by Chrissy Metz
First published 2018
Chrissy Metz opens her life story with brutal honesty about growing up in a large, unstable family constantly on the move. Her father vanished without warning, leaving her mother to juggle low-paying jobs while the children faced hunger and utility shutoffs. When her mother remarried, Metz hoped for stability but encountered a different kind of suffering designed specifically to break her spirit. Romantic relationships brought attention with painful conditions attached, teaching her that love always came with a price. Moving to Los Angeles alone marked her first time away from Florida and family, yet auditions remained scarce for years. Metz reveals how someone facing such overwhelming obstacles learned to radiate genuine joy and beauty. She alternates personal chapters with practical guidance sections called "Bee Mindful," offering concrete tools like gratitude exercises and relationship honesty practices. Her approach mirrors the authenticity she brings to playing Kate Pearson on the hit NBC series This Is Us. Rather than delivering a typical celebrity memoir, Metz provides actionable wisdom gained through both failures and victories, encouraging readers to claim their space in a hostile world and pursue their authentic dreams.
Genres: family-life, autobiography, contemporary, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: overcoming-adversity, personal-journey
Setting: Florida, Los Angeles
Period: 21st-century
308 pages · Hardcover · Dey Street Books
Content warnings: abuse, addiction, depression, mental-illness