Laurie Lee's daughter speaks out about author's 'controlling' behaviour
Cider with Rosie author Laurie Lee's daughter has spoken out about her late father's "controlling" behaviour.
Jessy Lee, in an article in the Daily Mail this week, said she was often forced to mediate between her father and mother Katherine.
"I didn't really know my place in the world, and it really came to a head when Laurie died," she said.
"It was very difficult, being his daughter, and he did suffer with his epilepsy.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013
"His moods could be extreme and, of course, he liked a drink or two, so I never knew how he was going to be from one minute to the next. When you're younger you tend to think: 'What have I done to provoke this?'"
Jessy said she was driven to seek therapy because of the Slad author's controlling behaviour.
She trained as a psychotherapist in 1998 - a year after her father's death at the age of 82 - and said she was inspired by the help she was given in overcoming her own problems.
"I'm sure that's true of most people who train as therapists," she said.
"I did feel that I'd been left with this extraordinary legacy and my mother and I felt rather alone with it.
"Psychotherapy was the way forward for me to try to make sense of my background, to understand the world differently.
"I did some interesting work on only children as a therapist.
"People talk about sibling rivalry but very little has been done about the only child, except to say they tend to grow up much more quickly because they often have to be the mediator between both parents.
"I often felt like I was looking after both parents. Laurie didn't want me to grow up, either. He wanted to keep me where he could control me. I think there's no secret there.
"I was so overwhelmed by being out of control of my world. But I've learned to take back my control and that has enabled me to have this passion now for bringing Laurie back for his centenary next year – and forever."
Read the article in full here.
Comments
by Walker100
Sunday, February 24 2013, 9:16PM
“While I have a little sympathy for Jessy it would be nice to see that she had some empathy for her father.
Laurie was born in 1914 and was born of, and raised by, Victorians. Life in 1914 and beyond was different beyond compare to life after WWII and through the 50s and into the 60s.
I feel that to judge someone's standards when you can have no sense of life the way it was 50+ years before is to judge them wrongly.”