84. Celebrity Detox
This is Rosie O'Donnell's book about her return to fame, recapping the past year and her experiences on The View. As a regular viewer of the show it was pretty intriguing to read her perspective about life behind the scences.
Here's a super long description of the book from B&N.com:
That’s the thing about fame. If you live like a famous person, you will pay the price. And it’s a high price, and a dangerous game, because fame, the drug can sneak up on you in increments. You don’t notice the increments, that they’re increasing until you’re so far away from ever making eye contact with another human being and being "real," that you don’t even know you’re not "real" anymore.
That’s the thing about fame. If you live like a famous person, you will pay the price. And it’s a high price, and a dangerous game, because fame, the drug can sneak up on you in increments. You don’t notice the increments, that they’re increasing until you’re so far away from ever making eye contact with another human being and being "real," that you don’t even know you’re not "real" anymore.
When O’Donnell’s mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1973, ten-year-old Rosie believed that fame could cure her. Though she was still a kid, she had already grasped the cultural connection between talent and money. If she could become famous, the funds would pour in - and buy her mom the miracle cure that could save her life.
Rosie’s mother died, but the bond in her daughter’s mind between stardom and hope survived, propelling 0’Donnell into a career as a talk show host and passionate philanthropist.
At times funny, at others heartbreaking, but always intensely honest, CELEBRITY DETOX is Rosie’s story of the years after she walked away from her top-rated TV show in 2002, and her reasons for going back on the air in 2006. In it, O’Donnell takes you inside the world of talk show TV, speaking candidly about the conflicts and challenges she faced as co-host on ABC’s The View. Along the way O’Donnell shows us how fame becomes addiction and explores whether or not it’s possible for an addict to safely, and sanely, return to the spotlight. She reveals her everyday interactions with her family, and the pressures of being both an ordinary mom and a "personality." She tells of the lifelong admiration she has had for an entertainment icon and of her complicated friendships with her TV colleagues - and talks openly about some dark passages from her own past.
Chronicling the ups and downs of "the fame game," Rosie O’Donnell illuminates not only what it’s like to be a celebrity, but also what it’s like to be a mother, a daughter, a leader, a friend, a sister, a wife - in short, a human being.
I came on The View. This is the story of how it all happened, off stage, on stage, how we struggled to make the show, and then so much more than that. This is an account of what it means to make a show, and a friend, and an enemy, or two. This is about where we went wrong, and right. It’s a story about stars and celebrities and one woman - me - going off air four years ago and then trying to re-enter orbit, not knowing if she can. It’s the story of wondering whether I could give up the addictive elixir of fame and then go back, wondering if it’s possible to sip instead of slug. It’s a story about so much - how Barbara Walters started out as a sort of mother, and me a child willing to obey, and where we finally ended up, months later - after all the Trump dump and divisive ways of the world we are in, we have still, and nevertheless, at the very end, we have found a way to talk. We found, I have to hope, a friendship that, like any other friendship, is both compromised and connected.
Rosie’s mother died, but the bond in her daughter’s mind between stardom and hope survived, propelling 0’Donnell into a career as a talk show host and passionate philanthropist.
At times funny, at others heartbreaking, but always intensely honest, CELEBRITY DETOX is Rosie’s story of the years after she walked away from her top-rated TV show in 2002, and her reasons for going back on the air in 2006. In it, O’Donnell takes you inside the world of talk show TV, speaking candidly about the conflicts and challenges she faced as co-host on ABC’s The View. Along the way O’Donnell shows us how fame becomes addiction and explores whether or not it’s possible for an addict to safely, and sanely, return to the spotlight. She reveals her everyday interactions with her family, and the pressures of being both an ordinary mom and a "personality." She tells of the lifelong admiration she has had for an entertainment icon and of her complicated friendships with her TV colleagues - and talks openly about some dark passages from her own past.
Chronicling the ups and downs of "the fame game," Rosie O’Donnell illuminates not only what it’s like to be a celebrity, but also what it’s like to be a mother, a daughter, a leader, a friend, a sister, a wife - in short, a human being.
I came on The View. This is the story of how it all happened, off stage, on stage, how we struggled to make the show, and then so much more than that. This is an account of what it means to make a show, and a friend, and an enemy, or two. This is about where we went wrong, and right. It’s a story about stars and celebrities and one woman - me - going off air four years ago and then trying to re-enter orbit, not knowing if she can. It’s the story of wondering whether I could give up the addictive elixir of fame and then go back, wondering if it’s possible to sip instead of slug. It’s a story about so much - how Barbara Walters started out as a sort of mother, and me a child willing to obey, and where we finally ended up, months later - after all the Trump dump and divisive ways of the world we are in, we have still, and nevertheless, at the very end, we have found a way to talk. We found, I have to hope, a friendship that, like any other friendship, is both compromised and connected.
posted by stacymichele at 2:06 PM
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