Spilling the Celebri-tea: 22 Must-Read Celebrity Memoirs

The daughter of famous parents, Fisher found fame in a role in what would be one of the most successful film franchises of all time. But her road to happiness was filled with speed bumps and pot holes, and here she tells of the highs and lows of stardom with great honesty and humor.

Even if you’re not a fan of Flea’s band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, this is a fascinating story of an unusual, rebellious young man who made his way from Australia to the United States, and then to stadiums all over the world. (Plus a few acting jobs here and there.)

This is the first of three books Fox has written about his life, his career, and his daily life with Parkinson’s disease. It’s told with his now-famous optimism and ability to find joy and positivity in the every day. Read this, then check out the excellent new documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

Award-winning comedian Gadsby tells stories about their life that they first made famous in their stage act Nanette. Gadsby is known for their comedy, but in Nanette, they took their storytelling to a new level when they brilliantly captivated and moved audiences as they discussed the sexual assault and homophobia they experienced as a young person.

This is one of the most celebrity successful memoirs, even if it is not as well-known today. Graham’s father was a millionaire who bought the Washington Post at a time when the paper was floundering and made it a success. Graham gives a fascinating account of her life, as well as her time running the paper after her father, and how she passed it along in her family.

When Guerrero was 14, her parents were deported to Colombia for being undocumented, and she was left alone in the United States. This is her story of loneliness and triumph, and how she went on to achieve her dreams of success, appearing in such hits as Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin. She also works with families who find themselves in a similar immigration situation.

This memoir was a HUGE deal when it came out. Hepburn was one of the biggest actresses of her day — and also one of the most secretive. She was an award-winning star of the silver screen, and also the lover of actor Spencer Tracy. Here Hepburn tells tales of her fame and her unending love for Tracy, as well as her thoughts on fame and aging.

The spotlight-shy founder of the shoe company Nike set tongues wagging (that’s a shoe pun) with this memoir about the company’s start. Well, not really wagging. It’s quite humble for such a huge business. And even after almost a decade, this memoir is so widely revered that it has a 4.47 average on Goodreads with over 258,000 ratings. You can also now see Knight portrayed by Ben Affleck in the new movie Air.

This is the first of two great memoirs from Lewis, the award-winning actress who has logged over 300 performances on stage and screen. Lewis is probably most recently well-known for her role in Blackish, but she honestly and joyously tells the story of her battles and triumphs before she made it to the top.

And this is possibly the most talked about memoir of the last few years. McCurdy gives a frank recounting of her time growing up as a child star with a mother battling mental illness while working in an industry that still fails to protect its child workers. It’s horrifying and heartbreaking, but also an amazing feat of storytelling.

Michelle Obama’s first of two books (so far) is an inspirational and wonderful tale of her childhood and education, her life as a mother, her charity work and activism, and the time she spent as the First Lady in the White House.

And speaking of the White House, the hilarious Penn took some time out from his acting career to spend some time working for the Obama administration. He details his D.C. exploits, his adventures on the road to Hollywood, and how he met his husband.

Here is another fantastic memoir about escaping hardships to become a legendary star. Porter has a horrible childhood in Pittsburgh, where he was bullied and abused. He went on to be an award-winning star of stage and screen, surviving against the odds and the haters, and becoming one of our most beloved actors working today.

Radner was one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live, and was something of America’s sweetheart. In one of the first celebrity memoirs to do so, she let fans in to her personal life and discussed the ovarian cancer she was fighting at the time. Published just a few months before Radner died, she talks about her childhood, her career, her husband Gene Wilder, and the cancer-support group she worked with.

And this is another memoir-slash-inspirational advice book. Rhimes, the brains behind such memorable media as How To Get Away with Murder, Bridgerton, and Grey’s Anatomy, talks about how she decided to spend one year saying yes to everything that came her way. And how saying yes changed her life for the better and taught her a lot about herself.

The guitarist and founding member for one of the most famous bands in the world, The Rolling Stones, gets personal in these pages. When you’re in one of the biggest bands in the world, you have a lot of stories to tell. You have seen some stuff. These are a few of his fascinating tales.

This memoir by Academy Award-nominated actress Sidibe is a joy to read. From her early job as a phone sex operator to her award-nominated role in Precious, Sidibe talks about facing and defeating an industry not made for people who look like her. She is a scream, but will also squeeze your heart.

This is Smith’s first memoir, about her time as a rebellious young woman who left for NYC with her then-boyfriend, the soon-to-be famous photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Her story of two young kids with big dreams and a lot of love struggling to make it in a city that used to have much more support for starving artists won the National Book Award for nonfiction.

And of course we must include something from the legendary Turner, who sadly just left us. This is her incredible tale of growing up in poverty as Anna Mae Bullock, finding success as a singer, her relationship with the abusive Ike Turner, and finally achieving a monumental solo career. (It is also the basis for the film What’s Love Got To Do with It?)

Tyson is a much-lauded, award-winning actress whose career spanned several decades. In Just As I Am, she recounts the highs and lows of stardom, and her belief in herself and her refusal to compromise, leaving behind an amazing body of work that has inspired future generations.

And in another of the most popular memoirs of the last few years, Zauner, from the band Japanese Breakfast, talks about her life, starting with her relationship with her mother. This book originally started out as a popular essay, which is about, yes, crying in H Mart after the death of her mother. But she also discusses the food and travel they shared, her feelings of not belonging in either the U.S. or her family’s home in Seoul, and more. It’s a heartfelt punch to the feels.