Lana Wood (Natalie's sister) has always struck me as a very odd person. She's done more than most to keep rumours circulating about Natalie's death. Yet she also has the gall (after repeatedly trashing RJ's name in the media) to complain that her nieces (Natalie and RJ's daughters) want nothing to do with her!

She's even aligned herself with Peter Rydyn, a man with some pretty eccentric ideas about Natalie's death - and about the deaths of other famous people (no-one famous can possibly die of natural causes or an accident as far as he's concerned - it has to be murder)!

I feel sorry for Lana - growing up with a practically certifiable mother (and never being allowed to forget that Natalie was prettier/smarter/more talented) must have been tough! However, she needs to think before opening her mouth (or as a friend of mine used to say - "Put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion!").

Joanne

peter rydyn is a loon. this man has definite issues.

The question is why does Lana do these things? Why does she feel so strongly (as others do) about Natalie's death being wrongful and how is it connected to RJ. I mean .......come on...what does she have to gain and why ruin what rep she has left this is an interesting subject I to have always wondered about.

lana is vindictive..i don't think any of this has anything to do with natalie's death...

Lana is definitely a few sandwiches short of a picnic - and staying with the food analogy, I'd take anything she says (particularly with regards to Natalie's death) with a pinch of salt!

She can't possibly know anything about Natalie's death as she wasn't there - and the only person she's spoken to who was there is Dennis Davern, another one who's a few sandwiches short!

I get the impression that Lana's main problem with RJ is that he's wealthy and successful...and she isn't! An example being the cringe-inducing interview she and Evan (her daughter) did a couple of years ago, criticising RJ for not paying Evan's medical bills!

So on the one hand, she wants to implicate him in her sister's death, yet on the other hand, she expects him to pay her daughter's medical bills! Bizarre!

Joanne

i agree, lana was always jealous of natalie because natalie was wealthy and successful and she simply transferred that jealousy to rj. lana puts on the sweet act but she is in a vindictive woman because she never accomplished what her sister accomplished...lana simply did not have what it took to achieve what natalie achieved. she watched her sister live with all of the accouterments of stardom and was envious. then she watched natalie marry a man who could provide for her in the manner that she became accustomed to without having to work. if you have listened to some of the things that lana has said over the years you would know that it killed her inside that life was easy for natalie and tough for her. and by "easy" i mean monetarily.

Right On.

I think Lana is also motivated by money - she must get paid for a lot of the interviews she does. She strikes me as someone who really doesn't have a clue about managing money or budgeting.

I remember a few years ago, Lana and her mother went to the media whining about how they were living in squaler (and RJ was doing nothing to help). The truth was, Lana and Maria were living in an apartment that had belonged to Natalie and which she'd left to RJ in her will. As I recall, they were living there rent free, so all they presumably had to pay was their unility bills (gas, water, electricity) and daily living expenses (food, cleaning materials, toiletries). Yet they had somehow run up debts of something like $20,000 (and this was back in the late 80s/early 90s) - which begs the question, what were they spending all their money on? It certainly wasn't on fixtures and fittings for the apartment, because it (by their own admission) had turned into a dump, with peeling walls and motheaten furniture!

Lana then did the 'whining to the media' thing again a couple of years ago about her daughter's medical bills (much more understandable - they can really mount up and can't be helped) and about how RJ refused to help! So, yet again, she was expecting him to bale her out!

Natalie always had a head for business and made some good investments, which in effect made her wealthy enough to forget about acting (if she so wished) and live purely in the income from her investments. RJ was/is also a shrewd operator in business! No doubt that also got to Lana and fed her jealousy.

Joanne

Fame, fortune,and business mixed with family it just does not work.

Although, it is cold blooded of RJ to let his mother in law live in squander but then again he was too busy with Jill, but he loved Natalie sooooooo much....right?.......come on. I wonder how Natalie's children felt about their grandmother? I wonder what Natalie's last wishes were for her mother?

The point is, he let Lana and her mother lived in that apartment rent free! What more could RJ have done? It wasn't squalid when they moved in - they allowed it to get that way! Weren't either of them capable of doing housework? Was pushing a vaccum cleaner, dusting surfaces, washing up etc beyond their intellectual capabilities? Were they really so helpless?

Sorry, but if they were living in squaler, it was their own doing! And Lana at least was capable of getting off her backside and doing something about it, but chose not to - instead she played the 'helpless victim'!

A case in point - my mother was left alone to raise three kids, when the eldest of us was 9 and the youngest, a baby. There was only her wage coming in and at one point we lived in council accomodation (which is for those who can't afford to buy a house or rent privately). Despite the fact that money was short, we never lived in squalor! Mum always made sure the house was clean and if any painting (of walls, ceilings etc) needed to be done, she went out, bought a can of paint and did the job herself! Incidentally, she is the same age as Lana!

RJ owes Lana nothing. She and her wretched mother have done nothing but drag his name through the mud since Natalie died. If they wanted anything from him then the least they could have done is stayed away from the media and treated him with a modecum of respect. But RJ isn't some kind of private bank for Lana to take money from whenever she finds herself in finacial trouble!

A final point - if RJ was 'busy', it was with his career and his daughters, not Jill!

Joanne

i'm with you.

