Buzzy celebrity memoirs are some of my favorite audiobook reads, especially when they’re read by the authors themselves. I love getting their side of the story in their own words. Last month I listened to three buzzy celebrity memoirs that ranged from tragic to inspirational. Here are my thoughts!
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
I think we can all remember a time when hashtag “freebritney” was trending and when the word conservatorship became a part of our vocabulary. Or, if you’re a child of the 90s like me, you probably remember seeing Spears kissing Madonna, holding a giant snake, wearing a denim-on-denim outfit with her then boyfriend Justin Timberlake, or dressed in her iconic “Baby One More Time” outfit. Spears has been an integral part of the popular culture of the millennial generation, but as any pop culture icon knows, it is easy to become objectified and a victim of the paparazzi. Spears is open and honest in her memoir about her difficult childhood and even more challenging adulthood. Over and over again, Spears finds herself frustrated, heartbroken, and betrayed by people she should be able to trust. Spears does skim through what has the potential to be interesting stories, and her quick pace through her tumultuous and eventful life certainly keeps the narrative flowing but often at the cost of compelling storytelling. Spears is very adamant that her role as a mother is of the utmost importance to her and that her reputation as an out-of-control party-girl in need of dramatic support is and was entirely false. Spears is a girl who became a woman too fast and was pressured to perform. Yes, she absolutely made regrettable decisions, but her memoir helps to humanize her and encourage empathy and sympathy. She is a little girl who loved to dance and who became, not of her own choice, a relentless performer without any control of her finances or body. Her life is an intriguing and sobering peek into what fame and fortune do to an individual and a family. If you’re interested in pop music, this quick and compulsive read is worth checking out.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Were you also raised on Food Network cooking shows? Barefoot Contessa has gotten a reputation to be a cozy yet aspirational show where viewers are encouraged to use the best ingredients (and if not “store bought is fine”) to create home cooked meals perfect for entertaining. Ina seemed to always be making something for her loving husband, Jeffrey, or hosting a party for a seemingly endless stream of friends. Her Hamptons lifestyle and demonstration of “how easy is that” made her show and associated cookbooks popular, but I never thought much about the woman that made it all possible.
Ina’s memoir was interesting because she worked really hard but had so much luck and support to make her business thrive. Coming from a cold, emotionally distant, and controlling family that didn’t even let her cook, it’s a wonder that Ina became the warm cook that she is today. The beginning of her memoir chronicles her love story with her husband of many decades, Jeffrey, and their young love was cute but also real. Ina shockingly reveals that they were temporarily separated while she chose to pursue running Barefoot Contessa while Jeffrey was still living in DC. They came back together, but I was surprised to learn how much of their marriage has been spent apart as they each prioritized the work that fulfilled them. The support and trust they have in each other has stood the test of major career changes and many moves, and it’s clear that they both grew and matured together. Ina’s strength as a young woman, Army wife, and business owner in a time when many women were expected to stay at home and rely on their husbands was eye-opening, and I don’t think she’s gotten enough credit and recognition for what she was able to accomplish in 1978 in a town she’d never been to and in a business she knew nothing about.
Something interesting is that Ina’s memoir, on the surface, makes it seem like her life was filled with right time, right place moments that launched her public success. Really, though, her career skyrocketed after years and years of hard work in the Hamptons (she gives many details about her sleepless nights and endless stress), years and years of making connections and testing recipes, and having the support from Jeffrey to take a chance again and again. She didn’t always have a clear vision of what she wanted her life to be, but she clearly knew what she liked and didn’t like, what fulfilled her and what frustrated her. It’s amazing how each piece–successful store and catering business, line of cookbooks, television show, product line, apartment in Paris, etc–all came to be.
Honestly, her memoir inspired me to put my dream out there and to put in the work for it. If you live with the attitude that the worst someone could say is no and start making connections and put in the work to show that you have something worth selling, you will find success. With the goal of getting my writing published, I pitched a guest essay to FictionMatters, and it was accepted and published. I’m hopeful that this is just the first of many publications in the next year.
Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir by Anna Marie Tendler
Tendler’s memoir received a lot of buzz because of her connection to her ex-husband John Mulaney. Their divorce was tabloid news fodder, especially because of Mulaney’s trips to rehab and fatherhood announcement with Olivia Munn only months after the separation news. However, what was so notable and discussed about Tendler’s memoir is that, while she spends far too many pages discussing how she has so much rage about men, she never discusses her marriage or divorce. She dives into her troubled teenage and early adult years and the toxic, unhealthy, and frankly unsafe relationships in emotional detail, but she does not explore her relationship with Mulaney. This missing puzzle piece leaves a significant and noticeable hole in the narrative, especially given the timing of the central storyline. It’s clear that Tendler wants to make a name for herself without her celebrity ex-husband’s influence, but there were ways for her to include some of the details without shifting the spotlight to be on him. Honestly, without the details of the divorce, the narrative feels hollow and her mental health struggles don’t feel fully explained. Do authors owe readers a full explanation of every painful detail of their lives? No. But because Tendler chose to focus this book on the anger and pain she feels because of men, leaving out her very public divorce is a frankly confusing and incomprehensible choice.
Tendler’s memoir focuses on her stay in a psychiatric hospital as she seeks a diagnosis for her self-harming, depressive, anxious behavior and thoughts. She is desperate for help and validation and a support system in a time where she feels lost and hopeless. It is painful and difficult to hear about her thought process and behaviors, and her memoir does not hold back from detailing how painful her life has been because of boyfriends, her family, and her own actions.
However, Tendler can be a difficult narrator to stay with. She had advertised her memoir as being filled with rage against men, but it felt like Tendler chose to be broadly angry about all men for the actions of a few toxic relationships she should have ended far earlier (or never been in in the first place). This book is often raw and emotional, but I feel like it would have been a far deeper and more nuanced narrative if she waited another couple of years to write it. While her health has improved with her new therapy, I think she needed to continue on her healing journey before writing a book about that journey. Writing in the moment is great to capture the feelings and thought process, but having some distance from events can often bring clarity and deeper reflections. It reads as if Tendler wants there to be something majorly wrong with her, and it is clear to any reader that she suffers deeply from anxiety and depression, but she also doesn’t see clearly the ways in which she’s chosen toxic relationships and stressful choices again and again. If she had parents that were present, friends that more strongly intervened, a therapist that didn’t give up on her, perhaps her life would have turned out differently. However, the book as a whole lacks some honest reflections and important moments to add clarity, and her lack of responsibility for her actions made this a book I, like many other readers, wouldn’t recommend. Tendler is a bitter and angry victim
Watching: Over 20 hours of plane travel each way for Christmas left me with plenty of time for movies! I rewatched When Harry Met Sally (the ultimate romance movie) and watched Fly Me to the Moon, which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected. I had been dying to watch We Live in Time because Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are both some of my favorite actors, and I was so excited that it was available on the plane. Yes, it was a sad cancer love story, but it was beautifully made with lots of emotion. I will definitely be rewatching it soon and will have my tissues ready.
Wearing: My engagement ring!!! Tom and I got engaged on New Year’s Eve, and I can’t stop looking at my hand.
Doing: Wedding planning! We are planning to get married this summer, so there’s been a lot to plan in a short amount of time. I already have my wedding dress, and we’re in the process of picking a venue, caterer, band, photographer, etc… the checklist never does seem to end!
Eating: Milk Bar cookies are my absolute favorite snack right now, and I brought two bags of them back to Guam with me. I must ration them carefully and resist the temptation to eat the whole bag right away.
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