Product Description

Television presenter Ulrika Jonsson started to write her autobiography at a very troubled time in her life. Her unborn child had been diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening heart condition, and she was facing it alone because the child's father had left her. She had a son by her first marriage to look after, and a string of failed relationships behind her. Seriously depressed, living with a constant barrage of media comment and criticism, she had lost any sense of who she was. Ulrika started to write as a way of trying to understand herself and her life. It took two years to complete.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #459336 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

The Sun, May 2003
This is one book you can't afford to miss - and it's hard to put down.

About the Author
A secretarial job for ITV boss Bruce Gyngell led to Ulrika first appearing on our screens as TV-AM's weathergirl in 1991. Her career soon soared, fronting Gladiators, maturing as a worthy sparring partner for Vic and Bob on Shooting Stars, hosting Eurovision and currently presenting the top-rating Saturday game show, Dog Eat Dog, and the family favourite Home Alone.

Customer Reviews

Honestly
Ulrika Jonsson is one of those celebrities mainly known on her own territory -- namely, the U.K. That gives American readers of her autobiography, "Honest," a chance to take her as she is, without tabloids and rumors tainting it. Unfortunately, "Honest" as she is, the portrait she paints is not flattering at all.

She was born into a troubled Swedish family that disintegrated, mainly because of her father's philandering -- a trait that she began copying when she got married. Though her husband forgave her, and they soon had a son, Ulrika dumped him in favor of a muscle-bound Gladiator.

As this was going on, Ulrika's star was rising in the world, resulting in a weathergirl job, commercials, hostings and her own show. But she was in a series of bad relationships, with a crazed footballer, a cold-hearted German, and Britain's most famous coach. Then she found that her unborn daughter Bo had a serious heart defect that might kill her.

The final eighth of the book is perhaps the most compelling -- Ulrika struggling to be a single mom, without emotional support, while her daughter is undergoing one surgery after another. Despite the lackluster prose of her biography, it's a moving story that gives the heartstrings a little tug.

Unfortunately, the decisions that led her to that problem make Ulrika look dim and selfish. She apparently believes any absurd story she's told, such as "my ex-girlfriend lives with me, but only to houseclean." And it's hard to sympathize with her string of disastrous relationships, when she dumped a sweet, tender, loving Mr. Right so she could play the field with Bad Boys. Ulrika repeatedly tries to justify her infidelity by claiming that she couldn't help it -- that it was inevitable. Uh-huh, sure.

Ulrika also has the disturbing tendency to dehumanize anyone she doesn't like -- she refers to an abusive ex as "Mr. C" for a long while, and later disdainfully refers to her lover Sven's girlfriend as "the Italian." Not her name, Nancy Dell'Olio. "The Italian," like a character from a bad gothic novel.

On the flip side, she seems to retain a bizarre adoration for her abusive ex-boyfriends, including one who kicked her in the head, and another who abandoned her with a newborn baby. Additionally, there's a near-obsession with her children. At one point, she flips out because she might have to spend a week or two away from her son.

While the story about her critically ill daughter is a winner, the rest of Ulrika's story is a string of grating affairs -- affairs that a smarter woman would have avoided. "Honest" makes Ulrika seem like a real person... but sadly, it's a shallow person with no backbone and poor taste in men.

Honest
"Honest" in my opinion, was just the right title. The author has been honest about her childhood (which, at times must have been difficult for her)and about her adult life which has at time been "colourful" for want of a bette word. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, perhaps because I am nosy about other peoples lives but also because it made me cry and laugh at the same time.

Honest...kind of
I'd always found Ulrika a tad irritating but this book changed my opinion...until she began tearing Sven's partner Nancy to shreds in the closing chapters. I mean, come on, the woman didn't asked to be dragged into the Ulrika/Sven (it was the nanny m'lord!!) circus. Have a bit of sisterly compassion, love. That said, overall the book was well written and reasonably unbiased...you have to wonder whether the author of the anon. 'LIAR' rant below is actually a rather over excited Stan the man himself...although Abi Titmuss is another strong contender