When you think of the 2000’s what comes to mind? Flip phones, von Dutch trucker hats, and at least for me Paris Hilton. She was the it girl of the time. She was everywhere in the 2000’s so of course when she came out with her second book (her first being confessions of an heiress in 2004) I had to get it and lucky for me I had a credit to use on audible.
So to start off the book Paris first starts the book with a history lesson in the Hilton family, for those who aren’t familiar Conrad Hilton was an American businessman who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disillusioned with the “inside deals” of politics. In 1919, he purchased his first hotel, the Mobley Hotelin Cisco, Texas, for $40,000, and subsequently capitalized on the oil boom. The rooms were rented out in eight-hour shifts. He continued to buy and sell hotels, and eventually established the world’s first international hotel chain. When he died in 1979, he left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
After that little history lesson Paris talks about her childhood she is the oldest of Kathy and Richard Hilton, she talks about her grandmother and how once she started to cause trouble she was sent to her grandmothers in California. She talks about feeling isolated from her family because of living with her grandmother at the time. She also discusses how she was kicked out of multiple schools for her crazy behavior and how a teacher groomed her and she almost ran away with him. She talks at length about the alternative school her parents sent her to where during the night two men kidnapped her and took her to Utah and she spent her teen years there, she describes being stripped searched and abused physically and mentally at this program. Paris details her many attempts at running away from the program and how she could never trust her family because they would always send her back no matter how much pleading she did.
After she finally left the treatment programs she discusses the simple life a short lived reality tv show with best friend Nichole Ritchie. She talks about how she believes had the sex tape never been released at the same time the show would have been more successful. And yes she talks about the sex tape that was released as a result of a jilted lover.
Personally I loved this book immensely happy that Paris was able to pull out of her wild girl party years and become a successful brand and have the life she wanted she has two beautiful children and a happy marriage and in the end isn’t that what everyone wants?
Britney’s book starts off the same as Jamie Lynn’s she speaks of her parents families and her fathers drinking. That’s one thing both books can agree on her father was a drunk. Britney speaks on her relationship with her brother Brian whom she says she was very close with. She speaks of her close with her relationship with her mother and the effect her fathers drinking had on her mother and on herself. She talks about her early years of talent shows and auditioning for Mickey Mouse club the first time and not making the cut. She was an understudy in an off Broadway show and speaks of the years living in New York. then she auditioned a second time for Mickey Mouse club and in the mean time she played basketball. She shared a dressing room with Christina aguilera. She talks about a family member passing away and not having the money to go home and Justine Timberlake’s mother loaned them the money to go home. She speaks of drinking with her mom when she was 12, but how it was “different” then when her dad drank.
She later talks about auditioning for Jive records and how she wasn’t nervous but probably should have been. She was 15 when she signed a record deal. She spoke about meeting max Martin for the first time. she spoke about going to Sweden to record and how she basically lived in the studio booth. Did you know Britney came up with the video of her first single? The original video was suppose to be futuristic and space themed. She spoke about meeting back up with Justine and how madly in love she was in with him. She talked about running into celebrities in the early years like Steven Tyler, Madonna and Mariah Carey. Around that time she started to take Prozac. She talks about the VMA’s and performing I’m a slave for you with the snake and how terrified she was. She speaks about Crossroads the movie she did in 2001,She criticized herself for taking the role to seriously. She even auditioned for the Notebook but was glad in the end she didn’t get the role. She was approached to do Chicago, she criticized herself again for not doing it and not taking more risks at that time with her career. Soon she talks about Justine and how he cheated on her. She confesses she cheated on him with her choreographer wade Robinson. She discusses getting pregnant with Justin’s baby and having an abortion, she leaves very little to the imagination when she talks about the abortion. She talks about the devastation of Justine breaking up with her via text message. Unlike Jamie Lynn’s book Britney threw Jamie Lynn under a bus talking about going home after the breakup and how she was a bitch and ungrateful for everything Britney had done for the family. She talks about cry me a river coming out and the shame she felt and the double standard of women cheating on men was seen as one way but men who cheated on women was celebrated. She talks about not feeling shame for Justine talking about their sexual relationship. She talks about setting eyes on Colin Farrell, and the whirlwind romance. She discussed at length the influence Madonna had on her.
