MBTI Type: ESTP

Joan suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, so she’s not the healthiest person on the planet, or a good example of her personality type. It also brings out a Se/Fe loop imbalance, because she’s highly opportunistic in taking advantage of situations to cause disruptions and draw attention to herself, but lacks any kind of empathy for anyone outside herself. She was always an aggressive woman who built her career off of sexuality and favors; she did porno pictures, she slept with directors, she had rampant affairs with her costars, and tended to seduce away Bette Davis’ men. When upset about not getting enough attention, the logical thing she decides to do is ‘hack’ the situation to her advantage by making a fuss in the press, playing up her illness for sympathy, and attacking her costar in indirect methods. She uses Fe as a weapon much of the time. She has a running monologue with other people about how she’s feeling about everything from her children’s behaviors to her co-star, to her intention to upstage Bette Davis at the Oscars. Joan realizes she can “get” Bette where it hurts (by accepting an Oscar on behalf of a winner) and asking around Hollywood for the chance to step onto the podium. She has no empathy for anyone other than herself, and makes decisions only with her own best interests in mind. She escalates into hysterics and demands everyone cater to her, constantly praise her performances, and tell her how wonderful she is. She has no real ability to think about the long-term consequences of any of her decisions; she assumes she can cater to the press, and moan about how sick she is, without facing financial repercussions (she believes her ‘charm’ and ‘likability’ will get her out of trouble). Several times, she attempts to bond with Bette, by praising her, and pointing out the things they have in common (both working mothers, both successful actresses, both ambitious). She is shocked when her hysterics make no one in Hollywood want to work with her.

Enneagram: 3w2 sx/so

Joan only cares about appearances and about fame, and she will ruthlessly use sexual tactics to get what she wants (Bette complains that Joan has ‘bedded’ everyone in Hollywood to get where she is, and is jealous of her attractiveness and vanity). She’s so vain, she won’t let them ‘ugly her up’ for one of her film roles, and insists on wearing a cone bra (Bette snidely says a woman could put her eyes out on one of those things!). When she doesn’t get what she wants, she resorts to unhealthy 2 wing manipulative behaviors and hysterics, seduction tactics, and by appealing to the emotions of the press in pretending to be ill. The real Joan retired from public life after she saw an unflattering photo of her in a newspaper and realized she was now ‘old.’