.......that Chris only wants POSITIVE feedback on his message board and that coming from such a great family (well, at least the Kennedy side) who are so fair and balanced, that Chris would be so profound in censorship of what people post here as their opinions.

Chris, you must not want people to come here because I'm sure your following is fairly limited and you are alienating even more people by your onesidedness.

I hope Chris himself gets to read this before the "webmaster" censorship extraordinaire deletes it. And don't bother banning me, I won't be back.

Chris,

I'm new to this board, so I don't exactly know what went on, but I read Chris's book and so did my 28 year old son, who has been battling addiction for some time. I found his book very inspiring and I thought he did all his family justice. He didn't not hurt anyone in the process and kept focus on himself. I thank him for writing such a great book. I agree on freedom of speech, and I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But so far everything I read, it's a positive feedback. I know Chris's sister, Sydney, really well, and she's been very supportive and enjoyed the book and so did a lot of his family. I would go with her feelings way before I would with a 'Kennedy follower.' I hope Chris does read this post, so he knows that he does have people who thank him and support him.

"everything you have read has been positive" for a reason. It's not like people have been trash talking him, just bringing an opposing opinion here or pointing out things in his book they don't agree with. THOSE posts are removed and only things that stroke his ego are kept here.

I wasn't talking about just here, I'm talking about out there, in the world, where it most matters. I don't understand why you keep referring to stroking his ego, if you read his book, the guy went through a lot and wrote a damn good book. And his family is supportive, why are you so unhappy? Why does it bother you so much and you can't stand that people saying nice things about Chris. Anyway, I'm not here to get into an argument with anyone, I and so many others, including his family support him, so I guess there should be a balance with people like you, who are somehow unsatisfied. By the way, didn't you say you won't be back here?

I read your few last posts before they were deleted, I'm glad they were and I completely agree with Tali!!! Thanks Tali. I don't know any of his family, but I saw Sydney at the Olosson's signing in washington, after signing they were having dinner and by the looks of it had a fantastic time -- a family time.

i was skeptical of his book at first, i have to admit, but after reading it, i couldn't believe how well written it was and how respectful he was to his family. i thought he was a little harsh to him mom, but then i read a post here where describes his mom, and it kind of made me change my mind. hey my mom wasn't the greatest, yet she is my mom and i love her to death, but if i had to write about her, i don't know if i'd do her justice. anyway, chris, hope you reading this...i loved your book. you did a fantastic job bravo!

Amy, I never posted here prior to my post above because I've heard so many people complaining about this message board. So don't mistake me with posts you are happy that were deleted, they were not mine.

Fine. You all enjoyed his book. You found it inspiring or whatever. However my point is that Chris should be able to take some criticism and answer questions along with the compliments.

FYI, I'm not an unsatisfied unhappy person just because I don't think it is nice to censor a public forum and to balance the posts the way you want them to be. As I said before, the posts were not cruel, they just showed a different point of view that Chris and/or his webmaster can't appreciate.

ware talking about complaining, noone has complained so far, until that fruitcake kennedy supporter and i was here from the beginning! i agree they shouldn't have deleted the post, so everyone could see how rediculous they were. if it's not you i apologize. i'm sure whoever deals with his website is close to him and was somewhat protective...that's my opinion. so i hope they don't delete these posts, and i hope chris does see them.

Chris is a very talented writer, and I hope that he will turn away from himself and put those tremendous gifts to better use than a memoir of a very incomplete man. It is clear from the book that Chris has issues with his mother and, by extension, with her family. At the same time, he has fantasy images of his father and seems to idealize a man who, by all accounts (Chris's included), was a very sick man and a truly awful father.

While I don't doubt that Chris's mother had problems and shortcomings, it seems inherently unfair to load everything on her and her family as the book did while characterizing Peter Lawford as the victim rather than the negative force that he so clearly was. That is the point that critics of the book are trying to make, and it is a tad absurd to delete posts that try to make that point.

I just finished SOW and have no idea where you guys are getting that he's being harsh to his mom...I guess it left up to your own interpretation. I quite frankly don't think much about his father, and I thought he balanced both of his parents really well. This stuff isn't easy to write, if you want to be honest. Chris is entitled to his feelings and we have no idea what it was truly like growing up in his circumstances, how his mother and father really were. All we can do is read the book and speculate. Everyone has a different take on things. But as far as reading his book, I don't think he writes anything bad about his mom. I just think that's the way he handles certain aspects if his life, plus he's a male, most males are drawn to their fathers.

Actually I hope too he gets on with his next book, he's a fantastic writer and I'm sure he too will be happy to put this all to rest. This was the first book Chris had to write and I'm glad he did.

Actually, Darryl, most men are drawn to their mothers and women to their fathers. Perhaps you and Chris are the exception but sons tend to sympathize with their mother and to see their fathers as competitors and vice versa with daughters and fathers. So Chris's very cold and hard look at his mother and his absurdly sympathetic portrait of his father does not fit the usual rules.

To me, Chris is the child who resented the custodial parent and fantasized about the absent father and made him into something that he was not. How pathetic is it that Chris tries to equate Peter Lawford to the Kennedy brothers in terms of talent?

While it is one thing to come to terms with your parents' shortcomings, it is another to turn the microscope on the flaws of one and to ignore the flaws of the other. In short, he seems to lack empathy for his mother and to very hard on her for her failings while he busily explaining away his father's numerous flaws (documented in some detail in Chris's book but in more detail in Peter Lawford's biography) and blaming many of them on his mother.

