The Real Girl Next Door by Denise Richards

Light and breezy, well written and easy to read with numerous dark turns this is Denise`s story from a delightful childhood to modelling, acting and marrying Charlie Sheen.
Denise`s life certainly didn`t take the path she imagined into happy ever after, Charlie turned out not to be a Prince after all and took Denise on an unimaginable ride through drink, drugs and prostitutes galore, the good side if there was one was that she was living in reasonable style and her hard work had given her some financial security and she had a good head on her shoulders. Denise`s life obviously then has not been a bed of roses, the early death of her mother was a dreadful blow and she has had big messes to clean up, while raising her 2 daughters by Charlie and now her newly adopted daughter.
This was a good read better than I in fact expected and very humorous in parts, I came away with great deal of respect for Denise and the way she has handled the good, the bad and the Charlie in her life! Well done, worth a read.

Dear Cary, My Life with Cary Grant by Dyan Cannon

This is the year for memories of Cary Grant to float to the surface, only a few months ago his only daughter Jennifer published her rather mawkish memories of her adoring and devoted father. It is now the turn of Grants 3rd wife, Actress and Director Dyan (Diane) Cannon to write her rather searing version of life with the gentlemen who was considered one of old time Hollywoods most suave and debonair leading men.
A very young Dyan met Grant when he was 58 after he actively made overtures via friends and contacts, thinking that he wanted to discuss a film role Cannon eventually gave in and they met, a resulting relationship evolved. A relationship characterised by romantic gestures, generosity sprinkled with increasing ingenuity by  Grant who took to calling the rather immature and naive Dyan...Silly Girl or Dear Girl, from contrasting backgrounds Grant had a dysfunctional family to say the least and Cannon a stable middle class if religiously diverse family. To all appearances their wants and needs appeared to be aligned but Grant increased the mind games, the unexplained absences and the continuous fault finding while making Cannon into his ideal and then crushing even that when feeling challenged and or remorse. He made it clear that marriage was not on his agenda while Cannon equally made it clear that it was on hers as was a family.
The high life was certainly overwhelming to Cannon but it appears she maintained a balance until Grant revealed his real plans for her, she was to find herself as he had through LSD, it took alot of persuasion but after many months Cannon relented and set herself on a path that was to bring devastating consequences but long after she shucked Sauvi boy she found herself and without the drugs. Along with the LSD came uppers, downers, coldness, silence, rages, withdrawal (emotionally and physically) a meanness that was unbelievable. Dyan had a dog named Bangs who she had had for a while, after giving birth to Jennifer (Grants only child) she arrived home to find that Cary had given away Bangs and that was that. His control was absolute, he told her concerned father she was under his juristicion and that was the end of any intervention by her family, he controlled her body, mind and soul and he was unrelenting.
Divorce followed and Cannon has gone on to make a real success of her life, a Hollywood Power broker with a resume that dazzles. Grant remarried and died at 82. For Jennifers sake they maintained a civil relationship and by all accounts the married and now a mother herself Jennifer has grown into a lovely woman, as a father Grant appears to have done good.
One walks a way from this book after reading Dyans letter of forgiveness to Cary with a wonderment at her spirit of generosity towards this man who frankly was horrible, mean spirited, nasty and morally wanting, his own dreadful relationship with his parents was no excuse for his behaviour which included pushing a very dangerous drug on his young wife even when she was carrying their child. How deluded is that.

Jane Fonda..The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth

Patricia Bosworths massive biography of Jane Fonda is a cracker from start to finish. A well known biographer Bosworth had considerable help from those who mattered while writing this book and that is aside from her long standing friendship with Fonda, remarkably Bosworth never becomes drippy over her subject and manages not to loose perspective. Born in to privilege Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda has not had an easy path to walk and quite frankly all the money, fame and love in the world did not cushion Jane from  the many difficulties that life has thrown her way. A mother lost to suicide, a father revered for his acting talents who was cold and remote, 2 alcoholic husbands(Vadim and Hayden) a bipolar 3rd husband (Ted Turner) eating disorders and body issues, huge unpopularity over the Vietnam War and her oppositional behaviour towards it and conversely great beauty, talent, wealth and acclaim, mixed in with huge media exposure and a constantly shifting life landscape. It has taken Fonda along time to find herself although after reading this book you do wonder why she found it so hard to except the wisdom of others as she travelled along, evolving as she went, yet seemingly not able to realise that all the parts were forming a whole. A sad tendency to repeat the patterns of the past, enabling alcoholic husbands and allowing infidelity by omission, a relationship with her daughter Vanessa that closely mirrored her own with her mother Frances and yet an almost unbelievable ability to move outside her circle and comfort, enfold, challenge and enable others to clean up their lives and experience success often for the first time, her contribution to society has been massive especially in the exercise field, it may have helped her to financial security but it would be hard to quantify what those Exercise books, videos etc have meant to others.She stood politically where others refused to go and was warning us of Environmental Issues long before we sat up and listened.
A very well written book, fair, even handed with a narrative that never looses the chance for a little humour, that never over lauds its subject and doesn`t posit her on a throne of unreality, warts and all its been an amazing life.  It is sad however that many will have never seen Fonda in many of her movies roles, by any measure she has been one of the two or three defining actresses of our time, hunt down the videos of Julia, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, The Morning After, Nine to Five and watch real talent at work!

