Celebrity Detox by Rosie O'Donnell
O'Donnell Examines the Television Talk-Show Fame Game
Mar 25, 2008
Rosie O'Donnell left her top-rated TV show in 2002, and took four years off to recover from what she calls "the fame game" before returning to co-host ABC's The View in 2006. Celebrity Detox is a record of her thoughts during the period of reentry into the spotlight--the pros and cons of becoming, once again, a public personality.
The Addiction of Fame
O'Donnell, who is donating all her book's profits to Rosie's Broadway Kids, one of her philanthropic endeavors, describes the addictive highs of fame, and the dangers of becoming less self sufficient when you have so much money you no longer need to do ordinary things. She writes: "...there are things you don't have to do that someone else will do for you, and you will allow them to do them. And the sad thing is, you get to the point where you basically allow others to live your life for you."
After six years of "mainlining stardom," O'Donnell thought it was time to reconnect with her family, to learn to drive herself around again, to pick up her kids from school and "relearn some of the basic things in life." But eventually she missed having a career in front of the camera. When Barbara Walters asked her to co-host The View, she agreed, thinking that the four-day work week would allow her to continue to spend quality time with her family. It sometimes did. But going back to work brought her new problems and concerns.
ABC's The View
The main problem with The View was that O'Donnell came in as an outsider, to an already established program. She was accustomed to directing her own show, to making all the small decisions that went along with that. And so she found it frustrating not to be in charge of what went on--from the set design to whether or not the hosts should wear IFBs in their ears. (O'Donnell, unlike some other television commentators, dislikes IFBs intensely, believing they take too much spontaneity and control away from the person wearing them.)
Another problem on the new show was that O'Donnell was used to speaking her mind on political topics and other touchy subjects. This did not always go well with the producer and other co-hosts, such as Walters. While Walters wanted everyone to get along, O'Donnell didn't mind sparking a bit of controversy now and then. These two styles did not make for an easy relationship between the two women. The difficulty was compounded by the longing O'Donnell had for Walters to be a kind of mother figure to her. (Her own mother had died when she was ten.)
After a blowout in the dressing room over some words spoken by Walters to Donald Trump, O'Donnell decribes the unusual sympathy that develops between Walters and herself. "Something happens to two people who have been in a terrible fight; an intimacy develops...it is like finding a brilliant ruby gem in the desert. It sits there, bright against the beige background. It becomes a point of almost purity."
Rosie O'Donnell's candid story of show business and the vicissitudes of fame is generally well written and at times very funny. The book is interspersed with comments from her blog, written in free verse.
Hatchette Book Group USA, Inc./Grand Central Publishing 2007, ISBN 978-0-446-58224-7
 |
 |
