Good trashy biographies/autobios

It’s not trashy, but I recommend “Love, Lucy” by Lucille Ball. It’s easy to read and her life’s story is great.

Free Fire Zone by Teresa Rebeck. She does not name names, but if you run to IMDB, the Lortell Archive, and IBDB it is easy to figure out which actors, directors and producers who she is trashing.

Being and Becoming by Myrna Loy

Mary Astor's Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936

'Mother, Whore, Madam' - Mother Theresa

The Facts of My Life by Charlotte Rae.

Gay 101 required reading.

As a companion piece, read "Center Square" about Paul Lynde.

The two were friends way back. Alice Ghostly was also part of their entourage. And you can tell, as all 3 had the same voice and comedic tics.

Joan Collins' autobiography, "Past Imperfect." It reads like a real-life version of Patrick Dennis's satirical autobio "Little Me."

Actress: Postcards From The Road by Elizabeth Ashley

Memoirs by Tennessee Williams

[quote]It reads like a real-life version of Patrick Dennis's satirical autobio "Little Me."

Britt Ekland's True Britt is the same. She can't write well, but she sure can live well.

The Andy Warhol Diaries

I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones

A Bone in my Flute by Holly Johnson (Frankie goes to Hollywood)

Lips Unsealed by Belinda Carlisle

Another vote for Tennessee Williams' Memoirs.

I also remember enjoying My Wicked Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn.

Although I wouldn't call it trashy, I found Edie Sedgwick by Jean Stein a very interesting biography.

I love Mia's book (DL essential reading)

& Marianne Faithfull's

and another vote for Joan & Britt

Too Much Too Soon by Diana Barrymore

The Big Love by Florence Aadland

This book is famous for its opening:

‘There’s one thing I want to make clear right off: my baby was a virgin the day she met Errol Flynn. Nothing makes me sicker than those dried-up old biddies who don’t know the facts and spend all their time making snide remarks about my daughter Beverly, saying she was a bad girl before she met Errol’

Dreams that Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman/Jan Bradshaw

OP asked about trashy bios, and some of you queens still have to be snobby and pretentious, suggesting books about Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick.

Predictable.

Frank Langella's "Dropped Names" Now if he'd only do vol. 2 about the men in his life....

Little Me was NOT satire, r7. It was the TRUTH!

Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking.

It’s a great laugh out loud dishy read.

I win!

If you’re interested in old Hollywood, then I recommend The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams.

Her kiss-off line to her cross dressing lover, Jeff Chandler was, “Jeff, you’re too big for polka dots.

Be My Baby/Ronnie Spektor

Not entirely "trashy" as OP asked for, but there's some trash in there in the form of drug use, '80s rock gossip, and good old fashioned sex: "In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran" by one John Taylor.

He gives up lots of the band's cattiness and general bullshit. He read the audiobook, too.

R20, I never understood the thinking behind making a musical version of "Little Me" a vehicle for Sid Caesar, playing the various men in Belle's life. The men in the book are just foils for Miss Poitrine, who should have been the star of her own story. But then, I never found Sid Caesar very funny.

Well he WAS, r23!

Boy George "Take It Like a Man" is great. As is Holly Johnson's, as mentioned above. They pull no punches unlike the Hollywood ones that are so careful and edited down by the Legal department.

"Vanna Speaks" by Vanna White. It’s just a hell of a book!

"Something Like a Dame" by Helen Lawson

'Fisting It Up A Storm" - Sir David "Gladys" Attenborough

Through The Looking Glass by Danny Thomas

Speaking of... "That Girl and Phil" is a classic. "DESMOOOOOOND! WHERE ARE THE COOKIES?!!!!"

Trashy.....

Not really trashy, but a fascinating read about one of my fave bands, Siouxsie and the Banshees

its not trashy but its one of the newest biographies out on movie stars.........all that heaven allows........rock hudson. Its a pretty good read but somewhat rehashed for real Hudson fans.

Trashy autobio by Liz Renay. I discovered this one in the bedroom of a member of the 1990s band My Bloody Valentine.

But Enough About Me - Burt Reynolds

Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me

High on Arrival - Mackenzie Phillips

A Paper Life - Tatum O Neil

Stevie Nicks: Visions Dreams & Rumours

Can I Go Now?: The Life of Sue Mengers

How about "Martha Stewart: Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography" by Jerry Oppenheimer?

Trashy enough?

