DAVID HELFGOTT, the Australian pianist immortalised in the movie Shine, rehearsed for tomorrow's concert at the Cultural Centre while his wife fuelled a growing family feud yesterday.
Gillian Helfgott, the pianist's second wife, lashed out at her husband's sister Margaret Helfgott over a new book which disputes Shine's version of the musician's childhood.
'David, in Shine, has expressed what he felt about things,' Mrs Helfgott said yesterday. 'Margaret has the right to have her own experiences, she does not have the right to denigrate David's suffering.' The film depicts a young and misunderstood David Helfgott growing up in a bleak household ruled by a violent father who eventually throws him out.
Helfgott's family, which was not allowed a say in the script, hotly disputes the version of events.
In Out of Tune: David Helfgott and the Myth of Shine, Margaret describes a loving home, insisting her father neither hit his son nor cast him out. She says letters written by Helfgott to his family would prove her version of events, but could not be quoted as Mrs Helfgott now held the copyright - even though the family still had the letters.
Mrs Helfgott said the copyright was transferred from David to herself in 1996 because 'of the behaviour of certain people around us that hasn't always been completely trustworthy'.