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Title details for Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi - Available

Unbearable Lightness

A Story of Loss and Gain

by Portia de Rossi
Portia de Rossi
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
"An unusually fresh and engrossing memoir of both Hollywood and modern womanhood." —Los Angeles Times

In this searing, unflinchingly honest memoir, actress Portia de Rossi shares the truth of her long battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia while living in the public eye, and details the new happiness and health she has found in recent years—including her coming out and her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres.
In this groundbreaking memoir, Portia de Rossi reveals the pain and illness that haunted her for decades, from the time she was a twelve-year-old girl working as a model in Australia, through her early rise to fame as a cast member of the hit television show Ally McBeal. All the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, putting her life in danger and concealing from herself and everyone around her the seriousness of her illness.

She describes the elaborate rituals around food that came to dominate hours of every day and explores the pivotal moments of her childhood that set her on the road to illness. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner, ever more in control of her body and the number of calories she consumed and spent.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love and marrying Ellen DeGeneres and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women's health issues. In this remarkable, landmark book, she has given the world a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 1, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781442336407
      • File size: 268001 KB
      • Duration: 09:18:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      While women who are coming to terms with being lesbian or having eating issues will connect in a special way with this memoir, de Rossi's account of her journey from self-loathing to self-acceptance will resonate with many more listeners. Her well-written story takes listeners from her Australian childhood to her attempts at heterosexual marriage and her struggles with her acting career. Graphic accounts of her intimate relationships, eating disorder, and struggles in Hollywood are more touching than brutal. Supportive people and a good marriage with Ellen DeGeneres gradually enable her to understand the emotional basis of her symptoms. Besides the inspiration of the author's emergence from self-destruction, what lingers at the story's end is the authentic sound of her beautiful speaking voice. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 7, 2011
      De Rossi, star of such television shows as Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, reads her memoir of life in the spotlight and closet, her struggles to conceal her homosexuality and eating disorder, coping with burgeoning fame, and meeting—and marrying—Ellen DeGeneres. Her voice is girlish, slightly nasal, and clarion; she takes us through her darkest moments with astonishing frankness, allowing shame and vulnerability to creep into her voice. She seems to be confessing rather than merely reading. It's a deeply affecting performance—save for some hammy vocal characterizations. An Atria hardcover.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 25, 2010
      The author, an actor in movies and TV, (including Ally McBeal, Arrested Development, and Better Off Ted), model, and gay rights advocate, writes that "playing the role of heterosexual while fantasizing about being a homosexual had been my reality since I was a child." It's one she played into her 20s, when she was for three years married to a man. Now, she is married to Ellen DeGeneres, whom she met in 2001 after recovering from anorexia and bulimia. De Rossi nicely chronicles the years in between, during which she starved herself to 80 pounds. She artfully draws the reader into the tension of a life lived in secrecy: did anybody notice she lunges rather than walks, the better to burn calories? will anyone guess she is gay? when she nearly fainted, was anyone around? While some details could be viewed as anorexia how-tos, they make it possible to comprehend the twisted logic of de Rossi's frantic daily pursuits, and grasp the enormity of her achievement in overcoming her problems. The path de Rossi took to her happy ending is well worth reading about: her story is a cautionary tale, an inspiration, and a triumph.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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