Okay, he is really not a celebrity, but Christian Brando’s name has been in and out of the news for years. It could not have been easy growing up as the son of a larger than life character such as Marlon Brando. And now Christian’s name is back in the news. Earlier this week, the 49-year-old Christian was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center to be treated for pneumonia. An unidentified friend said Brando’s first child is “not doing very well. He has pneumonia with complications.”
Christian was born in 1958, the product of a relationship between actor Marlon and actress Anna Kashfi. The two married right before Christian’s birth, but it was a story marriage at best. Marlon continued to have relationships outside of the marriage and Kashfi turned to drugs and alcohol to kill the pain. The couple divorced shortly after Christian was born, but they continued to use Christian as a pawn. Finally, when Christian was 13, Marlon got custody of Christian, not that that really counted for much. By most reports, Christian was raised by nannies and servants, seeing very little of his famous father.
Christian’s name first made the headlines in 1990. It was then that he killed his younger half-sister Cheyenne’s boyfriend (and father of her unborn child) Dag Drollet. The siblings had been at dinner with Dag when Cheyenne mentioned he had been abusive towards her (although some dispute this). Christian, perhaps because there were few others in his life, was very protective of his sister and decided to scare Dag. But, he did a bit more than scare him. As Dag sat in a bathrobe and shorts, watching television, a drunken Christian came in to confront him. He said he didn’t go into the room to kill him, but that is exactly what happened – Christian has a .45 and pointed the gun at Dag’s head. He told the courtroom that he was moving to leave the room and the gun just went off, but the jury convicted him of manslaughter. Christian served five years in prison for Dag’s death. Cheyenne, long plagued by mental illness and alcoholism, gave birth to son Tuki, but committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 25.
Christian’s name again hit the headlines when Robert Blake’s wife Bonnie was murdered in 2001. Apparently, she had dated Christian at the same time she was dating Robert. When she got pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian as the father on the official birth certificate. When DNA showed the father was really Robert, the two married. But, after Bonnie was murdered, a taped conversation between Christian and Bonnie surfaced in which Christian was heard to say, “You’re lucky. You know, I mean, not on my behalf, but you’re lucky someone ain’t out there to put a bullet in your head.” Robert was tried, but acquitted of Bonnie’s murder. The crime has never been solved.
It may be hard for some to feel any compassion or sympathy for someone whose name has been in the headlines generally when related to a murder. But, after reading the story about his parent’s tumultuous relationship, and his upbringing, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for Christian Brando.