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

A Hollywood and before memoir that is an easy read, very well written, fair, balanced and even handed, this is a guy with a story to tell and tell it he does.  It is not however accompanied by the usual poor me, oh how unfair it all is that often rides along with memoirs where there have been ups and downs in the Actor/Celebrity/Superstar etc life.  Instead while telling his tales less than great moments Lowe chooses to find the positive and takes a lesson from the situation and applies it as and where he needs it,equally the book is not treacly sweet or cloying.  Lowe has been in Showbiz since he was a child and is an all round talented guy best known for St Elmo`s Fire and The West Wing, he has been a teen idol but has not allowed that to bog his career down or become one dimensional, he has a huge body of work, is very involved (hands on) with political, environmental and life style/choice issues, from background research on the guy, it is obvious that he has put an awful lot back into the community that has given him so much.
This is a book with moderated gossip, it is never gratuitous (no Hillary Swank stories) but it is packed to the gills with those stories that actually you did always wish to hear, friends and foes alike, it is honest and generous and as a testimony to being able to come through the Hollywood mill half way normal, this is as good as it gets!
Loved his description of Prince Rainier of Monaco...what a tosser.

Untied by Meredith Baxter

To those of you old enough to remember Meredith was Bridget in Bridget loves Bernie, Nancy Lawrence on Family and as Elyse Keaton on Family Ties, a well respected and seemingly very happily married, wife, mother and actor.
The back story starting with her childhood is one of abandonment, rejection, dislocation and great unhappiness despite the patina of a happy Hollywood family. Her whole life runs to this pattern no matter the fame, fortune, awards, children or professional success.
The whole crux of this book his her rather narrow focus on herself, how hard done by she was, David Birney allegedly beat her, intimidated her, made her life a misery (he has issued a statement of refutment) nothing really seems to give her happiness and it would rate as one of the most joyless books I`ve ever read but equally I couldn't put it down.
She became a late life lesbian so at the end of the book there appears to be a ray of contentment but really one does have to ask...How could anyone go through life with so many blessings (and this doesn`t negate her difficult childhood) and yet not really have the ability to celebrate those things that must have been joyous for so much of your life.

Furious Love By Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

In the light of Dame Elizabeth's death this week I think it more than appropriate that I review a wonderful book that came out last year.  Subtitled Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and The Marriage of the Century, this was glorious old time Hollywood written at its best.
The writing and the narrative are just wonderful, they fairly zoom and in places you can feel the sizzle that these two engendered, it takes little to imagine why the Pope and the Vatican were so incensed with this love affair that started on the set of the multi-million dollar movie Cleopatra, many were hurt by it, both married to others at the time and Burton in particular fought valiantly to escape his passion for Elizabeth, Elizabeth not so much as she was married to Eddie Fisher! Finally the realised that to be together was all that could happened and so a relationship that was founded on passion, poetry, booze, pills, illness, expensive gifts and high living played out  until both forces were spent, divorce and then believe it or not remarriage but their demons would not allow them to live in peace and harmony and a second divorce resulted.
This book is gorgeous from its cover to its photos, to its well researched writing, the picture it paints is of lives well lived but perhaps ultimately not fulfilled.
This book will be out soon in paperback and is well worth a read.

Vanity Fair Magazine March 2011

Vanity Fairs Hollywood Issue with its expanding cover is the best magazine of any published each year, this is the 17th and with all the lovely stars gracing this cover it is a delight to savour (expensive in NZ however!) it smells glorious, which is a bonus!

Stunning portraits of this years contenders!

The Real Mel Gibson...

Hot Type.

Affairs to Remember!

Hollywood's Heavy Hitters!

Lauren Bacall is 86 and what stories she has to tell!

The amazing back story to Thelma and Louise (who would ever forget this movie and a very young Brad Pitt)

Malibus hottest hang out (a trailer park no less!)

We Three Queens...Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Irelands rather sad economic crisis...things are not looking good.

Michael Douglas answers the Proust Questionnaire...gotta love him!

Hollywood Beauty...Krigler Perfumes.

What's in a name...How do those production house get their names...I mean Dickhouse, Green Hat films, quite fascinating actually.

My Desk...The creators of South Park share their work station...the desk would send me bonkers!

Lady Gaga asks you all to buy a MAC Viva Glam lippy and help those who are affected by HIV and AIDS, please do. www.macaidsfund.org www.maccosmetics.com

Uncharted TerriTorri by Tori Spelling

I love Tori Spelling, she may be shallow and dippy to boot but she is what she is and acts accordingly, she is also Hollywood Royalty and she knows all the goss. She is also very honest and with her life that can be rather squirm inducing.

This is her third book and like its predecessors it is easy to read, lively, bouncy and basically a blow by blow account of her life in different chapters as she lives it, she is a hard worker. The cast of characters generally run through each book and so they be come like family and many have in fact replaced her biological family as relations there are up and down, up and down to say the least. A good, relaxing read, that can be very funny in places. Light and easy to read!

Go Tori!