Despite all this, I do see Chris as an extremely gifted writer who has a tremendous future. However, I cannot say that I am impressed by the picture he paints of his own charcter. He seems to be burdened by anger at his mother and various Kennedy relatives and fantasies about his father. And along the same lines, we see much that is uncertain and unresolved in his description of his relationship with his own children. Similarly, his career is described in less than glowing terms in his won words. In short, IMO he is very much a work in progress and his life was not exactly memoir ready . .

You guys are amazing...I felt compelled to write something. I have lived with this man for three years now and have been around his family a LOT and a lot lately, especially his mother. None of you have any idea what he feels for his mom, and yes he wishes his dad wasn't such an absent father. As far as his mother, I love her, and yes she's a powerful woman, with so much strength, that she sometimes can be very intimidating. She did the absolute best she could as a mother, considering that she had an unstable husband, whom she end up leaving, and I don't blame her, then the two deaths of her brothers, and then her own child's near death...I don't know how she survived all that. Chris adored her mom, and became to appreciate her even more after writing this book. Go back and read page 385 to 386. It's amazing to me that you can't read in between the lines. You only see the bad somehow. If Chris's is hard on anyone in this book it is himself.

You spend hours on this message board dissing someone's live and judging them without even knowing them. I love Christopher and I love his family, but at the end of the day, they're just family and every family have their good and their bad, but I guess in your defense, Chris decided to publicly write about it, and a great job he did. It's a shame that any of you can read into the book the way you have, the majority didn't see it that way. This book was an enormous undertaking and I'm extremely proud of Chris and his work, and so are members of his family. You have no idea as to the relationship with his kids, or anyone in his immediate circle, so I would refrain from the judgement, oh yeah, you call it opinion. It is America, freedom of speech, right? I think everyone of us should write a book, you might actually learn a thing or two about yourselves. But I guess I'm glad you cared enough to buy the book and read it, so I truly thank you for that!

Chris's book is an an honest account of his life, the good and the bad. Why would anyone be so concerned about his mother and anyone else in his family, it's his family, and a family that he loves and respects. But he warned me before the book came out, he said "Honey, there will always be someone out there who isn't happy with something, that's life." Now I understand what he was talking about. It is sad.

I just finished your book and found it very interesting if not informative. I have never been around addiction, so I am rather clueless when it comes to the subject matter. In all honesty I had a rather limited, some might call narrow minded view of those who have dealt with or are presently dealing this problem. Your memoir helped me to understand a little better what this particular struggle is about, the psychology, so thank you. I must say that your remembrances of your friendship with your cousin David were very touching and as well humorous. Your book gave some real insight as to who he was as a person ( dry wit huh??) much of which the literature on your family does not include. I really loved your book.

You know, when you deal with addiction (or other personal problems) and you come from a high-profile family that is known for circling the wagons when trouble comes, there are always going to be people who will try to chop away at everything you've established for yourself.

On a much smaller scale, my own family life was a lot like that...my grandmother believed in "spin control" (which is pretty normal for an Iowa farm wife, believe it or not), and since my father passed away 6 weeks ago, the only patriarch left is my uncle. However, unlike Chris' uncle, my uncle tried to destroy my father's good name, to no avail.

Everyone has skeletons. EVERYONE. I don't care who you are, you've got a skeleton in your closet, whether it's the size of a mouse or an elephant.

What made Chris' book so moving was that he tried to find the good in both his parents (and the rest of his family) without seeming like a goody-two-shoes. When you truly love someone, you know the things they've done wrong and you try to work with it the best you can. In a worst-case scenario, you distance yourself from it, but individuals define what their own "worst-case" is.

The Kennedy family's ethics are not the same ones I have, but they do love each other. I believe that Chris is a good person, and he knows who and what are important in his life. He's had hit pitfalls, and come back with a greater knowledge of himself and what he is capable of.

He's a very lucky, strong man, and I'm very glad he's been strong enough to tell his story. And whether or not you've been banned from the bulletin board shouldn't matter. He's living his life and that's just all there is to it. Call me a Pollyanna, but I think he is doing fine, and he has the right to delete what he wants to.

Just deal, ya know?

PS: If you had such a lousy attitude on my bulletin board, I'd ban you too.

I don't know Chris Lawford and i don't pretend to know anything about his personal life.
He has always been one of my favorite actors. I read his book and thought it was amazing! I am a recovering alcoholic and his book has been an amzaing help to me and my recovery. I am 27 years old and have been sober for over 4 years now.
Chris lawford is a real inspiration to me and I am very greatful to him for sharing his story.
Even though I don't know him at all personally, I have great love and admiration for him. Thank God for Chris and people like him!!!

All the reader (buyer of the book) can glean from the book is what the author writes. Whether it is a fact, an opinion, a perception or an experience. THAT is his contribution to the reader, sharing as much of his life and his experiences and his perceptions of people and things as he can.

No one, of course, should judge anyone in society, as no one is perfect. However, when one writes a book for public consumption and one is a public figure, and one's family are public figures, you leave yourself exposed to people's opinions, positive or negative. Chris knew this when he wrote the book. He does not need for anyone, much less someone he is allegedly dating to come out publicly and scold the people who bought his book. I'd like to think that CHRIS K. L. is classier than "LA" who alleges to have known this man for a mere three years of his whole life.

I agree that he, as we all are, is a continuing work in progress. Is he bitter? Regretful? Does he have fond and sad memories as we all do? Yes, and he knows it. Perhaps he can write another book in another 40+ years and share with us all the person that he ultimately became. We will all gratefully grow with him.