Tell Me Everything
A Memoir
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4.5 • 242 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Washington Post best celebrity memoir of 2023
An Audible best celebrity memoir of 2023
“A timely, urgent portrait of working-class American women.”
—Gabrielle Union
In her highly anticipated memoir Tell Me Everything, Minka Kelly shares a story as powerful as it is page-turning.
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 the pages of this book, which ultimately tells a story of triumph over adversity, and how resilience and love are all we have in the end.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Remarkably raw and utterly candid, Minka Kelly’s memoir explores the effect her difficult upbringing has had on her life. The Titans actress details a childhood spent bouncing from one home to another with her addict mother, enduring abuse and mistreatment from the men who came in and out of their lives. Kelly openly discusses the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she suffered, as well as the trauma of a childhood spent in strip clubs (including a stint working at a peep show as a teenager). Fascinatingly, Kelly’s experiences also offer her a unique lens through which she can now view some of her most unfortunate Hollywood stories, like a creepy interaction with Harvey Weinstein and her toxic affair with Friday Night Lights co-star Taylor Kitsch. Ultimately, Tell Me Everything is a refreshingly honest listen about coming to terms with trauma.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Great book, helped me with my own loss
Well written, insightful, honest, and intelligent… I really enjoyed reading this. At times it made me cry tears I didn’t know I needed. A captivating read, I highly recommend it.
Way to go Minka!
Minka is so honest with her book! Great read!!
So much more…
As I read the incredible story my emotions were taken by storm in a way I was not expecting. I myself grew up in Albuquerque and went to the same highschool as Minka. Not knowing what was behind her intoxicating beauty it is truly incredible to hear her story of resilience and realness. I can relate as a daughter of a young mother in the same generation who was also heavily in the 80’s rock scene and worked as a dancer. It made me see things about myself I didn’t realize. What an eye opener!