Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Mean Baby by Selma Blair - Available

Mean Baby

A Memoir of Growing Up

by Selma Blair
Selma Blair
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Selma Blair has played many roles: Ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best as … a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.             
 
"Blair is a rebel, an artist, and it turns out: a writer." —Glennon Doyle, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Untamed and Founder of Together Rising
The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.
 
Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.
 
Over the course of this beautiful and, at times, devasting memoir, Selma lays bare her addiction to alcohol, her devotion to her brilliant and complicated mother, and the moments she flirted with death. There is brutal violence, passionate love, true friendship, the gift of motherhood, and, finally, the surprising salvation of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.
 
In a voice that is powerfully original, fiercely intelligent, and full of hard-won wisdom, Selma Blair’s Mean Baby is a deeply human memoir and a true literary achievement. 

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 17, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593591604
      • File size: 280000 KB
      • Duration: 09:43:19

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Actor Selma Blair recounts the story of her life, starting with her childhood struggles and continuing through her present challenges as a mother who has multiple sclerosis. Sounding vulnerable and authentic, Blair also shares her highs and lows with humor and wisdom. She powerfully expresses an array of emotions from moments of bliss to immense anguish, showing a total commitment to telling her story. Blair has an upbeat and loving quality when speaking of her happy memories and a heartbreakingly sad tone as she candidly shares difficult revolutionary moments that guided her to her true self. Compelling and inspirational, Blair pours out her experiences with sexual assault, excessive drinking, relationships, motherhood, and coping with a debilitating disease. D.Z. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 6, 2022
      Actor Blair revisits in this bold and candid debut her odyssey through addiction, trauma, and illness. Born in 1972 in Detroit, Blair was labeled as a “mean baby” for the “judgemental, scrutinizing” look she perpetually wore. As she reveals, this pained expression would seemingly foretell the fraught childhood and adolescence to come—from binge drinking throughout her youth to escape hurtful put-downs from her mother (“How can you be so beautiful from one angle and so ugly full face?”) to suffering depressive episodes after being sexually assaulted in ninth grade by her school’s dean. Later, after a suicide attempt in college, she was raped during a spring break weekend. Blair’s recollections are harrowing, but they affectingly set the stage for a story of triumphing over one’s afflictions as she chronicles her path to becoming an actor. After months of struggle in her early 20s, Blair landed an agent and went on to star in Cruel Intentions (1999) and Legally Blonde (2001) before having her first child and, years later, receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2018. Nevertheless, Blair, in her typical fashion, finds a way to transform her burden into an opportunity, sharing her experience of living with MS with astounding candor and grace. This compassionate and intelligent work will leave fans floored.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading