Never Say Never
Finding a Life That Fits
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3.8 • 29 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the beloved teen star, talk-show host, and media personality Ricki Lake, an uplifting and revelatory memoir about learning to reinvent yourself at any age.
Ricki Lake’s life has been a series of rebirths—from fat to skinny, married to divorced, rich to poor, and more. With her signature candid and humorous voice, Ricki shows us how her unique life in the spotlight offers wisdom to anyone who has ever struggled in her own skin.
She takes us behind the scenes of her troubled childhood—filled with food issues, abuse, and an unabashed yearning for a better life outside her suburban home. She pulls back the curtain on her talk show and her early days as a “fat actress,” and she shows how she reinvented herself as an author, filmmaker, and much beloved finalist on Dancing with the Stars. Ricki weathered near bankruptcy and an extremely difficult divorce, but, as she writes, life always hands you the unexpected—so you should never say never. By trusting her gut and following her heart, Ricki Lake turned an unconventional life into a “triumphant journey” (Kirkus Reviews), and this memoir stands as a hopeful, hilarious, and honest exploration of how any woman can do the same.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reminiscent of her eponymous talk show, Lake gossips about her accomplishments and failures using her weight as the through line. After a trusted handyman sexually abuses her at age seven, she turned to food to become "invisible." Her parents callously glossed over the problem, and she ate her way to 200-plus pounds while studying theater. Lake abandoned college when director John Waters sought "a fat girl who can really dance." Neatly landing the part of Tracy Turnblad, she cheerfully recalls her days filming Hairspray, learning life lessons from cult actor Divine. Emerging stars like Sarah Jessica Parker, Christian Slater, and Johnny Depp decorated the early Hollywood days while Lake's weight issues convey more authenticity: "Some days I thought I was attractive; other days, I knew I was disgusting." As job offers dried up, she dieted and got a breast reduction. One-hundred pounds lighter, 23-year-old Lake got her own show that ran for 11 seasons. Instead of dissecting its cultural relevance, Lake concentrates on love and sex. Her passion for her birth documentary, The Business of Being Born, switched her focus to feminism for a beat but soon she was back to body issues as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Minus much scoop, Lake gives a glimpse into what makes this self-proclaimed alpha-woman tick.
