Before Disney and Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real Christopher Robin: a young boy with a teddy bear. He was author A.A. Milne’s son, and he and his stuffed bear “Winnie” would inspire one of the greatest children’s characters ever conceived.
It sounds idyllic—a father turning his son into a character beloved by children around the world—but becoming a celebrity when he was just six years old wrecked Christopher Robin Milne’s life. The true story of the real Christopher Robin wasn’t a story of a whimsy, magic, and the joys of childhood. It was a dark, strange story, full of moments that’ll never show up in any Disney movie.
