First published 2016
Cookie Johnson opens her life to readers in this personal account of nearly four decades married to basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson. She begins with November 7, 1991, the day her husband shocked the world by announcing he was HIV-positive. Cookie was pregnant and newly married when the diagnosis turned their joy into fear. She worried her husband might die, that she and her unborn child could be infected, and that society would reject their family. The memoir traces her emotional path from that pivotal moment through years of uncertainty, marital struggles, and eventual healing. Cookie examines the reasons she chose to stay in the marriage despite the challenges. She draws on her faith as she navigates motherhood, public scrutiny, and the complex dynamics of loving someone whose actions put their family at risk. Twenty-five years after the announcement that changed everything, Cookie reflects on survival, forgiveness, and finding unexpected strength as a wife, mother, and believer.
Genres: family-life, contemporary, biography-memoir, christian-living
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: faith-and-belief, overcoming-adversity, survival
Period: 1991
272 pages · Hardcover · Howard Books