“I just assumed that at the time if I could display a talent worthy of praise. . . that I wasn’t just who you thought I was, I thought I wouldn’t be fat anymore. That may seem silly, I know that now. But at the time, I thought that if I could just get the world to see me the way I saw myself, that my body wouldn’t be the thing you walked away thinking about. I wouldn’t be that fat girl, I wouldn’t be that dark skinned girl. I’d be Gabby I’d be human”
I love Gabourey Sidibe. I watched her on The Big C and the first season of Empire (before it got a bit too batshit insane for me- and I still watch Scandal) and, to my husband’s annoyance, I love the terrible Tower Heist movie she was in a few years ago. Mostly though, through social media and TV interviews, I just love her personality- she played Hitler on Jimmy Kimmel, you can’t tell me she doesn’t have a killer sense of humor! Of course, most people know her for her Academy Award nominated debut role in Precious.
Gabourey had a very unusual and difficult childhood. Her parents had a green card marriage and her father, a strict Muslim from Senegal, brought home a second wife when Gabby was young that eventually ended his marriage to Gabby’s mother. Gabby, her older brother, and their mother moved into a bedroom in a relative’s house for years before eventually moving in to a one bedroom apartment they shared until Gabby moved out when she was 25!
This is a very funny memoir but it’s not all laughs. Her father was abusive and manipulative when she was growing up. She had to drop out of college because she was suffering from depression and her grades took a hit. She needed to get a job so naturally she became a phone sex operator. Her story about overhearing Precious director Lee Daniels and Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley discuss her weight (calling her a fat bitch) was heartbreaking. When she was promoting Precious she had no stylist or money; she often felt out of place wearing bargain clothes next to Mariah Carey on red carpets but persevered. Gabourey manages to make her childhood and early fame hardships entertaining and funny; her self-deprecating sense of humor and ability to make social commentary through her jokes keeps what could be a difficult story light and hilarious.
After struggling financially for years Gabourey is in a comfortable position but she is honest about her fears that her success has handicap her family. It sounds like they’re always hitting her up for money. She admits she pays her parents’ rents before her own and sometimes, instead of her own.
Do you like smart, funny women? I can’t recommend this one enough!
I just listened to Death, Sex, and Money, a WNYC/NPR podcast which features Sidibe on its latest episode. I wasn’t really in a rush to listen to it but your review made me interested. You are right: She has a great personality. I’m very likely going to buy her memoir as a result. Thanks for the review.
I’ve seen this book around but I wasn’t going to read it until this review, so thanks!