Bette Davis wrote her daughter, her adopted daughter and two grandsons out of her will after "My Mother's Keeper"

In 1985 Bette Davis's daughter, Barbara "B.D." Hyman, published My Mother's Keeper. It called Davis "an abusive, domineering and hateful mother" and "a grotesque alcoholic." Davis answered in her 1987 memoir, This 'N That, with an open letter calling the book "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks." She wrote: "I've been your keeper all these many years." On September 2, 1987, Davis signed a 10-page will. It said: "I declare that I have intentionally and with full knowledge omitted to provide herein for my daughter, Margo, and my daughter, Barbara, and-or my grandsons, Ashley Hyman and Justin Hyman." Margot, adopted while Davis was married to Gary Merrill, had lived in special schools and institutions since early childhood. Davis died of cancer on October 6, 1989, at 81. The will was filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court. The estate, valued at $600,000 to $1 million, went about half to her adopted son, Michael Merrill, and half to Kathryn Sermak, her secretary, who lived with her. Judge Renee Roth gave Hyman until December 5 to say whether she would contest. Davis was interred in the family sarcophagus at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills with her mother and sister. Hyman became a television evangelist in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael Merrill, a Boston lawyer, stopped speaking to her and co-founded the Bette Davis Foundation, which gives scholarships to young actors.