Editing Maria Callas (section)

===Relationship with mother===
Callas's relationship with her mother continued to erode during the years in Greece, and in the prime of her career it became a matter of great public interest, especially after a 1956 cover story in ''Time'' magazine, which focused on their relationship, and later by Litsa's book, ''My Daughter Maria Callas'' (1960). In public, Callas recalls the strained relationship with Litsa on her unhappy childhood spent singing and working at her mother's insistence, saying,
<blockquote>My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a cruel thing to make a child feel ugly and unwanted&nbsp;... I'll never forgive her for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was mostly good and everything they did to me was mostly bad.<ref name="Time 1956">{{citation|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,867205,00.html|title=The Prima Donna|magazine=Time|date=October 29, 1956|volume=68|issue=18}} See also [https://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601561029,00.html the cover].</ref></blockquote>

In 1957 she told Chicago radio host Norman Ross Jr, "There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age. Children should have a wonderful childhood. They should not be given too much responsibility."{{sfn|Jellinek|1986|page=[https://archive.org/details/callasportraitof0000jell/page/316 316]}}

Biographer Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis says that Litsa's hateful treatment of George in front of their young children led to resentment and dislike on Callas's part.{{sfn|Petsalis-Diomidis|2001|pp=37–38, 62, 75–76}} According to both Callas's husband and her close friend [[Giulietta Simionato]], Callas related to them that her mother, who did not work, pressed her to "go out with various men", mainly Italian and German soldiers, to bring home money and food during the [[Axis occupation of Greece]] during World War II. Simionato was convinced that Callas "managed to remain untouched" but never forgave her mother for what she perceived as a kind of prostitution forced on her.{{sfn|Petsalis-Diomidis|2001|pp=241–247}} Litsa, beginning in New York and continuing in Athens, had adopted a questionable lifestyle that included not only pushing her daughters into degrading situations to support her financially but also entertaining Italian and German soldiers during the Axis occupation.{{sfn|Petsalis-Diomidis|2001|pp=75, 108–121, 242–247}}

In an attempt to patch things up with her mother, Callas took Litsa along on her first visit to Mexico, in 1950, but this only reawakened the old frictions and resentments, and after leaving Mexico, they never met again. After a series of angry and accusatory letters from Litsa lambasting Callas's father and husband, Callas ceased communication with her mother altogether.<ref name="scott" />

A 1955 ''Time'' story<ref name="Time 19562">{{citation |title=The Prima Donna |date=October 29, 1956 |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,867205,00.html |magazine=Time |volume=68 |issue=18}} See also [https://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601561029,00.html the cover].</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite magazine |title=Time Magazine Cover: Maria Callas – Oct. 29, 1956 |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19561029,00.html |access-date=April 30, 2022 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name="Music: The Prima Donna">{{Cite magazine |date=October 29, 1956 |title=Music: The Prima Donna |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,867205,00.html |access-date=April 30, 2022 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> covered Callas's response to her mother's request for $100, "for my daily bread." Callas had replied, "Don't come to us with your troubles. I had to work for my money, and you are young enough to work, too. If you can't make enough money to live on, you can jump out of the window or drown yourself." Callas justified her behavior&nbsp;... "They say my family is very short of money. Before God, I say why should they blame me? I feel no guilt and I feel no gratitude. I like to show kindness, but you mustn't expect thanks, because you won't get any. That's the way life is. If some day I need help, I wouldn't expect anything from anybody. When I'm old, nobody is going to worry about me."<ref name=":02" />