Just like a man and his mother, the relationship between a woman and her father can be quite complicated and, at times, very creepy. In honor of Father’s Day, here are the most blatant examples of fucked up father-daughter relationships in pop culture.
John Voight and Angelina Jolie: Angelina Jolie’s contempt for her father has never been a secret. Stemmed from Voight’s years of neglect and Jolie’s inability to forgive him for his behavior, the two have never (and probably will never see eye to eye). So severe is the depth of her ire that she didn’t even invite Voight to her own wedding. Voight’s 2002 claim that Jolie had mental health issues also solidified the end of any chance he had to be trusted by her.
Vincente Minnelli and Liza Minnelli: It doesn’t come as any real surprise that someone capable of marrying Judy Garland would later be revealed to be gay, or at the very least bisexual. As the famed director of films like Meet Me in St. Louis and An American in Paris, it’s no wonder Liza Minnelli felt the pull and pressure of becoming a musical star in her own right. The fact that she, too, would later marry a gay man is all too telling of an Electra complex.
Keith Carradine and Martha Plimpton: Carradine met Shelley Plimpton on the set of the Broadway musical Hair, while she was separated from her first husband. The result? Martha Plimpton, who he wouldn’t even meet until she was four years old and would be largely absent until later on in her life.
Elvis Presley and Lisa Marie Presley: When your dad is Elvis, it prompts you to date the King of Pop, since the King of Rock n’ Roll is no longer available. It also makes you become a Scientologist. There is no cure for being the only child of a legend of this caliber.
Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus: Having a father who is, for all intents and purposes, a shitkicker responsible for creating the hick anthem, “Achy Breaky Heart,” is bound to make you go a little crazy, smoke a lot of weed and get a slew of emoji tattoos. Miley Cryus, being just one of six children and born the same year as a brother with a different mother, understandably has some issues to grapple with.
Desi Arnaz and Lucie Arnaz: Having a father who openly cheated on your mother is bound to make you hate men just a hair–or at least cause you to lose any shred of faith you have in monogamy. Eerily enough, Lucie, too, would have trouble letting go of a man she loved just the way her mother did by marrying the same person, Phil Vandervort, twice. She has seemingly broken the cycle of unhealthy relationships, however, by staying with the same husband since 1980.
Klaus Kinski and Nastassja Kinski: Being the daughter of a go-to film actor for Werner Herzog is likely to make you extremely uneasy about life. But, with Klaus Kinski, that uneasiness would turn out to be a result of far more Woody Allen reasons. Married three times and having a child with each woman, Klaus’ progeny, Nastassja Kinski, Pola Kinski and Nikolai Kinski, would have no contact with each other growing up. In 2013, Pola Kinski wrote a tell-all book about her father’s sexual abuse. Nastassja, too, confirmed inappropriate behavior toward her when she was around him.
Dario Argento and Asia Argento: As if the city registry’s refusal to acknowledge your name as Asia isn’t bad enough (Italians prefer Aria, evidently), your own father’s refusal to acknowledge your existence unless you’re acting in front of him is torturous. Asia Argento admits to having a lonely childhood, made more grim by her father reading her his grisly scripts as bedtime stories. Her attempt to run away at fourteen also indicates an extreme lack of satisfaction with they way she was being raised.
John Aniston and Jennifer Aniston: Aniston may have a more notoriously contentious rapport with her mother, Nancy Dow, however, her father’s divorce from her in 1980 left Aniston under the unwanted scrutiny of her mother, who seemed to convince her daughter that she was inadequate and unattractive. It was only later on in life when Aniston learned she had dyslexia that she would feel more confident in her abilities. Moreover, having a dad who has portrayed a nefarious mobster on Days of Our Lives for most of his (and your) life makes for a generally weird vibe.
Eric Roberts and Emma Roberts: If your dad is able to get on Julia Roberts’ bad side because of his drug problem, chances are, you’re going to take his issues to heart and try to carve out a career for your own damn self so you don’t have to rely on him. Plus, it’s kind of embarrassing when your dad has to go on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
So next time you think you’ve got it bad with your dad, just look to these daughters and their problems. You’ll feel so much better.
