What do celebrity memoirs tell us about secrets?

There is something clearly painful about the book based on the memoirs of the famous American singer Britney Spears.

Ahead of last week’s publication of The Woman in Me, the singer’s complicated feelings about a miscarriage after becoming pregnant by Justin Timberlake, the agony of being separated from her two sons, and the excruciating pain she experienced while shaving her hair. And many made international headlines.

One thing remains clear: This may be a celebrity memoir, but we’re not here for light-hearted speculation about celebrities.

Britney Spears is finally ready and able to talk freely and in detail about her past.

The tidbits from his book are more like a thriller: for years we didn’t fully understand what was going on in his life, even though it was clear that things weren’t quite right and now finally. We have known.

We can look back on the moments in Britney Spears’ life, which we experienced through the distant and distorting lens of tabloid headlines, and get a complete picture of what she was going through. Can make a picture. And this picture? Readers, it is completely dark. And it’s human too.

What made this timing so perfect? For Britney, the end of conservatism governing her personal life and money until November 2021 is likely what enabled her to share her story.

But Britney is one of a number of celebrities who have successfully published memoirs over the past few years.

Janet McCurdy’s I am Glad My Mom Died has just spent 60 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Elite Page’s Pageboy was one of the big releases of the summer, spending 12 weeks on the same list.

Pamela Anderson, Kerry Washington, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have all published memoirs in recent days — and revelations about Pinkett Smith’s marriage (they’ve been separated for seven years, long before the Oscar slap). ) dominated tabloid headlines.

And of course Prince Harry’s Spear became the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time (according to Guinness World Records) in January.

We should not live in a golden age of celebrity memes. Celebrities can connect directly with fans on social media if they want and share their thoughts live at all hours of the day.

Or they may share those same thoughts with journalists who (I can attest from personal experience) are all too eager to profile them.

And yet here we are. Memoirs of celebrities are selling, they are being read, people are not satisfied. There’s even a podcast devoted entirely to the genre.

These books have one thing in common: they go deep. McCurdy’s memoir chronicles a poignant search for fame at a young age (and, as its title suggests, painful family repercussions).

Page has documented her journey as a queer trans person and her experiences of mistreatment in Hollywood in her memoir.

Anderson wrote about her experiences of trauma and sexual and physical assault.

Washington wrote about finding out that his parents had used a sperm donor to get him—a fact that was kept from him until he appeared on the PBS show Finding Your Roots. I did not agree to come.

Will Smith saw his father beating his mother as a child. Jada Pinkett-Smith revealed in her book two years later that she and her husband broke up in 2016 but had decided not to divorce.

Time and again, books have proven themselves to be the perfect repository for secrets or personal experiences that could not otherwise be expressed.

There is room in a book to talk openly about anxiety and let someone’s voice be heard. There’s more value on her page than on social media — and the interaction with readers is somewhat less brusque and more authentic.

Even when an absent author (another writer) participates, the subject of the memoir usually has control over what it ultimately becomes and how it is presented.

JR Mohringer, the ghostwriter who worked on Prince Harry’s spire, described his work in an article for the New Yorker as a lively collaboration – not without controversy but in which Harry’s perspective Ultimately prevailed.

Mohringer described himself as a ‘tiring nuisance’ during one of several such exchanges, in which he tried to convince Harry to omit a particular line.

Even after Mohringer understood why Harry wanted to include it, he was not in favor of it because he thought it would not benefit the book.

The line, as Mohringer saw it, was about Harry himself, but he wrote, ‘It sounds strange, the memory is not about you. It’s not even the story of your life. This is a story drawn from your life, a particular series of events chosen because they have the most relevance for the widest range of people. (Ultimately Mohringer won this particular battle, but only once he had Harry’s consent.)

Even while eschewing a ghostwriter himself, memoirs keep their important role in the driving seat.

Some stories can only be told within this kind of controlled environment, with the assurance that someone will have the final say.

There’s a special connection between books and secrets – a connection that can’t be replicated anywhere else, so as long as that’s the case, I (and many others) will continue to read it.