I highly recommend "Little Me" mentioned by r7 and r20. Written when the tell all ghost written celeb autobiographies became the new fashion, it is a hilarious and witty send up. The photos are pre Photoshop and quite primitive, but are extremely creative and complete the madness. Had to special order my copies from B&N 15 years ago, don't think you'll find it in stock anywhere - don't know why its not a perennial best seller - it should be standard reading for every homo and lesbo on the planet.

Toni Tennille: A Memoir. Fave part, her hyper overeager persona is a put on, so it will detract attention from her physical deformity of a rebuilt index finger with a fake fingernail.

[quote] Toni Tennille: A Memoir.

To be fair, she does skimp on the muff diving rumors.

"You'll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again" by Hollywood producer Julia Phillips detailing the 70s and 80s.

"Unhinged" by Omarosa Manigault Newman

Shelley, Also Known as Shirley.

‘We will always live in Beverly Hills’ by Ned Wynn. Son of Keenan Wynn, stepson of Van Johnson.

Rob Lowe’s is pretty good. He basically outs Tom Cruise as a total nut job.

"Will There Really Be A Morning" by Golden Age film star Frances Farmer. It's one of the most harrowing, fascinating memoirs I've ever read.

[quote]I discovered this one in the bedroom of a member of the 1990s band My Bloody Valentine

Not to go OT, but could you give the background story? I adore Loveless and they are legendary.

My Face For The World To See-- Liz Renay

Playing The Field -- Mamie Van Doren (88 next week)

[italic]Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star,[/italic] by Kitty Kelley

House of Hilton. I forget the author.

OP, who are some of your favorite film stars, musicians?

who could ever forget The Happy Hooker (her own story)

Tales of a Hollywood Housewife: A Memoir by the First Mrs. Lee Marvin

UPPER CUT by Carrie White, who became an insanely successful hairdresser in late 60s/70s LA, with clients including just about every celebrity of the time -Elvis, Warren Beatty, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Christie, Stefanie Powers (her Hollywood High School chum, along with Barbara Parkins). Also did all kinds of print work for VOGUE, films, TV, etc etc etc. Until drugs and alcohol took a HEAVY toll. Lots and LOTS of good dish, along with tons of famous names.

Baby Doll -- Carroll Baker

Henry's Boys (or something like that) -- Henry Willson bio.

Lana: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth -- Turner autobio

There’s a new bio on Rock Hudson, and it comes with pictures. LOL

Jennifer Saunders autobiography 'Bonkers'. It is written all over the shop, but is endearing. Jennifer admits she can be a bit lazy and the bit about working with Goldie Hawn for years on a script and producing nothing is interesting. I don't know if it translate to a US audience.

For a very balanced and unsentimental take on the life of Kurt Cobain (including possible shenanigans). Unlike the sentimental take in the bio 'Heavier Than Heaven' which Courtney Love favors.

R49 A favorite of Kurt Cobain's.

Ooooh r57. That sounds like good stuff.

Is it still available anywhere?

This takes you up to about 1997, if I remember rightly, on Courtney Love. Beautifully written by goth novelist, Poppy Z Bright.

R60, I believe she's a fox hunter, and, if so, fuck her.

Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved

Anything by that Kitty Carryall or whatever the fuck her name is.

The unauthorized one about Oprah is great.

Non-trashy and an excellent read is "Confessions of a prairie bitch".

Dandelion; Memoir Of A Free Spirit by Catherine James

Catherine James’s relationship with her young, beautiful, and wickedly irresponsible mother informed her Los Angeles childhood. Neglected—she would be strapped to a chair at night while her mother cavorted on the Sunset Strip—Catherine longed not for normalcy, but just for the chance to get away. To get away to her beloved grandmother Mimi or to her glamorous Aunt Claire’s, a Hollywood version of Grey Gardens stuff with racks of the former beauty queen’s 1930s ball gowns and memories of grand parties with Claire’s ex-husband, Busby Berkeley. To get away to her father, a dashing race-car driver who had been out of her life almost since the day she was born. Or even to get away to school, where she would at least be taken care of. Instead, Catherine was abandoned by her furious mother to become a ward of the state before she reached her teens.

It wasn’t until a chance meeting with a very young Bob Dylan that Catherine was inspired to make her escape—as a real runaway, breaking out of the California orphanage with only one goal: to get to Greenwich Village in New York.

