The Tragedy Of Billy Bob Thornton's Daughter Amanda Is So Sad

The following article discusses child abuse.

Having a successful celebrity parent doesn't mean you'll be always be shielded from suffering, as Billy Bob Thornton's oldest daughter has discovered. Before Thornton settled down with his sixth wife, Connie Angland, he was in a series of short-lived marriages. Most famously, Thornton had a whirlwind marriage to Angelia Jolie that was the talk of the town in the early aughts. But before Thornton's rumor-riddled love life was making headlines, the "Landman" star was a regular Arkansan in an ordinary marriage with Melissa Lee Gatlin. He said "I do" the first time in 1978, when he was in his early 20s and not yet an actor.

In 1980, just two years into the marriage, Gatlin filed for divorce. According to a 1997 People report, she cited "incompatibility and adultery on his part," suggesting fame isn't solely to blame for some of his future indiscretions (like when Thornton married Jolie while reportedly engaged to Laura Dern). Albeit short-lived, his first marriage produced the first of his four children. Amanda Brumfield (née Thornton) was born on July 28, 1979, just months before her parents split.

Brumfield was barely 2 years old when Thornton packed up his belongings and left their native Arkansas for Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in the summer of 1981. He went on to become rich and famous, while his daughter stayed behind to grow up without a father. Amanda is now married and has two kids and seems to be doing well, but her life was anything but easy. Thornton has faced his fair share of tragic events, as his first child.

Amanda Brumfield was estranged from Billy Bob Thornton most of her life. It wasn't something she was okay with. Brumfield grew up feeling that she was unwanted by her father, who never showed interest in her. "He's pretty much made me feel like I've been shut out," she told Inside Edition in 2001 (via People). Despite how she felt, Brumfield still wanted to be close to Thornton. "I mean, I have nothing against him. I love him. He's my father. I just want him to be around," she shared.

Brumfield felt even deeper rejection after watching Thornton become a famous actor and shoot to fame. He clearly had the means to reach out, and she felt he simply didn't want to. "I don't want to cry, but it's not fair to watch him on TV every day, and I can't even get a call," she said. This must have been especially hard given that Thornton is pretty close with his three younger children. He even admitted to being overly involved in the life of his youngest, Bella, whom he welcomed with Connie Angland in 2004.

"We are what they call helicopter parents, kind of, I guess," he said on the "Today" show in November 2025, sharing that he and his wife bought a house near campus when Bella went off to college. All Brumfield got was dismissive remarks from her father. "She didn't grow up with me, and so we were pretty much strangers for years," he told the Mail on Sunday in 2005 (via People).

In 2011, Amanda Brumfield was found guilty of the death of her best friend's one-year-old daughter. She had been watching Olivia Madison Garcia in October 2008 when the girl suffered a fatal head injury. Even though she avoided guilty verdicts on murder and aggravated child abuse charges, she was convicted of aggravated manslaughter. Brumfield's defense team unsuccessfully argued that Olivia's injuries were a result of a head-first fall after she climbed out of a portable crib.

Brumfield contended the girl appeared fine afterward and even ate a banana. She said she put Olivia down to sleep next to her on the couch and noticed the girl was unresponsive about two hours later. However, prosecutors argued that the 3.5-inch fracture Olivia suffered on the back of her skull and the bleeding and swelling in her brain could not have been caused by that type of fall. Prosecutors also argued that a 1-year-old would not have been able to climb out of the playpen.

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified that she believed Olivia's injuries were intentional. "That is my opinion. Over 25 years. Backed by literature. That is not how the child died (by accident)," Dr. Jane Garavaglia told the court, according to WKGM. Brumfield's defense argued that the fall may have aggravated an older injury. Ultimately, the jury sided with the prosecution, and Brumfield was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her goddaughter's death. Despite her conviction, Brumfield spent years trying to convince the public of her innocence.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

Amanda Brumfield didn't have the support of her father during the most trying time of her life. On the contrary, Billy Bob Thornton clearly wanted to be as far from the ordeal as possible. In the 2005 interview with the Mail on Sunday, Thornton established that he and his eldest had rekindled their relationship after her 2001 remarks. "A few years later, we reconnected, and it's really good now," he maintained. His tone changed after she was arrested in May 2009.

In a statement through his publicist, Thornton emphasized that he barely knew his daughter. "[He] has had no contact with her for quite some time," Arnold Robinson told CNN. He showed no support for Brumfield whatsoever, keeping his sentiments focused on Olivia Madison Garcia's family. "Anytime a baby's life is lost is an unimaginable tragedy and my heart goes out to the baby's family and loved ones," Thornton was quoted as saying. Not only was Thornton unsupportive of his daughter, but his link to her may have aggravated the situation.

Brumfield's mother, then known as Melissa Parish, believed the publicity brought on by her daughter's link to the famous actor played against her. "It's just a horrible situation and it's being made worse and exploding even more just because of who my ex-husband is," Parish told the New York Post in 2009. Brumfield agreed that her father's status had never brought her anything but grief. "[It] has caused nothing but headaches, my entire life," she told Inside Edition in 2011.

Being Billy Bob Thornton's daughter didn't earn Amanda Brumfield any lenience. She spent eight and a half years behind bars and was released through her own efforts. In 2020, she was set free after the Innocence Project of Florida and the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences took on her case in 2015. The non-profit organizations gathered scientific evidence and analyses by medical expert witness to testify that Olivia Madison Garcia's head injury could have been caused by a short fall.

After looking at the new evidence, the court granted Brumfield an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there should be a retrial. Shortly after, prosecutors offered Brumfield a deal: she could be released from prison after serving eight-plus years of her sentence and maintain her conviction. She took the deal. It was the right decision, even if it meant she wasn't exonerated, the Innocence Project of Florida contended. "She could face up to an additional 20 years in prison if she were wrongfully convicted again at a new trial," the non-profit defended.

When she arrived home on September 18, 2020, Brumfield released eight balloons into the sky to mark the years she spent away from her family. While she was relieved to be free, she resented the way the justice system handled her case. "They're very quick to put you in prison, but the wheels of justice to let you out are so slow," she said on a Facebook live in 2021 (via Orlando Sentinel). "I've been a victim of the system."

Life behind bars was hard. In addition to being deprived of her freedom, her husband, and two daughters, Amanda Brumfield grieved her goddaughter's death. "Of course I loved her. I can still [see] those big beautiful brown eyes," she said in the 2011 Inside Edition interview. But it turned out that life on the outside wasn't so simple. Adjusting to life after spending more than eight years under the care of the correctional system proved harder than she expected.

Brumfield felt like she was constantly breaking rules, even if all she did was step outside after sundown. "The freedom of being able to go outside at night, as simple as it sounded, was just overwhelming for me," she said in an Innocent Project of Florida Facebook live in 2024. She also struggled with making simple decisions as she often felt she lacked the authority. "You almost wait to be given permission to do things," she shared. "Because you've been conditioned for 10 years that you don't make a move without permission."

It took her about two years to start regaining control of her life, though the process is ongoing. She had to relearn who she was again after spending so many years having her identity tied to her inmate number. Four years later, she felt she was in a good place, but, to some extent, the mental constraints never left her. "Every now and then some of that comes back," she continued.