15 of the Most Shocking Celebrity Memoir Revelations That Had Our Jaws on the Floor, from Brooke Shields to Britney Spears
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty These jaw-dropping tales came straight from the stars who lived them. In their memoirs, these celebrities got real, sharing some of the most shocking events to transpire in their lives. From horrific events such asBrooke Shields' labia rejuvenation toRebel Wilson's surprisingly low salary fromBridesmaidstoAl Pacino's First Lady faux pas, these bombshells had us buzzing the second the book hit shelves. Read on for some of the memorable (not always in a good way) revelations celebrities have shared in their memoirs. Emma McIntyre/Getty; Grand Central Publishing Vanderpump Rulesalum Scheana Shay came clean about the details of heraffair with Eddie Cibrianin her memoir,My Good Side. In an excerpt shared withEntertainment Weekly, the reality TV star walked readers through the details of how she fell for the actor. According to Shay, they met in 2006 when she was working at a "private member's cigar lounge and restaurant," shortly after moving to L.A. He would come into the place to play poker. "Eddie was the sweetest, funniest, most charismatic, consummate gentleman I'd ever met. He always made me feel like I was the only girl in the room when I was working," she wrote. As for his marriage to Brandi Glanville, Shay says she was none the wiser. "This was pre–social media, so it wasn't like he was posting pics of his family in matching pajamas in front of a Christmas tree," she said, adding that he didn't wear his wedding ring around her. "To be clear, Eddie wasn't my boyfriend (at least not exclusively). But we did start a physical relationship at the end of 2006, which was a weekly booty call," she later explained. Jason Koerner/Getty Images Kerry Washingtonfans know two things about her: She is very close to her parents and she is extremely private about her family life. So, it came as a surprise to many when in 2023, she opened up about a lifelong family secret. In her memoir,Thicker Than Water,the actress explained she discovered her father, Earl Washington, wasn't her biological father shortly after she told her parents she was planning to appear on Henry Louis Gates Jr.'sFinding Your Roots,a PBS series on which celebrities learn about their ancestors through DNA testing. And though a discovery like that would be earth-shattering for most people, Washington said she felt a sense of relief; she always felt as though something was off. "When I got this information, I was like, 'Oh. I now know my story,'" she said. "I didn't know what my story was, but I was playing the supporting character in their story." "I think that dissonance of like, 'Somebody is not telling me something about my body' made me feel like there was something in my body I had to fix," theScandalactress — who struggled with anxiety, self-esteem issues, andan eating disorderwhen she was young — revealed. Taylor Hill/Getty; Flatiron Books Brooke Shields' memoirBrooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Oldrevealed many things, but perhaps one of the more disturbing stories was about a doctor who gave a "bonus"labia rejuvenationwithout her consent. After Shields had part of her cervix removed after precancerous cells were detected, which caused difficulty conceiving, the actress's gynecologist told her that she was likely a candidate for labial reduction surgery due to the discomfort she experienced as a result of her anatomy. Shields saw a male surgeon for the procedure, but when she came out of it, she was informed that he had "tightened everything up" for her in ("translation: given a younger vagina") addition to the surgery she had agreed to her. "'After two kids, everything is looser,' he said. He acted as if he'd done me a favor, and that I should, in fact, be grateful. There was a real 'I threw this in for free, little lady' vibe to his delivery," shewrote in the book. "But I had never asked to be 'tightened' or 'rejuvenated' ... It was not something I wanted. I felt numb." Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty; Gallery Books Britney Spearsfamously dated Justin Timberlake from 1999 to 2002 and while the common belief was that they broke up because she had cheated on him, Spears had never spoken out about their relationship since they parted ways. That changed in 2023 when the pop star released her memoirThe Woman in Me. In it, Spears revealed she had gotten pregnant by the "Cry Me a River" singer during their relationship, but subsequently aborted the baby as he said they were too young to start a family. "[The pregnancy] was a surprise, but for me, it wasn't a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I'd anticipated,"Spears wrote. "But Justin definitely wasn't happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren't ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young." Spears revealed she "never would have done it" if the decision "had been left up to me alone," but