I am new on this board, and generally find most of the
posts to be interesting and informative.
However, many posts about Anna Anderson as a 'crazy
old lady' are not based in fact, and often unbalanced.
Well, she was Fransiska Schanskowska, who was declared legally insane in 1916. In her old age, she lived in squalor with dozens of cats and dogs and didn't vacuum her floor for 5 years (this is in one of the books about her life) She and her equally eccentric husband were real characters, well known in VA as they drove about in their ranshackeled station wagon full of garbage and dogs. I don't mean to be mean by saying this, hey I'm kind of weird myself. But it is not out of line to call her mentally unstable.
We do not know what AA wanted most in life. We might
assume that she did not want a life of loneliness and
alienation.
Actually, she had become a public figure, famous, with all the good and bad that brings. Even movie stars must deal with tabloids and paparazzi.
To assume she was 'crazy' because of the
DNA reports is absurd.
It's not because of the DNA. While the DNA proved she wasn't Anastasia, we could also assume she pretended all those years because she was sinsiter, or crooked, or greedy, or mean. I don't. I think she was unstable. The DNA only proved she wasn't Anastasia, so she had to have faked it for whatever reason.
How could anyone maintain a
charade for most of their lives, with so little gain? Now
how could a person with significant mental disturbance
do so? It is unlikely.
Oh no, on the contrary, there was much more to LOSE! If she gave up her claim, not only would she be publically humiliated, she could have faced charges of filing a false claim in court and be responsible for literally millions in fees and compensation for the havoc caused by her claim.
Also, when she married John Manahan in the 60s he asked her to sign a paper swearing she was GD Anastasia. So denying her claim would have cost her her husband! She had a legion of believers and supporters, and because of this she was able to have financial support. Not talking rich, just talking having all the bills paid and not having to work! Being Anastasia was literally a career.
When she is called mentally unstable, this is the kindest way to put it. Others would call her a liar and a con artist. I do believe there were those behind her who planned to use her claim for their own gain, and they did use her. The bottom line is, she wasn't Anastasia, so someone had to tell her all those things. I personally believe, and many disgree, that by her old age she came to actually believe she was Anastasia.