Product Description

Gail Porter's candid, yet uplifting, account of her troubled life - in her own words

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75369 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

London Lite
"Porter's candid autobiography is most touching...the upbeat attitude she has finally managed to adopt gives this charmingly personal tale a touching, life-affirming flavour."

OK Hot Stars!
"Inspiring"

Synopsis
Gail Porter burst on to our TV screens in the late 90s presenting The Movie Chart Show, Alive and Kicking and Top of the Pops. Bright, sparky and beautiful she soon attracted an entirely different audience, posing for a number of men's magazines and rapidly becoming the pin-up of the lad-mag generation. FHM, in a now famous stunt, even projected her naked form on to the Houses of Parliament. But beneath her cheery public facade, Gail was struggling with anorexia and bi-polar disorder. After nine years of extreme dieting, she collapsed and through sheer determination forced herself to begin eating properly again. Having been told she would never be able to conceive, her new healthier lifestyle led to a much desired pregnancy by her then husband, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave. But the intense pressures of juggling motherhood with her career led to crippling post-natal depression and precipitated the breakdown of her marriage.Overwhelmed by single motherhood, one day after dropping her daughter Honey off at nursery, she took an overdose and her world very publicly began to unravel.

But Gail's ability to stay afloat as her life crumbled in the public spotlight made her an icon all over again for a new audience of ordinary women who recognised her pain. She refused to hide-away as stress-induced alopecia caused her to loose her hair, famously appearing at a charity event sporting a startling pink Mohican. Her stunning features and her unwillingness to wear a wig to hide her bald head have made her a contemporary icon. But despite all her troubles, Gail remains upbeat and positive. She has become a role model for coming through it all as a good mother and a working woman unbowed. As iconic as Jordan, smart as Billie and as wild as Kerry, Gail has produced a raw, honest account of her own troubled life in the celebrity goldfish bowl.

Customer Reviews

fascinating read
Not one of the better autobiographies I have read this year
(see all my reviews).

Gail tells her life story with incredible honesty. She tells of her close relationship with her mother and her beloved daughter and her battles with coping with fame, anorexia, self harming and alopecia.

Gail does come over as abit self obsessed which surprised me as she always came over on t.v. as a really down to earth person. She always seems to destroy whatever is good in her life especially her relationships with men.

Gail includes several photos in the book which is a bonus but this book seems to lack substance.

However, the reader will sympathise totally with Gail at the distress caused by alopecia which Gail is coping with remarkably in the public eye.

I hope the author will find a more peaceful future for herself and her family in the future months.

T

Re: Hurricane Porter Autobiography
I have to agree with M Smith. Has Lee Kay had his head in the sand for the last ten years? Gail Porter has been a high profile personality for over a decade. I'm not normally one for celebrity gossip but I've sort of sporadically followed her career for a few years now and was interested to read her side of things after seeing so much written about her in the press. The autobiography deals with many poignant issues in her life such as her divorce, self harm, attempted suicide and alopecia. It was brave of her to write about these issues and I think she deserves credit for it.

Ignore the ignorant and buy!
Obviously the imbecile below has NO IDEA who Gail Porter is and believes her NOT to be a celebrity? Maybe this is because Miss Porter keeps herself private unlike say, Spears, Lohan and the like. Gail Porter has gone through a lifechanging expereience and it is very brave of her to write about. Yes, she has written this book unlike Bille Piper who had a GHOST WRITER! Forget the ingnorant, forget the hype, read a TRUE experience by the PERSON who EXPERIENCED life!