Many might remember the horrific scene from Mommie Dearest in which Joan Crawford is depicted beating her children: “No wire hangers! No wire hangers ever!” It’s sad to think that this was a reality for some poor children. Mothers are expected to provide comfort, support, and warmth for their children, but that doesn’t always happen. You think your mom was bad, wait till you hear about these terrible mothers. Here are ten nefarious women that will make you think, “Well, my mother’s not that bad.”
Martha “Calamity” Jane Cannary
Calamity Jane was one of the most, if not the most, revered frontierspersons west of the Mississippi. Her exceptional shooting skills and sensational horseback riding wowed audiences at the turn of the 19th century, when Americans began colonizing the West. While she excelled on stage, she had her shortcomings as a mother. The gender-defying sharpshooter had a terrible drinking and gambling problem. She often abandoned her children and frequently disappeared for days at a time. Parenting standards were different back then, but her reckless lifestyle made her children’s childhood exceptionally traumatic.
Kate “Ma” Barker
During the Great Depression, the Baker-Karpis Gang wreaked havoc in the Midwest, committing bank robberies and kidnapping victims for ransoms. The criminal syndicate included Alvin Karpis, brothers Fred Baker and Arthur “Doc” Baker (mugshot above), and their mother Kate “Ma” Barker. After Ma and Fred were gunned down during a standoff, a rumor circulated that Ma Barker was the gang’s leader. However, no conclusive evidence has supported the claim. Many accounts reveal she might have been taking care of the boys while they went on their crimes. Still, it sounds like she was enabling them, and since she didn’t report them to the police, she was involved in the illegal activity as an accessory.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most inspiring and accomplished women in her time around World War II and beyond. She served as the First Lady of New York and the First Lady of the United States, and after her husband (FDR) passed away, she convinced the US to join the United Nations—she held a chair at the UN Commission on Human Rights, overseeing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite her success, motherhood did not come easy. She made some questionable parenting decisions when she weaned her thumb-sucking children by taping their thumbs and hanging a crib from her window. Not great.
Ethel Marion Milne
Ethel Milne was a Minnesotan woman who once dreamed about becoming a vaudeville star. Her dreams were dashed once she had children, so, like every good narcissistic mother, she lived vicariously through her children. She forced her daughters to become star entertainers, often pushing them beyond breaking points with long hours and cruel feedback. One of her daughters did become a Hollywood star—Judy Garland. However, Milne goes down as one of the worst moms in history for her unhealthy obsession with fame. Her daughter struggled with drug addictions and eating disorders throughout her entire career, instigated by her controlling mother.
Joan Crawford
Mommie Dearest was an autobiography adapted to film written by one of actress Joan Crawford’s daughters. In her account, the author Christina Crawford details a traumatic childhood with an abusive mother, going so far as to hit her with a wire clothes hanger. While that scene was undeniably horrific, Christina’s two other sisters, as well as the actress’ close confidants, claimed the stories of abuse were made up. While it’s difficult to confirm or deny the events in the account, the scenes in the movie were intense enough to place Joan Crawford, or at least her fictional character, on our list.
Claudine Blanchard
Some television viewers were introduced to the story of Gypsie Rose when a documentary was released on popular streaming services. Rose was a terminally ill child whose mother, Claudine Blanchard, took care of her, parading her around the media and giving Rose a life she could have never had. Suspicions about her parenting came to a head when Rose, along with her internet boyfriend, murdered Claudine Blanchard in cold blood. It was discovered that Blanchard was purposely poisoning her daughter to keep her sick and wheelchair-bound. Her story brought Munchausen syndrome by proxy into public discussion, leaving people to wonder why someone would purposely hurt their child to gain sympathy.
Susan Smith
In 1994, Susan Smith was convicted of murdering her two sons, three-year-old Michael and one-year-old Alexander. The case attracted international attention after Smith alleged that a Black man had carjacked her and drove her two children into a lake. However, the story was fabricated: this wasn’t what happened. Smith intentionally drowned her children because a man she was with simply did not want children. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 2024, she was denied parole.
Ruby Franke
On camera, Ruby Franke and her family seemed to live a perfect life, or so the family vlogger depicted on her popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers. To maintain her 2.5 million subscribers and grow her 1 billion amassed views, the mother of six adopted children subjected them to cruel punishments if they did not perform. Among them included banning her children from their room and forcing them to sleep on a bean bag, sending them to wilderness camps for troubled teens (known for child abuse), and threatening to behead stuffed animals if they didn’t do what she asked. In 2024, she was sentenced to serve between 4 and 30 years in prison for child abuse.
Hilda Ann Adame
Last year, a Texas mother did the unthinkable when she left her daughter in a hot car while she went to work. Hilda Ann Adame drove to her workplace with her 22-month-old in the back seat. When she returned to her vehicle, her toddler was dead. Adame claims she forgot to drop the toddler off at daycare, calling it an accident. While the story is heartbreaking, the forgetful mother killed her child. It is unclear how she might be charged.
Mallori Patrice Strait
Last year, a Texas woman Mallori Strait was charged with the abuse of a corpse. She had locked herself into a bathroom stall at a Whataburger in Texas and was making loud noises. Concerned staff called the police when she refused to leave. Officers at the scene discovered fetal remains in the toilet—Strait had given birth and attempted to dispose of the body. Although her time as a mother was short-lived, she’ll go down as one of the worst mothers in history for her cold-blooded carelessness.
