a sweet grandson for Bettyrose. She uses her own childhood experiences to allow her to relate to Allen and support him unconditionally as he navigates his troubled life. Jackie has since passed away, but Bettyrose has to forgiven her posthumously and is moving on with her healing process the best she can.

About The Author

Through her memoir, Bettyrose traces the toxic effects of her mother’s narcissistic personality disorder in her own life. It would take her years to recover from the many ways she suffered under her mother’s care. At the same time, Bettyrose demonstrates an astounding level of empathy for the woman who hurt her. She looks back into her mother’s own life and discovers the roots of her NPD and what made her the woman she was, in the process finding a path to healing and hope for herself.