Silence is Golden
Loose lips sink ships, so Christina Ricci’s lips are barely sealed as the truth teeters beyond her teeth. The above photo was shot during “Givenchy's Marina Abramovic dinner at the Museum of Modern Art” in June 2010, according to the Getty Images site.
There was an old interview where Christina was asked about a film that she intended to write and direct in 1999, but it never got off the ground. It was called Asylum, and she said: “My movie is the idea that childhood is an asylum from reality and some people are able to survive it and able to die and be reborn and some people aren't. It's about four kids; two of them live and two of them don't, and the two that don't are brother and sister and they're in love with each other.”
In real life, Christina has one sister and two brothers. In a December 1999 article for Rolling Stone, it was mentioned that she loved a book titled Les Enfants Terribles. It’s about a brother and sister who begin an incestuous affair. An earlier interview was referenced where a reporter asked her if she liked incest, and Christina responded sarcastically but it blew up in her face going by the media blowback. Either way, it’s unnerving that she became a national spokesperson for RAINN (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) in 2007. In the May 2008 issue of Marie Claire, Christina referred to 1995 when she said: “I became involved because I was reading an article about Tori Amos in Rolling Stone when I was 15, and she's one of the founders of the organisation. And ever since then, I've always given donations to RAINN.”
While she tried to backtrack a little bit in 2018 by saying that it’s child abuse to make your child famous, Christina Ricci revealed in 2013 that being a child star was an escape from her horrendous childhood. The least horrendous thing was having her sleep interrupted by the primal scream therapy sesssions that her father organized for his patients in the family basement. This anecdote was recalled by Ricci for a female reporter named Terry Gross. The format was a radio show called Fresh Air, and the episode was aired in late May 2001.
In late September 2022, Christina spoke at a luncheon for The Family Place - the largest support provider for victims of domestic abuse in Texas. She admitted: “I was a child in an abusive and violent household and then repeated that mistake as an adult.”
The last part of her comment refers to her ex-husband, James Heerdegen. She claims that he brutally attacked her in December 2019 where he allegedly beat her, spat at her and mocked her with pig noises. She also claimed that June 2020 was when he not only left her with physical injuries but attacked her in front of their six-year-old son. In a late November 2000 issue of The Guardian, Christina said: “On the whole, I don't give people a second chance. They don't get to hurt me again.”
In a late November 2022 issue of The Times, Christina Ricci said: “I grew up in a very chaotic home. I was the youngest child. I was adorable and I learnt very early on that my ability to be adorable could diffuse things or distract people...I don’t feel the need to go into much more detail.”
Later on in the interview, she talked about being a child actress: “I mainly felt guilt about the kids who were left behind when I went to work.”
Christina was born in February 1980. Her sister was born in 1976 while her brothers were born in 1971 and 1974. Christina’s first acting credits were in 1990. The only way that the plural word, kids, makes sense would be if you think about the children who she used to babysit for. The last time that Christina was a babysitter, she was 12 years old. In mid-January 2022, there was an interview that she had done for The New Yorker where she disclosed two facts which will help shed light on what I have previously mentioned. For the sake of clarity, I have combined the two comments as one quote: “My dad had been involved in the film industry, and prided himself on being a bit of a film historian. I wrote an adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s Les Enfants Terribles, which helped me get into Columbia. I never went there, but I did use it as my writing sample.”
In an April 2007 interview for The Telegraph, it was revealed that Christina’s father (always referred to by his middle name) was in his eighties (albeit he was born in April 1929). When suggested that he must have been proud of her success, she told the interviewer that he doesn’t know her father. There was nothing mentioned about her father’s place in the film industry. His resume, as listed by Christina, consisted of being a gym teacher, primal scream therapist, lawyer, and prison’s drug counsellor. Her parents divorced when she was 13, but you don’t get the sense that her father was that much of a bully since Christina said: “There was no violence, but they yelled at each other. We all did. The divorce wasn't traumatic at all. Everyone had left to go to college except for me, and we expected it.”
When talking about a 2001 film titled Prozac Nation for the March 2003 issue of Psychology Today, Christina Ricci spoke of how the banshee-esque wailings of the primal scream therapy echoed through her bedroom vents. She remembered: “My sister and I would imitate what we heard every night. It was weird, but funny, that as little girls we screamed obscenities and thought we were imitating a cartoon. We have a very good sense of humor in my family.”
“Humor” is an interesting choice of word given the below photo for an April 2005 event that Getty Images has captioned as: “Barneys New York Hosts Proenza Schouler Fashion Show to Benefit the Rape Foundation Co-Sponsored by Hewlett-Packard - Arrivals at Private Residence in Santa Monica, California, United States.”
On September 9 in 2023 (a Saturday), Christina Ricci responded to a news story about Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, his wife, coming to the defence of Danny Masterson (a convicted rapist). Christina’s choice of medium was an Instagram story, which meant that it only lasted for 24 hours unlike an Instagram post. Her message was in text form: “So sometimes people we have loved and admired do horrible things. They might not do these things to us and we only know who they were to us but that doesn't mean they didn't do horrible things. and to discredit the abused is a crime. People we know as ‘awesome guys’ can be predators and abusers. It’s tough to accept but we have to. If we say we support victims — women, children, men, boys — then we must be able to take this stance.”
She posted a follow-up story: “Unfortunately, I’ve known lots of 'awesome guys' who were lovely to me who have been proven to be abusers privately. I've also had personal experience with this. Believe victims. It's not easy to come forward. It's not easy to get a conviction.”
In a December 2022 article for The Guardian, journalist Coco Khan had to tread carefully. It’s one of those situations where the most difficult questions should be reserved for last or maybe second-to-last (i.e. penultimate) so that you can see how the subject handles the (or even makes a) transition. Coco was unsure about whether past remarks from Christina had referred to sexual violence or just sexual harassment. Coco asked: “Was I wrong?”
Christina answered: “Yeah… I’ve had a many … varied … I’ve had a … there have been a lot of things, but that’s not what I’m referring to.”
Coco couldn’t see her face anymore. Christina continued to say: “There’s been childhood stuff. Child abuse in my family.”
Coco asked Christina if she saw herself as a role model. Christina replied: “I feel just very earnestly that I’m a person trying to do the right thing. I don’t think you’d want to model yourself after me. There could be a few cautionary tales in there.”
The above photo was taken on April 25, 2007. This was the 78th birthday of Christina Ricci’s father, whose full name was Gerald Ralph Ricci. After her parents divorced, Christina did not speak to him again. He died at the age of 87 on January 19, 2017. Back to the above photo, it was taken in the Dirksen Senate Building at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. but the timing is weird for me because this was a month after the nationwide premiere of a Christina Ricci film titled Black Snake Moan. She plays a rape victim (and she even did research thanks to RAINN), but the film was advertised as a grindhouse-style exploitation movie.