Here’s everything we know about Andrew Cunanan’s mother, Mary Anne
The latest episode of American Crime Story introduces us to a really sweet, nice lady…who also happens to be Andrew Cunanan’s mother. It’s hard to imagine that this kind woman, who immediately pulls Andrew into a hug and then gives him, a grown man, a bath, could be related to the cold-blooded serial killer. But it’s true. The latest episode of American Crime Story introduces us to Cunanan’s mother, Mary Anne Schillaci (played by Joanna Adler), and even though she isn’t in the episode long, she leaves a lasting impression.
After hitting rock bottom with his last relationship, and also hitting some drugs a little too hard, Cunanan shows up at his mother’s doorstep. She reassures him that everyone has rough patches in life, and Cunanan eats a bowl of cereal. Normal mother-son stuff, right? The episode ends with Cunanan leaving his mother behind, because he’s off to Minneapolis (whispers, to kill some people).
And as for Mary Anne? According to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune, Cunanan was spoiled at home by both his parents — he even got the master bedroom as a kid, even though he had two other siblings. Supposedly, he had an IQ of 147, which is why he was so spoiled with whatever he wanted. This more than likely sent him down the “pay attention to me” path of lies and deception we see him weave through this season of American Crime Story.
Like he explains in the episode, his mother was indeed a homemaker and judging from the fact that she appears to be alone in the house, it’s clear that his father is gone; Cunanan says that he has gone back to the Philippines, where he was from, and that appears to be true in the episode as well. Mary Anne has been left all alone, but now her boy Andrew is back.
From the moment Cunanan walks into the house, he’s spoiled — because be honest, as an adult there’s no way your mother would give you a sponge bath if you were not extremely coddled/spoiled. It’s clear that Mary Anne loved Cunanan, both on the show and in real life. After Cunanan’s death, she went on Larry King Live and said he was, “beautiful, intelligent, handsome, bright…gifted” and that she just wanted “to remember the good things.”
Unfortunately, though, we’re going to remember him in other ways.