Think about secrets you have kept over time; secrets that hurt inside and out. Now turn to a perfect stranger and tell them all the painful truths that you have kept hidden all these years. I suspect that very few people could do that; could open old wounds and hidden memories from ones past.
Well, that’s just what Claudia Christian has done with her book Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex & Addiction. The book is co-authored by Australian writer Morgan Grant Buchanan; and gives us a brief glimpse of the Hollywood mere mortals like me could never even imagine.
In order to provide full disclosure, I should say at this point that I have never read a biography, self-help, tell all or anything Hollywood related. Come to think of it, unless it had epic space battles, off world adventures, lasers, photon torpedoes, aliens, encounter suits and techno babble, I just wasn’t interested.
After reading this book however, my first impressions, my first words to describe my initial view of Babylon Confidential, are “Holy Crap! How the hell did this woman survive?”
Her story is one of loss, then hope, then regret, then strength; I was on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. I found myself drained after each chapter.
Let me explain; when I read a book, I tend to imagine myself in the story. Watching not from the sidelines, but taking part, being a direct observer to a narrative that unfolds in my mind. As I read Babylon Confidential, I am there at each twist and turn; and being around the same age (thirty something of course…. no really :D ) I’m not sure I could have come out of it as mentally and physical healthy as she has.
At first glance, one might get the impression that her life, her career, was born of luck, being in the right place at the right time. Hey, Hollywood after all is glitz and glam and every actor is born with a silver spoon.
But read on and you quickly learn about the struggles and loss she endured, beginning at a very young age, and then found the strength to fight through and push on. Sometimes alone, sometimes with the help of her real friends, and of course family.
Alexander Graham Bell is quoted as saying “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us”. I’m not sure if Claudia ever read that quote, but she has defiantly lived it. She did not dwell on that closed door; but found a way to run toward that newly opened door.
Her story has something for everyone. For the sci-fi fan (such as myself), It holds your attention as she describes her time on the set of Babylon 5 and her role as Commander Susan Ivanova. Her stories of on set (and off set) romances is captivating. Remembering back on the show, I can just imagine myself on set, just off camera as a fly on the wall, watching the events in her story play out (get your mind out of the gutter, that’s not what I meant).
It was very interesting to read about when she worked with some of the ‘great’ and not so great actors (actress). I must admit, that some of the ‘pricks’ she has worked with has blown my bubble. I never would have guessed some of her, let’s say crude and uncivilized co-workers, behaved that way. I suppose that one could consider them to be the penultimate actors in that the façade they put on for the public is not who they really are.
This book is not just about the Hollywood set or name dropping though; foremost it’s about how she overcame her addiction. It leads us on a trip down the rabbit hole to a life of sex, drugs, and alcohol addiction.
Join me in Part Two for the rest of my Feature Book Review of Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex & Addiction by Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan.
No comments:
Post a Comment