Addiction or Abuse (Drugs, Alcohol or Gambling)

Astor, Joshua

Astor is the birth son of Joe "Gannex" Kagan, friend of the British prime minister Harold Wilson, but was adopted aged three by his step-father, Michael Astor, MP (one of the weal... [more]

Baca, Jimmy Santiago

When their parents divorced and abandoned them, Baca, aged two, and his siblings were sent to live with grandparents. By the time he was five his mother had been murdered by her second husb... [more]

Bankhead, Tallulah

Bankhead was born into an illustrious American political family: her father was Speaker of the House of Representatives 1936-40. Her mother died shortly after she was born, and she was sent... [more]

Burton, Richard

Burton was born the 12th or youngest of 13 children in a poor mining family in South Wales. His mother died when he was quite young and he was then raised by his sister. Later he was foster... [more]

Callahan, John

Callahan was born to an unmarried woman in Portland, Oregon, and adopted as a baby by a childless couple who then had five birth children. He felt an outsider in his family and began to abu... [more]

Cameron, Rhona

Cameron was born in Dundee or Musselburgh, Scotland, and adopted when she was very young. Her adoptive father also died, when she was 14, sending her into a long-term depression. She was... [more]

Capote, Truman

At the age of six Capote's parents abandoned him to the care of four elderly, unmarried maternal cousins, three sisters and a brother, living together. He was a high-school dropout, apprent... [more]

Connolly, Brian

Connolly was born to an unmarried woman and remained in hospital care until he was two, when he was fostered by the McManus family, who already had three born-to children. His foster brothe... [more]

Cornwell, Patricia

Cornwell was born Patricia Daniels to a married couple. When she was five or seven (sources differ) her father abandoned the family for another woman. Her mother moved with the three childr... [more]

Grey Owl

Note there are several versions of almost everything written about Grey Owl; in the following entry I give alternatives separated by a "/" without any particular preference for wh... [more]