This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare

Description

The painfully hilarious memoir from Gabourey Sidibe - Oscar-nominated star of Precious and Empire. The Oscar-nominated Precious star and Empire actress delivers a much-awaited memoir which is wise, complex, smart and funny. This Is Just My Face is the whirlwind tour of Gabourey Sidibe's life so far. In it, we meet her polygamous father, her gifted mother who fed the family by busking on the subway, and the psychic who told her she'd one day be 'famous like Oprah'. Gabby shows us round the Harlem studio apartment where she grew up, relives the debilitating depression that hit her at college, and reminisces about her first ever job as a phone sex 'talker' (less creepy than you'd think). With exhilaratingly honest (and often hilarious) dispatches on friendship, depression, celebrity, haters, fashion, race, and weight, This Is Just My Face will resonate with anyone who has ever felt different - and with anyone who has ever felt inspired to make a dream come true. 'Frank, funny, and insanely charming' Lena Dunham 'A read that lives up to the unforgettable attitude of its name' Glamour 'You're the BOMB, girl!' President Barack Obama

Gabourey Sidibe is an award-winning actress who shot to fame when she took the title role of Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire. She has since starred in American Horror Story and Empire and has recently made her directorial debut with the short film The Tale of Four. She was born in Brooklyn and raised in Harlem, New York. This Is Just My Face is her first book.

Here, Gabourey Sidibe cements her status as gives-zero-effs queen of Hollywood AND perceptive best friend in your head. Frank, funny, and insanely charming...we are blessed by her honesty, passion and wit * Lena Dunham * A read that lives up to the unforgettable attitude of its name...This is Just My Face will make you fall in love with this funny, talented, gorgeous, bad bitch of a woman * Glamour * Gabourey Sidibe's memoir isn't your average celebrity memoir. It's good. Really good. And not just because it's revealing (although that it is), but because it's well-written... Observant and funny, but not indulgent or try-hard * Cosmopolitan * A book you will want to give your daughter * The New York Times * "I just wrote the truth, and it made me feel better." That is the theme of this unique and universal book by a young woman who is both a total surprise and an instant classic. Gabby combines New York and Senegal, the streets and the heights, bravery and self-doubt, laughing and seriousness. Her truth helps us to find ours-and what could be a bigger gift than that? * Gloria Steinem * Sidibe's hilarious Twitter account is no fluke - the Empire actress' memoir about growing up in New York City and finding unexpected fame in Hollywood is sharp, witty, and wonderfully substantive * Entertainment Weekly * Gabourey Sidibe's delightful memoir This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare offers a memorable look into what happens when a black girl's dreams come true, from the inside out. From her unique childhood as the daughter of a subway singer mother and polygamous father to struggling with depression to getting the role of Precious, Sidibe is fearless, incredibly funny and gorgeously open. What she offers of herself in these pages is a gift * Roxane Gay * A mix of complexity, intelligence and humor, Gabby's book promises to be as big a success as her acting * People * To know Gabby is to love Gabby. To read her book is to love her even more. It is bold, brave, on-your-front-foot writing. Her story inspires you to step up and own your life with a compassion and confidence so potent that it will break down any door * Laura Linney * A funny, smart memoir * Nylon * You're the BOMB, girl! * President Barack Obama *