Don McLean's daughter has insisted she "disinherited" herself.
Don McLean
The 'American Pie' hitmaker - whose 31-year-old daughter Jackie has alleged emotional and mental abuse by the singer - recently admitted he "stopped supporting" his offspring in 2020, and won't be leaving her $3 million in trust any more but now she's hit back and insisted she decided to deliberately antagonise the 75-year-old singer because she was tired of years of being "manipulated, controlled, afraid and silenced" by her father.
And Jackie claimed the threat of being disinherited has hung over her for her "whole life" but she's finally realised she'll never get the "love [she] wanted" from her father so has nothing to lose by speaking out against him.
She said in a statement to America's OK! magazine: "I’m seeing a lot of news articles mentioning me, quoting my father saying that he disinherited me for speaking the truth about my experiences. But the stories have it wrong. I disinherited myself. I was told my whole life that if I ever spoke up about the lifetime of abuse I endured from him, I would be disowned.
"The promise of a will was a control tactic leveraged against me since I was a child in order to keep me silent. More than the prospect of being without his money, I was controlled by the fear of being without his love. Over time, I realised that the love I wanted would never come from him.
"Recently, I decided I was done being manipulated, controlled, afraid, and silenced - like my life was not my own. I was ready to live. I spoke out of my own volition, knowing that it would mean the end of a manipulation tactic. The end of the hope of a relationship. And the beginning of freedom.
Jackie has no regrets about her actions.
She added: "I disinherited myself. And I’d do it again one hundred times over."
The 'Vincent' singer recently insisted he is a "great father" and had warned Jackie he would cut her off if she "trashed" him.
He said: "I stopped supporting my daughter last year. I have a son, you know, who grew up the same way, who thinks I'm a great father and who has none of these complaints.
"But I said to my daughter, 'If you speak out about me and trash me, I'm going to disinherit you.' And she did and she's been automatically disinherited — that's almost a $3 million trust fund that went down the tubes.
"I've always supported my daughter — $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year, doubling her husband's salary. I wanted to make sure the grandkids had everything they wanted."
Five years ago, Don was arrested at the home he shared with his now ex-wife Patrisha Shnier - his second spouse and mother of Jackie and their son Wyatt - and later pleaded guilty to domestic violence, avoiding jail time as part of a plea bargain.
He and his wife - who also alleged financial control during their relationship - divorced after 29 years of marriage, and he has now alleged she was physically abusive to him, which she has denied.
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