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Christine Costner Sizemore (April 4, 1927 – July 24, 2016)[1] was an American woman who, in the 1950s, was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder. Her case was depicted in the 1950s book The Three Faces of Eve, written by her psychiatrists, Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley, upon which the film of the same name, starring Joanne Woodward, was based. She went public with her identity in the 1970s.
Chris Costner Sizemore | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christine Costner April 4, 1927 |
| Died | July 24, 2016 (aged 89) Ocala, Florida, U.S. |
| Known for | Dissociative identity disorder case depicted in The Three Faces of Eve |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 2 |
Sizemore was born Christine Costner on April 4, 1927, to Asa "Acie" Costner and Eunice Zueline Hastings in Edgefield, South Carolina.[1]
In accordance with then-current modes of thought on the disorder, Thigpen reported that Sizemore had developed multiple personalities as a result of her witnessing two deaths and a horrifying accident within three months as a small child. However, in Sizemore's own report, these traumatic incidents only triggered the evidencing of selves which were already present:
Despite authorities' claims to the contrary, my former alters were not fragments of my birth personality. They were entities, whole in their own rights, who coexisted with my birth personality before I was born. They were not me, but they remain intrinsically related to what it means to be me.[2]
In her book, I'm Eve (1977), Christine describes many phases of her life; the first she titles the separation labelled the years 1927 to 1946, wherein she identifies a selection of the selves or alters and their memories. The first alter she calls from her memory is the red haired stranger who witnesses these very first traumatic events with Christine, whereby she can recollect this girl (alter) in her memories. These memories contain the very same Thigpen had attributed to her development of multiple personalities.[citation needed]
- The earliest, at 10 months old, was a funeral of a five-month-old cousin, she writes of Christine's fear of the white casket, her aunts mourning and her father closing the casket lid (where she thought he might be scared of the dark, alluding to her own fears of the dark and death- she, later in the book describes her guilt about still being alive when her cousin could not).
- Thigpen's sequence of events occurred at age 2, the first she recalls is the fetching of a drunken old man, who had died in a water-filled ditch, by her uncle and father wherein she describes his decomposition and soon a scolding by her mother for having witnessed this.
- The second, Christine is being scolded by her mother again for sitting under her legs. Christine's mother is churning milk and the glass jar breaks unexpectedly and she presses the shards to her body to save Christine being injured. Christine observes in horror as her mother's arm is slashed, too paralysed to get the aid her mother requests.
- The final, an incident at the saw mill her father worked at. Her mother is alerted to a whistle that indicates an accident at the mill, she takes a young Christine along with her where they witness the dismemberment of a worker. Following these incidents, Christine has an intense worry and many ruminations about death and illness towards her family and loved ones.[3]
Thigpen and Cleckley diagnosed Sizemore and treated her at no cost for several years.[4] In 1956, while still under their care, she signed the rights to her life story to 20th Century Fox, although it was later alleged that she had signed this without legal representation and using the names of her alternate personalities.[4]
The Three Faces of Eve became a bestseller when it was published in 1957. This was written by Thigpen and Cleckley with limited input from Sizemore.[citation needed]
In 1958, she co-wrote (with James Poling) Strangers in My Body: The Final Face of Eve, using the pseudonym of Evelyn Lancaster. She wrote two later follow-ups: I'm Eve (1977), written with Elen Sain Pittillo; and A Mind of My Own (1989).[citation needed]
In 1970, she started treatment with Tony Tsitos, whom she credited with making the greatest progress in integrating the divergent personalities over the next four years.[4] According to both Sizemore and psychiatrists who worked with her after her treatment with Thigpen and Cleckley, it was not until she was in Tsitos' care that she became aware that she experienced not three selves, but more than 20 personalities that eventually were unified. It was reported that her selves were presented in groups of three at a time.[5][6]
Sizemore reported feeling exploited and objectified by the media blitz surrounding the book and film of Three Faces of Eve. Upon discovering in 1988 that her legal rights to her own life story had been signed away to 20th Century Fox by Thigpen, Sizemore went to Manhattan's Federal District Court to contest the contract. She accepted an out-of-court settlement, and no further films were made.[4][7][8][9][10][11]
Sizemore's papers, covering 1952 through 1989, have been acquired by the Duke University Library. An overview of the collection and a summary of Sizemore's story are included on its website.[citation needed]
Sizemore was interviewed on the BBC News series Hardtalk on March 25, 2009.[1]
Sizemore died of a heart attack in hospice care on July 24, 2016, in Ocala, Florida. She was 89 years old.[12][4]
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