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Hardcover
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always brutally honest, this is Rosie O'Donnell's surprising account of the pain, regret, and euphoria involved in withdrawing from celebrity life--and the terrifying dangers of relapsing into the spotlight.
CELEBRITY DETOX is Rosie's story of the years after she walked away from her top-rated TV show in 2002, and her reasons for going back on the air in 2006. In it, she takes you inside the world of talk show TV, speaking candidly about the conflicts and challenges she faced as cohost on ABC's The View. Along the way Rosie shows us how fame becomes addiction and explores whether or not it's possible for an addict to safely, and sanely, return to the spotlight.
Chronicling the ups and downs of "the fame game," Rosie O'Donnell illuminates not only what it's like to be a celebrity, but also what it's like to be a mother, a daughter, a leader, a friend, a sister, a wife...in short, a human being.
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| The dangers of fame |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Fame and wealth are dangerous. You get to the point where you don't even recognize yourself. Family and friends become unimportant. I have so much respect for Rosie after reading this book. She walked away from it all because she needed a break and she didn't like what was happening to her. A classy lady.
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| AWFUL |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I LOVE Rosie, but seriously, this book is awful! It's just pages and pages of random thoughts and non-cohesive ramblings. The story line is weak and I really struggled to get through it. I was hoping for funny and clever but was totally disappointed. Oh well, I'm still a fan and I guess I need to read her "Find Me" book which is suppose to be better.
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| Celebrity Detox |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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A very hard to read book. It was like she was just rambling most of the time.
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| Aptly Titled Therapy Session |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I have been a longtime fan of the talk show personality of Rosie O'Donnell, even tho' I do not agree with her personal views (let's just say I am more Elisabeth Hasselbeck than Rosie O'Donnell). As a talk show host Rosie was the perfect host because she made it okay for every day people to be intrigued with the celebrities she interviewed. After all, Rosie was into her guests as much as the audience. She was and is authentic and real, even with her extremely rough edges and all. Thus I enjoyed her autobiography CELEBRITY DETOX.
This book is more a therapy session and a detox for Rosie once more coming out of celebrity and trying to find happiness and normalcy in her life. It is all over the board and abruptly goes from one thing to the other but not in an irritating way, rather in the way I bet she lives her life. Celebrity Detox makes it clear Rosie is a damaged, hurting victim of abuse still desperately seeking salvation from her wounds but searching in places salvation can not be found--in two celebrity heros/icons Barbra Streisand and Barbara Walters both of whom were also heros of her mothers. Tho' only alluded to, it is apparent that Rosie was not only abandoned by her mother when her mother died when Rosie was 10. She was also betrayed and unprotected by her mother--3 issues that have haunted her and continue to haunt her--abandonement, betrayal and unprotection. Rosie told her mom of the abuse in the only way she could...her mom humored her to the extent of literally cutting down the tree "bad man" climbed up, but when Rosie told her it didn't work, the bad man still comes in her room at night, her mom betrayed her by calling her a liar and implying Rosie would lose her love if she didn't drop this lie. So Rosie lived on with the abuse, defending herself by breaking her own bones to obtain not only attention but "nightime weapons" with the casts. Heartbreaking for any little girl to live through.
I am not surprised that she was more devastated by Barbara Walters' betrayal than she was of Donald Trump's public annialation of her. She already thought of Donald Trump as a pathetic human being. He can only hurt her in the pocket book. She was devasted by Barbara Walters because she made Barbara her surrogate mother so much so she hoped Barbara would do everything RIGHT her mother did WRONG--i.e. protect her and definitely NOT abandon her nor betray her. By not defending her to Donald Trump and the public Ms. Walters did everything Rosie's mother did to her--left her once more alone, unprotected and open to abuse.
All said and done, CELEBRITY DETOX is a fascinating read into the life of a damaged little girl grown up and turned famous ... twice. You'll feel compassion for Rosie, disdain for Donald Trump and sympathy for Barbra Streisand and Barbara Walters who love and admire Rosie but in their own humaness can not be everything Rosie hopes they will be.
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| It's all about expectations |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I was so excited about getting this book for my vacation. I wanted something light, interesting and I was curious about the inside scoop around Rosie's time at The View. When I read all these reviews, I wasn't sure if I should bother. I went ahead and bought it anyway--I'm a daredevil! :)
I got what I wanted. There were some kibbles of information I didn't know about her co-hosts and some other celebrities. That was fun. Rosie sure tells it as she sees it. I don't accept that as the whole truth but I like hearing people's sides of the same coin. I did have some trouble relating to her love of Babs...it came off as a little sad too me how much she idolizes some people even as she's telling her readers all the reasons why celebrity is an illusion.
This was no "War and Peace" if that's what your looking for. This is no objective, weighing both sides, kind of memoir. This is Rosie talking about her life as she felt it. That to me, is interesting and I read this book in two sittings. I really enjoyed it and recommend it as long as you have properly aligned expectations!
Tiffany Christensen, author of "Sick Girl Speaks!"
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