she said Justin was "so sure that he didn't want to be a father." She said undergoing the abortion was "one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life." A rep for Timberlake did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Kevin Mazur/Getty for Fragrance Foundation; Harper Influence In her memoir,Uptown Girl,Christie Brinkleyshared some details about the genesis of her relationship with ex-husband Billy Joel. When they met, she had just ended things with Olivier Chandon and Joel had just called it quits fromElle MacPherson. Still,Brinkley said, the musician wanted to alert his ex that things were getting serious between himself and Brinkley, a move she thought was "completely unnecessary." "Once he and I started seeing each other, he insisted on calling Elle, while I was on the line, to tell her that he was going to be exclusive with me," she wrote. "Still, that didn't stop rumors from circulating that she was waiting for Billy in his apartment the first time I ever went there, which wasn't true (the media seemed always to want to pit models against each other, even though there were more friendships in the industry than anything else)." Karwai Tang/WireImage; Simon & Schuster There's no question that thoughRebel Wilsonhad a small part inBridesmaids,she had one of the most memorable performances in the film. And while the hit comedy grossed over $300 million worldwide, Wilson revealed in her bookRebel Rising,she only made $3,500 for her work. The money went toward paying her Screen Actors Guild (SAG) dues and she was able to join the union. Even though she said she "got paid nothing," the Australian native said the experience of shooting the movie "was everything." Joe Maher/Getty; Joey Feldman InFrom Under the Truck,Josh Brolinrevealed he had some drug experiences during which he saw "epileptic faces, desperate children, rabid animals coming at me," and other frightening things. However, he wrote about one 12-hour acid trip that changed his life. "It was as hopeful a day as I could've had," the actor recalled. "I had not only weathered the cave that turned me from a boy into a man, but I had also thrived. I arrived at what I thought was a beginning of a happier life." When he "came down after 12 hours, just as the sun began to set, I knew that life was good and was to be lived and experienced and tasted with a fully protruding, exposed tongue," Brolin wrote. Michael Kovac/Getty; Henry Holt and Co. John Stamosdid not hold back in his memoir,If You Would Have Told Me. The actor opened up about his days onER,his addiction struggles, even the moment he found out about formerFull Housecostar Bob Saget's death. One of the moreshocking bombshellsStamos revealed was that he oncecaught ex Teri Copley in bed with Tony Danza. As the story goes, Stamos wanted to make things even more serious with Copley, so when she started dodging his phone calls, he showed up at her house ... and got the surprise of a lifetime. "The blinds are closed, but the door is slightly open," he wrote. "I take a peek inside and see four feet protruding from the shabby-chic, floral-print duvet that once kept me warm. My Tiny Dancer is in bed with Mr. Porsche Speedster. They are sleeping. I can't tell who he is, but I recognize Teri's ass barely covered by the sheets. It looks like her new poster." For her part, Copleydenied the affair allegationsin a statement shared with PEOPLE. "I wondered, 'What was John doing there?' because we had broken up," she said. "He just looked at me and shook his head, and walked away." Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Harper Perennial In an interview withThe New York Timesabout her bookInside Out,Demi Moorerevealed she became pregnantwhile dating Ashton Kutcher back in 2003. However, six months into the pregnancy, she lost the child, a girl whom she would have named Chaplin Ray. After the couple married in 2005, Moore and Kutcher reportedly sought out fertility treatments, but after they were unsuccessful, Moore began drinking and abusing Vicodin to cope with the pain; the couple divorced in 2013, after Moore found out Kutcher had been unfaithful. Paris Hiltonhas been a public figure since she was in her late teens, with plenty of stories about her in the public imagination. But themedia mogul took back her narrativeinParis: The Memoir. She shared many shocking revelations from her childhood, including one about an illicit relationship she had with her eighth-grade teacher. Hilton recalled how all of her peers had a crush on a "handsome young teacher" who had a "very Abercrombie" look to him. But Mr. Abercrombie told Paris, "I've got a crush on you," she wrote, and asked her for her phone number, warning her not to tell anyone. "Mr. Abercrombie called me almost every night, and we talked for hours about how amazingly mature, beautiful, and intelligent I was, how sensual, misunderstood, and special," she wrote. "He reminded me that Princess Diana was 13 years younger thanPrince Charles. And Priscilla Presley was my age when