Every week on The Today Show Kathie Lee Gifford loudly wails that 'Everyone Has A Story'. This of course is true. You, I, everyone who makes it past the age of 20 or so has a past. Many of our stories are filled with not just joy and laughter but sadness and sometimes even horrific pain. I have written before that I believe stories from our childhood and youth usually follow us into adulthood. I know from personal experience, whether we like it or not...they help shape it. Even if we don't see or understand it, our responses to such basic parts of being an adult, love, intimacy and how we relate to others is often connected to childhood experiences, some we may not even remember (Take note Charlie Sheen, some, if not all, of your children are going to have warped adult relationships and confusion about sex...YOU can count on it!)
The question we must ask ourselves is how many of these 'stories' really need to be told. The Internet, especially sites like Facebook and Twitter (and blogger...) create an atmosphere where everything we do each day can be written about as if it has some sort of importance beyond what it really is. I like Rob Lowe, I enjoyed reading the article about him in Vanity Fair and seeing a few clips of his time on Oprah. But...is Rob Lowe's life thus far really worthy of an autobiography? A story in Vanity Fair or People magazine sure, but an entire book....
It seemed to be at one time autobiography's and biography's were reserved for the exceptional. They chronicled the long lives of extraordinary people. Do Valerie Bertinelli's weight loss and Snooki's love life really warrant the destruction of our forests. You know most of these books are going to end up in land fill sites. Some of these stories might be interesting but most of these lives have not been lived long enough to truly be worth documenting as history.
I worry many of these 'celebrities' also embellish to sell a book and make a buck. I know many disagreed when I posted about Meredith Baxter's book last month. Her publisher obviously felt her career and late in life lesbianism declaration was not a big enough 'hook'. Therefore it seemed...sordid and possibly exaggerated details of her 'abusive' marriage were included. True or not, they certainly made dramatic sound bites for her countless talk show appearances. The same thing is happening this week with Kara Dioguardi (yeah..I know...who?). As talented a song writer as she may be, in no way is she interesting enough, or famous enough to warrant a book. Yet she is on television selling one this week. Those interviewing her care little about her talent, but her detailed account of date rape makes for great commercial teasers...
So many celebrities 'claim' that if their story can just help one person the pain and process of writing the book would all be worth it. Bullshit! Few are helped by these books. There are only a handful that I can think of that had any real meaning. Suzanne Somers first book certainly did great things for the families of alcoholics. One reason it accomplished this was because when it came out few celebrities were sharing with her candor, especially about the subject of living with an alcoholic.
Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn (below), Paul Newman. These celebrities have had long careers, award winning motion pictures, interesting personal drama and lives that weaved through many interesting decades and times. They were exceptional. Most of the people on the covers of today's celebrity biography's are not. Hundreds of years from now (maybe much less) members of the human race will be laughing looking back at the fact that in January 2011 someone named Snooki had a book that made the extended New York Times Best Seller list. We will be mocked and mocked hard!
