From Paris Hilton to Julia Fox: The rise of celebrity memoirs and their shocking revelations

Of late, the world of celebrity memoirs has witnessed a remarkable surge in popularity as international stars have chosen to share their deepest and most personal secrets with the public. The trend has gained significant momentum, with renowned figures like Paris Hilton ready to see her memoir turned into a TV adaptation and Britney Spears eagerly anticipating the release of her memoir The Woman in Me. We look at the most recent examples where revelations by celebrities left people shocked and asking for more details.

Jada Pinkett Smith's Worthy

In her memoir titled Worthy, Jada Pinkett Smith opens up about her personal struggles with hopelessness and depression, which led her to contemplate suicide in 2012. She candidly shares her experiences of hitting rock bottom, including setting up a shop in a woman's apartment and selling drugs out of a first-floor window, life-changing after the infamous slap at Oscars 2022. But out of these, the one revelation that caught a lot of eyeballs was the fact that she and Will Smith have been separated and living apart for seven years. After nearly 20 years of marriage, Pinkett Smith writes that she was in a "chronic state of discontent" and that her relationship with Smith had reached the point of "irreconcilable differences" in 2016. "It was nobody's fault. As much as I wanted him to love me, that would never happen if I didn't love myself. And the same applied to him. Will and I had pictures in our mind of what a happily married couple was. And our pictures didn't match." Rather than divorce, they decided to "separate in every way except legally."

Julia Fox's Down the Drain

Julia Fox made headlines for her searing memoir Down the Drain which includes her smoking weed since the age of 11. When she begins using heroin shortly after, her overdoses started to happen more frequently. In the book, which was released on October 10, Fox also wrote how as a teen, she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and was also a suspect of bipolar disorder. "I can usually tell within the first few seconds of opening my eyes what my day is going to be like, and I'm completely powerless to it. It's paralyzing and it's only getting worse," she wrote. Fox goes on to write details of her relationship with Kanye West and how the rapper asked her to be his girlfriend "just a day after meeting". She writes that she felt "vulnerable and exposed" by the public attention and refers to West as a "master gaslighter." Fox also recounted that Ye promised her that he would get her a "million-dollar deal" connecting her to an Italian denim company. After they broke up, however, the deal fell through. "'It's contingent on you being his girlfriend,' I'm informed," Fox writes.

Paris Hilton's Paris: The Memoir

In her memoir Paris: The memoir, Paris Hilton reveals private details regarding the sex tape with Rick Salomon, whom she refers to as 'Scum' in the book released in March. Hilton shared about being pressured to record the tape in 1994 despite persistently "making excuses". "He told me if I wouldn't do it, he could easily find someone who would, and that was the worst thing I could think of – to be dumped by this grown man because I was a stupid kid who didn't know how to play grown-up games, I felt like my life was over, and in many ways it was." The tape would come back to haunt Hilton a few years later when a 37-second clip of the video began circulating online. "I felt like my life was over, and in many ways it was. Certainly, the career I had envisioned was no longer possible. Everything I wanted my brand to be, the trust and respect I was trying to rebuild with my parents, the sliver of self-worth I'd been able to recover – all that was instantly in ruins," she wrote in the book, which was released in March this year.

Kerry Washington's Thicker Than Water

In her memoir Thicker Than Water, which was released in September 2023, Kerry Washington opens up about feeling anxious around her parents' expectations. "One of the consequences of growing up in a household with half-truths is that there is no space for trust to thrive," she wrote, and goes on to share how she experienced crippling anxiety and panic attacks. She wrote, "At some point we have to accept that our parents do the best they can and then we have to fill in the gap by parenting ourselves and being the adults we want to be. I always knew how much they loved me." Also detailing abuse, she talks about how as a child, she knew something had happened to her at a sleepover, but she wasn't sure. She pieced clues together over a series of other sleepovers and realized that a boy who was new to her friend circle had been inappropriately touching her while she slept. Another candid story came from her memoir as Washington opened up about her decision to share a past abortion experience.

Patrick Stewart's Making It So: A memoir

Patrick Stewart's book has been the least controversial recollection of stories but he said in an interview earlier that "it's the frankest I have been about my life, my passions, my relationship." Born and raised in Yorkshire, Stewart experienced a challenging upbringing in a poor family. His father's struggles with post-war trauma had a profound impact on their household. The book also explores Stewart's rise to Hollywood stardom and his difficulties in adjusting to his first major television role on Star Trek: The Next Generation. "My experiences at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre had been intense and serious … On the 'TNG' set, I grew angry with the conduct of my peers, and that's when I called that meeting in which I lectured the cast for goofing off. In retrospect, everyone, me included, finds this story hilarious. But in the moment, when the cast erupted in hysterics at my pompous declaration, I didn't handle it well. I didn't enjoy being laughed at. I stormed off the set and into my trailer, slamming the door," he shared in the book released on October 3.