The unforgettable story of a family unlike any you have ever met and one you will not forget.
For most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was part of a small, if dysfunctional, family of three. Her larger-than-life, gay mom, Debra, yearned for motherhood. But in the early 1980s, single lesbians had few options. Until one day, while getting her hair done in a Beverly Hills salon, Debra met the man who would be Chrysta’s dad. Beautiful, athletic and from a “good” family, Debra was confident that Jeffrey Harrison was the ideal sperm donor.
What Debra could not have known at the time was that there was more to Jeffrey than he let on — that he was struggling with homelessness and untreated mental illness; not to mention working as a Chippendales dancer and posing nude for the cover of Playgirl. Jeffrey would make only occasional appearances at the family home, which grew to include a baby sister for Chrysta. While Debra did not lean on Jeffrey to help raise her daughters, she did come to depend on dozens of women, drugs, and seemingly every pyramid scheme to come out of Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s to keep her family afloat.
It wasn’t until years later that Chrysta and her sister discovered just how many secrets both of her parents had carefully kept from them, and each other. The biggest of all: that for almost a decade, Jeffrey had made his primary living by donating sperm to the largest sperm bank in the world. Eventually, Chrysta would meet nearly 40 siblings—with a new brother or sister appearing every few months — each with their own questions about themselves, their past, and the father they all shared.
Normal Family is the story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.
For most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was part of a small, if dysfunctional, family of three. Her larger-than-life, gay mom, Debra, yearned for motherhood. But in the early 1980s, single lesbians had few options. Until one day, while getting her hair done in a Beverly Hills salon, Debra met the man who would be Chrysta’s dad. Beautiful, athletic and from a “good” family, Debra was confident that Jeffrey Harrison was the ideal sperm donor.
What Debra could not have known at the time was that there was more to Jeffrey than he let on — that he was struggling with homelessness and untreated mental illness; not to mention working as a Chippendales dancer and posing nude for the cover of Playgirl. Jeffrey would make only occasional appearances at the family home, which grew to include a baby sister for Chrysta. While Debra did not lean on Jeffrey to help raise her daughters, she did come to depend on dozens of women, drugs, and seemingly every pyramid scheme to come out of Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s to keep her family afloat.
It wasn’t until years later that Chrysta and her sister discovered just how many secrets both of her parents had carefully kept from them, and each other. The biggest of all: that for almost a decade, Jeffrey had made his primary living by donating sperm to the largest sperm bank in the world. Eventually, Chrysta would meet nearly 40 siblings—with a new brother or sister appearing every few months — each with their own questions about themselves, their past, and the father they all shared.
Normal Family is the story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.
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