Ok, I see your point, so lets exlude Lana, would Natalie of wanted this for her mother?. And back to RJ he married Jill within or about in a year after Natalie's death..............come on .......do you think Mr. Perfect raised those kids by himself he could not even walk and chew gum at the same time without Natalie...........come on.....

rj married jill 9 years after natalie died....and he was a very good father to the girls. natalie's will said it all. she knew that he would be a good father to her daughters. she knew that if anything happened to her that her kids would not be placed in boarding schools. she knew that he would try to keep the relationship between the girls close and that the love would be equal. he had household help and he had willie mae, the girls nanny but there is a special bond between rj and both of natalie's daughters. people can detest rj, blame for natalie's death, label him a bi-sexual but no one can say that he did not do a terrific job of bringing up the girls. that was the most important part of natalie's will. she wanted to make sure someone who was loving, caring and responsible took care of her girls. rj was the first choice, willie mae the second and mart crowley the third. that shows where she put her trust....and where she didn't. she would indeed be pleased with the way he showered her girls with love and at the same time he spoiled them equally. natalie would have done the same thing. as for jill, i don't think natalie would have given a damn about that as long as her kids were loved and cared for. her children were the loves of her life.

Well put. I think you are wrong about the nine years, or maybe we are both wrong lol

looked it up you are right maybe it was the dating that started in about a year.

You all say how important Natalie's children were to her and RJ and I am sure they were as any parent. The children begged her not to go on the boat that weekend due to the friction between her and RJ..... he loved her sooooooo much.....come on, then they had a drunkin fighting weekend which led to her death, so where was the loving and caring and responsable parenting then?, could either of them cared that much letting themselves get into a drunken oblivian state, or did thy really care about themselves. Did RJ really love Natalie? feeding her, her addictions that weekend?.........come on.......

please do not even hint that natalie was not a good mother and did not love her kids...her children were her world. she was also human. she had faults as did he. everyone used horrible judgement that night, but she was loved her kids. i will defend her till my dying day. my friends tell me that i was put on this earth to defend natalie. say whatever you want about anything but don't say that she was not a good mother and that she did not love her kids. please...

Do not think that, and never intended to say that. Bad judgement oh ya, the wrong one parrished in that incident.

So you are Natalie's defender, why do you feel you have to defend her?

To bad RJ did not feel that way, she might still be with us today.

I am sure Natalie was a good parent and loved her children I know she wanted those kids more than life. RJ and Jill did a very good job raising those girls, they were never in the news are in trouble, like most hollywood children. If I was full of guilt like RJ I am sure I would have done the same thing plus more.

yes, i am her defender. i don't want to argue with you over this. fortunately i don't have to defend her too often because she is loved by her fans. i think rj did a great job with the girls. i don't think that jill played a big part in it. she is not a maternal woman. the girls were brought up by natalie and rj, then rj and willie mae. if the girls needed a mother figure i think they went to willie mae. it has been only in the last few years that the girls have had a relationship with jill. but their mother she is not. my skin crawls when magazines call her their step-mother. her lack of children and maternal skills may have been one of the reasons for their relationship. he knew that no one could take natalie's place with the girls and the last thing they needed was for their dad to give his attention to another child. they needed him and he was there. i am sure he feels guilt, very much so. he will never get over it. natalie was his first love, his young love, his first wife, the big love of his life, mother of two of his children (he considers natasha his daughter), someone who helped him through difficult times, helped him financially when they got back together etc...and i don't believe that there was ever or will ever be a woman that he will love the way he loved his nathan.

No arguement was intended (wow), just thought you would like to discuss your (defender) of Natalie status.

Rj has been quoted in saying that Jill was a great mother to the girls, so go figure oh well at least they stayed out of trouble.

there have been times when people have put her down, people that don't know her. they say she was selfish, that she never helped other actors who were having a hard time finding work. nothing could be further from the truth. i defended her because she was generous in that way. this person said that natalie never helped the other warner bros. contract people. troy donahue, diane mcbain etc. why should she do their agent's work? then there are people who say she was a bad actress and that her looks made her successful. that's crap. she was beautiful and in her era there were many actresses who were beautiful that hit for a short time and then faded. beauty can open doors but talent is what makes a career last and natalie had a long run in a very fickle business.

I agree

RJ has been a wonderful father to his and Natalie's daughters. As has already been said, he raised them with help from Willie Mae. Jill really had very little to do with their upbringing. She didn't even move in with RJ until the late 80s.

I don't think he looked to Jill as a replacement for Natalie. He certainly wasn't as serious about Jill in the early years as the media made out. Even as late as 1989, he was dating a young lady, whose name escapes me (Lauren Sydney, I think). She was a reporter for CNN. I also know of a relationship in early 1990 with another lady - this one a close friend of RJ.

As far as I can see, RJ has been an excellent father and has kept Natalie's memory alive for his daughters. Whatever was going on with his personal and professional life, his daughters always came first.

As for your initial question about what Natalie would have wanted for her mother - I would guess that after a lifetime of being bullied, manipulated and ill-treated, Natalie would have wanted to stay well away from her and keep her daughters well away from the old woman's malign influance!

Joanne

LOL! After all--Natalie did say that her father died of "my mother."

now...you find the rest...she's all OVER the board! There's one where she accuses Davern of killing Natalie. So, she thinks fould play might be involved, yet she would suspect Davern over Wagner? PUHLEASE!

THIS IS A JOANNE POST! She recently used the same words in a post on the RJlist! She always says Lana Wood has a lot of gall!