Author Tom North Shares True Life Story About Famous Family Hiding a Dark Secret

CARMEL, Calif. - May 25, 2013 - PRLog -- The television news story, “Famous Central Coast Family, Hiding a Dark Secret” about Tom North and his book, True North - The Shocking Truth about "Yours, Mine and Ours", recently premiered on the Hearst Television Network stations KSBW NBC/ABC.

Tom North is one of the eight North children, who together with the ten Beardsley children, became the family which was featured in the 1968 film, “Yours, Mine and Ours” starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, and again in the 2005 version starring Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid.

Tom North explains, “In the 45 years since the movie, ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’ starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda became the 4th highest grossing film of 1968, it has not been unusual for one of my siblings or me to be asked what it was like to be part of ‘that big wonderful family’. Having seen the film many times, I must agree that what became known among my brothers and sisters as ‘the big lie’ was actually a very charming film and a well-told story. Would that it had been true!”

The book begins in the 1950s on Whidbey Island, Washington, where Tom’s mother, Helen North, became a widow when she was just 30 years old and pregnant with her eighth child. Not long after, Helen North met and married Frank Beardsley, a man with 10 children, and she moved her family to his house in Carmel, California. The North children were adopted and their names were changed to Beardsley, and they went from a life filled with love and happiness to a living nightmare. The stepfather’s violence, abuse, and even sexual abuse created a life of intimidation, confusion, turmoil, fear and depression for the North children. All hope seemed lost as Tom realized that he was caught in a prison and there was no way out.

“This book is the story of my journey through a life of domestic violence and child abuse,” North notes. “Along with suffering from the abuse and the shame, my siblings and I also had to carry the additional burden of secrecy because we were famous. After all, the idyllic, seaside community of Carmel, California, might be shocked to learn the truth about the famous local family they had grown to love and admire! My mission now is to reach out to people who feel isolated or misunderstood in the world and help them understand that they are not alone, and that their feelings may well be related to experiences they had in their early lives when they felt victimized by those who had greater power than they did. The healing never stops. Every day is another day of coping. But there is help, and hope.”

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eovj-no0Jes&feature=youtu.be



Siobhan Greene, Director of Voices for Children - CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) of Monterey County, states: “Tom North takes his readers on the painful journey of child abuse with honesty, candor and even humor. He reveals the shame, sense of betrayal and outrage, as well as the inevitable poor life choices that are a young person’s response to persistent and often cruel maltreatment. While the reader might wish child abuse were not part of our world, North bravely tells the truth; the very thing that gives way to healing and forgiveness.”

True North – The Shocking Truth about “Yours, Mine and Ours” is published by True North Productions, LLC, and will be released in July 2013. For more information, visit: http://www.TrueNorthbyTomNorth.com.


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