She talks about the Diane Sawyer and how humiliating it was. She talks about going to Vegas and hanging out with Paris Hilton and innocently just having. She talks about getting married at the little white chapel again the words innocent fun was thrown around, that marriage last 55 hours. Later in the book she talks about meeting Kevin Federline, she talks about needing to live up to expectations of the world but not needing those expectations with Kevin. She discusses finding out he had kids with an ex girlfriend. she proposed and he said no then proposed to her. She talks about hating the Femme Fatale tour literally everything about it. She marries Kevin and at this time she learns to say “no” she fired her management team and was excited to start a family. She talks about yelling at an actress who her sister claims was causing issues on the set of zoey 101 both books mention the incident, draw your own conclusions. She talks about the early years of being a mom to Sean Preston and pregnant with her second son and the trauma of being in the public eye with children. She talks about how money and fame went to Kevin’s head. She admits to having prenatal depression. She talks about Gimme More and how tacky it was and she wasn’t proud of it. She talks about the rush of making the blackout album and how proud she was of the work of that album. She talks about how Paris Hilton was there for her when she divorced Kevin. She admits other then alcohol adderall was the only drug she was into. She talks about the infamous night with Paris and Lindsay. She admits from suffering from postpartum depression. She talks about Kevin keeping the boys from her and after weeks she went to his house to see the boys, later that day she went to a salon and shaved her head she says it was her way of saying fuck you to the world. Overall listening to her words about the invasiveness of the press makes me feel for Britney they feel like they had a right to her and that she doesn’t deserve privacy. She talks about entering rehab even tho she claims she didn’t have a substance problem. She also talks about the infamous VMA performance promoting blackout album where she ran into Justin before the show, and sobbed in the dressing room afterwards. She talks about the conservatorship where she had two conservatorships one of the person (Britney) and one over her estate. She learned her dad owned thousands of dollars in debt at the time. She talks about her mother writing a book about her crazy ass family, and her mother profited off her name and image. She talks about being considered to sick to make choices for herself but healthy enough to make an album and promote it. She talks about not having it in her to fight back against her family anymore. She claims she played by the rules simply for her kids. Her father literally became a millionaire with Britney under a conservatorship. She talks about the Vegas residency and how the guy she was seeing got her into supplements and her dad didn’t like that so he sent her to rehab. She talks about the control he had over her body and how over the years people felt like they had some kinda right to her body.
After her Vegas show ended her dad had a cognitive test done that her dad said she failed. She was forced into a hospital program. Her kids where a pawn in her dad’s scheme to control her if she didn’t do what she was told she wasn’t allowed to see her kids, also she was put on lithium. she was at the treatment center for two months, then she was moved to another facility run by the same people, it was there at the hospital she learned of the free Britney movement. She talks about calling 911 to report conservatorship abuse on her father.
So there you have it both Spears books in review and their views on somewhat similar situations. I honestly have a lot to digest I’m still a fan of both Britney and Jamie Lynn, I don’t blame Jamie Lynn for the situation with Britney because I believe she was scared of her father and felt she had to play nice with her father to not end up in the same situation as her sister. I blame a lot of the turmoil on their parents specifically her father.
So aside from my love of books and my love of Disney my other love is music. I recently acquired my parents vinyl collections and started adding to it. I have everything from Jimmie Hendrix to The Sound Of Music soundtrack. One of my fondest memories is of my mom cleaning while listening to records when I was a kid.
One of my moms favorite artist and mine is Sir Elton John so we were both thrilled when he wrote a book. Naturally she purchased a physical copy and I got the audible version. The audible version is read by actor Taron Egerton who played Sir Elton John in the movie Rocket Man. I’m also a fan of his work so I was pleased he was doing it.
Sir Elton John talks about his early years of going to clubs to play shows, getting a job to support his spending habit even at a young age, he talks about hiding from Andy Warhol with John Lennon while on cocaine binge. He also talks about being rapper Eminem’s AA sponsor. Over all this book is exactly what I expected from the great Sir Elton John I laughed I cried and everything in between I wish I could read it for the first time all over again.
Introverted Little BookWorm 