This program is read by the author.
"Kelly is so piercingly honest, you just want to reach out and give her a hug...It's totally gripping: I couldn't take my earbuds out." —Vulture
"Kelly reads the book with grace, even when she gets to the tough moments, and you'll walk away afterward with your jaw on the floor." —Shondaland
"A timely, urgent portrait of working-class American women."
—Gabrielle Union
Minka Kelly takes listeners behind the shiny silver-screen facade and reveals just how good an actress she really is.
Fans know her as the spoiled, rich cheerleader Lyla Garrity on Friday Night Lights or as the affluent, mysterious Samantha on the HBO megahit Euphoria. But as revealed for the first time in these pages, Minka Kelly's life has been anything but easy.
Raised by a single mother who worked as a stripper and struggled with addiction, Minka spent years waking up in strange apartments as she and her mom bounced around the country, relying on friends and relatives to take them in. At times they even lived in storage units. She reconnected with her father, Aerosmith's Rick Dufay, and eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she landed the role of a lifetime on Friday Night Lights.
Now an established actress and philanthropist, Minka takes this next step in her career as a writer. She has poured her soul into this audiobook, which ultimately tells a story of triumph over adversity, and how resilience and love are all we have in the end.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 2, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250901088
- File size: 249922 KB
- Duration: 08:40:40
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from March 20, 2023
Actor Kelly recalls her far-from-privileged upbringing and reflects on the skills that helped her survive it in this heart-stopping debut. In nonlinear vignettes, Kelly recounts her chaotic childhood as the daughter of an addict—which she paints in stark contrast to her breakout role as pampered Friday Night Lights cheerleader Lyla Garrity—and recalls her intense longing “to have a regular mom who did regular things.” She bounced from one stranger’s home to another, stayed in storage units, and endured ruthless bullying, eventually working in a peep show as a teenager to earn enough money for her first apartment. Resisting pressure to undergo cosmetic surgery for the sake of her budding entertainment career, Kelly instead trained as a surgical nurse, resolving that “my career as an actress can vanish tomorrow, but no one will ever be able to take away from me what I can do with my mind and my hands.” She also details moving reunions as an adult with her father, Aerosmith guitarist Rick Duffay, and her mother, with whom she made peace before she died of cancer. Despite sometimes horrific obstacles, Kelly resists painting herself as a victim, instead suffusing her story with gratitude and humility. It’s an immensely moving story of one woman’s unconquerable spirit.
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