I’ve seen people talk about actors and artists that had a terrible time.
My own would be Anne Rice. She wrote Interview with the Vampire after her young daughter died of Leukemia. Then her husband suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage. I suspect her Christian, anti-fanfic phase was a result of mental illness and manipulation from the publishers, although I don’t think she ever apologized.
Dame Agatha Christie and Margaret Mitchell. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
Dame Agatha hated Poirot and only kept writing him because readers demanded it and she considered herself mostly an entertainer. She made it clear that she hated him in “Mrs. McGinty’s Dead”, and she killed him off in Curtain as her final act. So, some morons figured they could dig up some really rough outlines of further stories, and make money off them to continue the copyright. By so doing, they have directly contradicted Dame Agatha’s wishes. I refuse to read them.
After the tremendous success of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell refused to write a sequel. She stated that the book had reached its natural and foregone conclusion and there was no need for another. Again, her estate refused to honor her, having “Scarlett” written simply to extend the copyright on the “Gone With the Wind” franchise.
Tolkien sold off (at least) the copyright to the Hobbit to an American company to produce a film. However, the American company failed to produce the promised film, and as a last grab at retaining the copyright, produced a film called “The Hobbit” but with little resemblance to the book itself. Bilbo and Gandalf are in it, as is “General Thorin Oakenshield” and a nameless Dwarf who had failed to keep watch over Dale, and a Princess of Dale. The dragon’s name is “Slag”. Gandalf lives in a tower where he sits poring over books of prophecy, one mentioning a “hobbit”. The Arkenstone is used as the tip to the fatal (to Slag) arrow. It’s so bad, it’s almost funny. You can watch it on YouTube, it’s only about 15 minutes long. It was so awful that Tolkien bought back the rights to his own work to keep it being further degraded.
C.S. Lewis requested that specific works of his be destroyed because he felt that they would be confusing to his readers and contradict the message he was trying to send. They were published after his death despite his clearly stated wish. I think that this may have been part of Tolkien’s remarks, “those who believe in respecting the requests of authors (living, at least) will read”…
Those who protest saying that “they should have destroyed the manuscripts” know that they are in the wrong, otherwise they would feel no need for excuses. Authors, as much as anyone, have the right to have their final wishes respected. Anything else, no matter what excuse is offered, are simply in it for the money.