Elvis fell in love with her." Looking back, Hilton gave herself grace for not knowing how problematic their communication was. "It took decades for me to actually speak the wordpedophile," she reflected. "Casting him in the role of child molester meant casting myself in the role of victim, and I just couldn't go there." Tommaso Boddi/Getty; Fourth Estate Ltd Jada Pinkett Smithnever made any bones about the fact that she grew up in the roughest parts of Baltimore. In her memoir,Worthy,she opened up about how dire things werein her neighborhood, revealing she became a high-school drug dealer in pursuit of financial freedom. "Drugs were going to touch you, period," she recalled. "You could use them, you could sell them, but there was no being in an environment like that and drugs not touch you." She continued, "And I'm not saying that it's right, of course, now being in a whole different mindset. But when you're living in a war zone and you just thinking about survival, I wasn't trying to use drugs. I surely wasn't going to be a drug dealer's girlfriend. But I wanted money so that I could be independent. I wanted to take care of myself." Taylor Hill/WireImage; Simon & Schuster Jennette McCurdy'sI'm Glad My Mom Diedwas a candid telling of the harrowing trauma she faced throughout her childhood in part due to the stifling control of her late mother, Debra. Forcing her into acting was one of the ways Debra controlled her,McCurdy revealed, looking back at one particular instance in which her mother lashed out after theiCarlystar revealed she wanted to quit acting. "'Don't be silly, you love acting. It's your favorite thing in the world,' Mom says in a way that makes it sound like a threat," she wrote. "You can't quit! This was our chance! This was ouuuuur chaaaaance!" McCurdy writes of her mother's reaction. "She bangs on the steering wheel, accidentally hitting the horn. Mascara trickles down her cheeks. She's hysterical, like I was in theHollywood Homicideaudition. Her hysteria frightens me and demands to be taken care of." Michael Buckner/GG2025/Penske Media via Getty; Dey Street Books After years of being scrutinized in the media, formerBaywatchactressPamela Andersondecided to tell her story in her own words. And while thebook was filled with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, she shared one particularly funny, albeit very uncomfortable, run-in she had with Jack Nicholson. Anderson was visiting the infamous Playboy mansion when she bumped intoThe Shiningactor while he was "having a threesome in a bathroom," she revealed. "Mr. Nicholson had two beautiful women with him," Anderson wrote inLove, Pamela."They were all giggling and kissing up against the wall, sliding all over each other. I walked by to use the mirror, bending over the sink to fix my lip gloss." "Trying not to look, but I couldn't help myself and caught his eye in the reflection," the memoir reads. "I guess that got him to the finish line, because he made a funny noise, smiled and said, 'Thanks, dear.'" Dominik Bindl/Getty; Penguin Press With a career as storied asAl Pacino's, one would expect some of the most enthralling, shocking and purely out-of-this-worldrevelations from his memoir. One would be right. In his bookSonny Boy,the legendary actor recalled the one time he made a meeting with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis rather awkward. The former First Lady and her daughter Caroline had attended his Broadway production ofRichard III,and came backstage to meet him. While "slumped" in a chair in his dressing room after a tiring performance, Pacino put his hand out for Jackie to kiss. "God only knows what I was thinking. Why would I ever do that? Please tell me, what's wrong with me?" he wrote. "I must have believed I was dreaming that Jackie Onassis was there. Perhaps I was hallucinating that she was doing the play with me, so she was my queen— and as the queen, after all, she must now kiss the hand of the king." Kristina Bumphrey/Shutterstock In his memoir,Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation – How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison,Mike Sorrentinorevealed the man we loved onThe Jersey Shoreas The Situation was battling a serious painkiller addiction. Among other revelations— like being caught by production and called out by Jenny "JWoww" Farley about his pill usage — Sorrentino shared the creative way he was able to sneak drugs when the crew filmed their third season in Italy. Sorrentino put 125 Roxicets — a narcotic made of oxycodone and acetaminophen — into an Altoids tin and brought four tins. From there, he removed the cushions of his shoes "and cut out enough room in the heel to place two Altoids tins in each shoe," he wrote. "I then replaced the insole and packed the kicks in a large suitcase with 20 other pairs." 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15 of the Most Shocking Celebrity Memoir Revelations That Had Our Jaws on the Floor, from Brooke Shields to Britney Spears Gilbert Flores/Va...
