Autobiographies give us a privileged glimpse into remarkable human experiences, and whether their authors recount painful personal trials or chronicle their remarkable self-discoveries, these books make for engaging reading. That’s especially true when those authors are deified celebrities and powerful public figures—the kinds of people whose lives are so remarkable that they’re often stranger than fiction.
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This year started out with a bang when it came to releases of new celebrity biographies and autobiographies—with works by the legendary RuPaul, artist Ai Weiwei and Blondie’s Chris Stein, among others—and 2024 isn’t over yet. Autumn will bring with it new real-life tales recounted by the famous, rich and powerful. Single-name stars like Cher and Kenny G are finally going on the record, trailblazers in their industries like Connie Chung and Al Pacino are baring all and the calendar of new celebrity memoirs is full of hotly anticipated titles.
Take your pick from our list of the best celebrity memoirs, and then take a vicarious journey with some of the world’s most fascinating people.
If Barbra Streisand insisted on a 900-page tome about her life, Cher has done one better: a two-volume epic. The first installment, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, will see the enduring “Goddess of Pop” recount the first decades of her early life, relationship with Sonny Bono and solo career beginnings—one that started in the early 1960s and shows no signs of slowing down. With a single-name moniker, Cher (or “Cherilyn”) always knew she was destined for the stratosphere, even if a chaotic upbringing and challenging relationship with her mother threatened to hamper those dreams. There are countless superlatives that surround the star—from remaining the only woman to top the Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades to one of the few elite artists to nab an EGOT—so it’s unsurprising Cher has chosen to break the mold and deliver a two-part autobiography. Part Two will reportedly follow in 2025.
A master of “the Method,” Al Pacino looks back on an unrivaled career portraying men battling masculinity at the margins. In Sonny Boy, the 83-year-old actor recounts a life portraying men on screen corrupted by power and undone by their manhood in this deeply candid book. “My whole life has been a moonshot, and I’ve been a pretty lucky guy so far,” Pacino has said. The work goes beyond Pacino’s famed performances—from acclaimed ones in The Godfather II and Dog........© Observer