Dandelion then becomes a look through the eye of a needle, as Catherine experiments with Eric Clapton; a peek through the viewfinder of a Polaroid, as Catherine is taken up by the beautiful people in Andy Warhol’s Factory; and a glimpse through a haze of smoke, as she begins romances with rockers like Jackson Browne and Jimmy Page.

While raising her son, whose father was Denny Laine of the Moody Blues, Catherine finally returns to her west coast roots, reconnects with her family and discovers that her mother hasn’t changed but her father has: he’s become a heartbreakingly garish transsexual.

Playground: A Childhood Lost Inside the Playboy Mansion by Jennifer Saginor

You are six years old. Every day after school your father takes you to a sprawling castle filled with exotic animals, bowls of candy, and half-naked women catering to your every need.

You have your own room. You have new friends. You have an uncle Hef who's always there for you.

Welcome to the world of Playground, the true story of a young girl who grew up inside the Playboy Mansion. By the time she was fourteen, she'd done countless drugs, had a secret affair with Hef's girlfriend, and was already losing her grip on reality. Schoolwork, family, and "ordinary people" had no meaning behind the iron gates of the Mansion, where celebrities frolicked, pool parties abounded, and her own father—Hugh Hefner's personal physician and best friend, the man nicknamed "Dr. Feel Good"—typically held court.

Every day was a party, every night was an adventure, and through it all was a young girl falling faster and faster down the rabbit hole—trying desperately hard not to get lost.

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren

A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser

At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties.

More than just a sexy read set in an exotic land, Some Girls is also the story of how a rebellious teen found herself-and the courage to meet her birth mother and eventually adopt a baby boy.

Was she able to hold onto her NY apartment?

You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again by Lois Lee (Preface), Joanne Parrent, Terrie Maxine Frankel, Jennie Louise Frankel Wild, graphic, sometimes funny, ultimately sad -- this is the book that had Hollywood hiding behind closed doors and "no comment." Four beautiful young women tell the stories of the famous, the sexy, the rich, and the sadistic.

Hooking Up: You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again Again by Olivia, Amanda, Carly Milne, Jennifer Young The blockbuster book that sent Hollywood running for cover in the 1990s is back for the new millennium, with all-new girls and all-new stories of celebrity misbehavior in the book that is not afraid to name names.

I just read two YSL biographies: Loulou & Yves: The Untold Story of Loulou de La Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent and The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris. The latter is trashier and better.

I don’t remember, R72. Here’s the Prince.

R75, certainly better than having to be a sex slave to Trump, Jeffrey Epstein or his buddy Alan Dershowitz and his gross teeth:

Just Desserts - a Martha Stewart bio - wonderful filth! The author clearly loathes her and doesnt hesitate to find every human on earth who has bad things to say about her - pre jail time, so its the unvarnished cunt we used to love....

Does she write about her telekinetic powers and....you know....the...incident, r57?

UPPER CUT is on amazon, R63, although I got it from my local library. It's worth your time!

"Oprah" by Kitty Kelley, the ultimate tell-all book about the talk show host. It tells the good, the bad, and the dirt about her.

At times you're rooting for Oprah, then later on you want to throw tomatoes at her. Fascinating.

Oprah was furious when this book came out - all the more reason to read it. And the author really did her homework especially with members of Oprah's family.

Going Down with Janis- by Peggy Cerra- totally honest, totally insdiscreet.

[quote] Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser

This should be made into a Broadway musical. It could be a modern day "The King & I".

That Eddie Fisher trashy (of course) tell-all

Life Is Too Short....Mickey Rooney

Little Me.....Belle Poitrine

lorna lufts autobiography! wow i was surprised with how much i liked it! you really get a sense of who lorna was and she is very blunt with her version of events. highly recommend.

r50 asked r49:

[quote] Not to go OT, but could you give the background story? I adore Loveless and they are legendary.

The background is underwhelming truth from memory and is not to be taken as gossip, slander or libel. I stayed at a penpal's flat in Hackney, a borough of east London. My penpal was rooming with a MBV member, the bassist. I met the band a few times after they returned from their early 1989 tour of Europe. I hadn't heard of them at the time. They are all very nice people. In the member's bedroom, or near, I found a paperback copy of Liz Renay's memoir and flipped through it. I only remember the bit where she called Jerry Lewis a lousy lay.

Lucky Me: My Life With--and Without--My Mom, Shirley MacLaine By Sachi Parker

Pretty engrossing, a fast read, and Shirley MacLaine seriously IS crazy.