Julie Harding filed for divorce and withdrew more than $220,000 from three bank accounts without Michael Harding's consent, leading to a conspiracy with O'Donnell to kill her husband.
Growing up, Melissa Shultz sometimes felt like she had two fathers. One version of her dad, she told me, was playful and quick to laugh. He was a compelling storyteller who helped shape her career as a writer, and he gave great bear hugs. He often bought her small gifts: a pink "princess" phone when she was a teen, toys for her sons when she became a mom.
On the surface, my own childhood certainly looked idyllic. My dad worked, and my mom stayed home. I did well in school. I was involved. If I expressed interest in an activity, my mom signed me up. She schlepped me around town, to games and competitions, to art classes and orchestra practices. I stood out academically; my report cards always read "a pleasure to have in class." I was a rule follower by nature, seemingly clinging to the order and structure that school offered me.
Growing up, I was teased a lot by my sister and mother; they would point out how I looked different from them and distort their faces to look like mine to mock me. One running joke is that I was the "Asian milkman's" daughter because I have a partial epicanthic fold, and they didn't. Turns out, I actually AM my father's child, and the reason that I looked different from my sister is because she wasn't!
