Unbearable Lightness

A Story of Loss and Gain

2010

by Portia de Rossi

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain is a searing, unflinchingly honest memoir by actress Portia de Rossi, where she shares the truth of her long battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia while living in the public eye. It details the new happiness and health she has found in recent years, including her coming out and her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres.

Portia de Rossi reveals the pain and illness that haunted her for decades, starting when she was a twelve-year-old girl working as a model in Australia, through her early rise to fame as a cast member of the hit television show Ally McBeal. All the while, she was terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She alternately starved herself and binged, putting her life in danger and concealing the seriousness of her illness from herself and everyone around her.

The memoir explores the pivotal moments of her childhood that set her on the road to illness and describes the elaborate rituals around food that dominated hours of every day. She also reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to health and honesty, emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women's health issues.

Unbearable Lightness is a landmark book that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit, shining a bright light on the dark subject of eating disorders and the complex emotional truth surrounding food, weight, and body image.

Reviews

Review by catpow3r
This isn't a great book. It's not gripping, it doesn't make you keep reading, if something it is a depressing exploration of anorexia and bulimia, as well, actually of self loathing and being gay in the closet. And that's the good part about it. It feels honest, I have no idea if it would actually help people that are in the closet or are struggling with eating disorders; but it is an account of a person that went through it all and survived, so yeah, it's almost as those autobiographies of people that go out to live in the woods and survive. Even like that, I did skip through some pages (or a lot), I was kinda tired of her account of self destruction and the ridiculous amounts of food she would eat. Particularly for me, this kind of self loathing doesn't make much sense, I love food, I love eating food and I would never slowly kill myself like this; still, it did give me some insight as to the reasons people do this. Oh and I think I love Portia de Rossi a little more.
Likeless so far. Lead the way
0 comments

Are you sure you want to delete this?