Is the movie ‘Joy’ based on a true story?

2015’s Joy stars the fabulous Jennifer Lawrence as a divorced mother who uses her knack for inventions to become a self-made millionaire. Surprisingly, the movie is inspired by the life of Joy Mangano — well, at least part of it is.

In the movie, Lawrence plays Joy Mangano, a mother of two who struggles to make ends meet with her airline booking agent job. In addition to taking care of her children, Joy also needs to deal with sharing a roof with her mother and her grandmother. As if navigating her complicated family situation wasn’t challenging enough, Joy’s barely employed ex-husband still lives in her basement, dreaming about becoming a singer. In short, Joy’s life is pure chaos. However, she finds a way to improve things thanks to her brilliant, inventive brain.

One day, after getting extremely frustrated while cleaning the floor, Joy comes up with the idea of a self-wringing mop that could make house chores easier for everybody. Though she doesn’t have the money to fund her invention, Joy puts everything in line to pursue her goals. It’s a classic feel-good story based on the old American Dream that good work always pays up, which also has Lawrence offering a fantastic performance. However, while Joy Mangano did invent the Miracle Mop, Joy mixes fact and fiction, stirring away from the classic biopic formula.

How much of Joy is inspired by Joy Mangano’s true story?

Overall, Joy tells the real story of how the Miracle Mop came to be. Yet, the movie changes some critical details of Mangano’s life for dramatic purposes. For instance, in the film, Joy abandons her academic career to take care of her parents. The entrepreneur, however,  graduated from Pace University, where she studied business administration. After college, Mangano went through several odd jobs, just like Lawrence’s character. Still, her business education did come in handy to make the Miracle Mop a reality.

The movie changes many other details from Mangano’s life. For instance, her first husband wasn’t a wannabe musician but instead went to college with the inventor. The couple also had three kids before their divorce, instead of the two fictional children in the movie. Joy’s jealous half-sister in the film is also completely fictional and has been created to make the character’s victory sweeter.

While Joy is not a classic biopic movie, some of its most fantastic story developments are true. Mangano’s first invention was a luminescence collar that helped dog and cat caretakers find their pets at night. She was a high schooler when she came up with the collar, and she didn’t patent the idea. Unfortunately, a similar product hit the market one year after she designed the collar, and she missed her shot at early success. It’s a bonkers piece of history that proves reality can be weirder than fantasy.

Joy is currently available to stream on Max.