Celebrity Memoirs: Tell Me the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Celebrity memoirs — those perennial bestsellers and money-makers — are having a big moment right now in pop culture. Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is understandably back near the top of the bestseller list; Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me sold over a million copies in its first week; and Barbra Streisand’s My Name Is Barbra (in stores today) is getting attention for approaching the 1,000-page mark.

I haven’t read any of these. In fact, I’ve read very few celebrity memoirs. Stanley Tucci’s Taste was great, as was Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime. Tina Fey’s Bossypants was good (I don’t remember it much, to be honest) and Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights was a bit overrated in my opinion.

Overall, though, I don’t trust the genre as a whole. In the majority of cases, it’s just another way to make an easy buck (especially because most are using ghostwriters).

But, I’d love your thoughts! What are the celeb memoirs that are actually worth reading? What are your favorites? Which should I avoid? Let’s hear it in the comments.