Best & Worst Moms Ever

10 Worst Moms Ever

The Mother in Pink Floyd's The Wall

MGM / Everett
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Sure, Pink built the wall, but where do you think he got the bricks? The greatest high-concept rock opera ever recorded features one of the all-time worst moms. Young Pink probably isn't the most robust of psychological specimens, granted, but his smothering mother never even gives him a chance: from an early age she suffocates him with love, determined to keep him a baby forever. As she puts it (as plangently voiced by David Gilmour) :

Momma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true.
Momma's gonna put all of her fears into you.
Momma's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing.

You don't get over a thing like that. And as the movie makes painfully clear, Pink is doomed to a future of futile, unsatisfying romantic and sexual relationships. Bad mothering: it's the gift that keeps on giving. Mother, did it need to be so high?

10 Best Moms Ever

From the loving strength of Dumbo's mom to the caring overkill of The Joy Luck Club mothers, here's time.com's salute to the most significant moms ever.

10 Worst Moms Ever

Obsessing over wire hangers, putting a hit out on your own son, implanting never-ending neuroticism into your kid. What won't these bad moms do? The answer: love their children the right way. Time.com's selections for the worst moms ever.