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Unbearable Lightness
Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain | Portia de Rossi
"I didn't decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Although there was a certain glamour to anorexics, I didn't want to be one. I just wanted to excel in dieting. And weighing in at 80 pounds on 300 calories a day, I was the best little dieter there ever was." In scalding prose, Portia de Rossi reveals the pain and illness that haunted her for decades. She alternately starved herself and binged, putting her life in danger and lying to herself and everyone around her about the depth of her illness. From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to health and happiness, ultimately falling head over heels in love with Ellen DeGeneres. In this remarkable and landmark book, she tells a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.
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Kitta
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Serious trigger warning with this book: eating disorders.

This is the story of Portia De Rossi‘s battle with anorexia and how it almost destroyed her life. Very moving and relatable as someone who also struggled with disordered eating.

An interesting read but definitely triggering so read with caution.

#alohabetgame #letterU @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

tpixie Here‘s another very good thought provoking book about eating disorders ( with triggers) 2y
Kitta @tpixie sounds good! I‘ll have to check it out. Rated very highly by littens I see at 92%! 2y
tpixie @Kitta it is moving. 2y
11 likes3 comments
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rather_be_reading
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Half way done w this one. Its heartbreaking

45 likes1 stack add
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rather_be_reading
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Book 74 of 2020
#audiobook #scribd

review
Heatherfeather
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Pickpick

My heart hurts. Mostly because I recognize so much of her thinking....

Megabooks Fantastic book! 4y
27 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Cinfhen
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#MayMovieMagic #WeveOnlyJustBegun Karen Carpenter was blessed with the most angelic voice yet she struggled with an eating disorder that effects so many #AcrossTheUniverse 😔I‘ve been meaning to read the tagged book, maybe for my upcoming #BookFitnessChallenge I‘ll try the audio 🎧 70 million people “struggle” with their weight in some way, that‘s a lot of anguish we need to think about 😢 I recognize my own foolish battle with body image.

Megabooks 🙋🏻‍♀️ have a problem with body image too! Rainbow Rowell always makes me feel better! 5y
Centique My friend has just been diagnosed as anorexic in her 40s. 🙁 Hoping she‘ll get some help now she has a diagnosis, we all worry about her a lot. 5y
Cinfhen It‘s such a terrible illness @Centique my friend‘s 19yr old daughter was diagnosed at 15. It‘s so painful to watch. I feel like 70 million is a low number @Megabooks EVERY person I know complains about their weight!!!!! 5y
See All 24 Comments
Clwojick ITS SOOOOO GOOD! I loved this book! 5y
Megabooks @Cinfhen I am roughly 100 lbs overweight. I actually don‘t want to be below a US size 12, which would be 50 lbs overweight. It‘s a constant battle of self acceptance and health. 5y
Megabooks I went from being a 0-2 in my teens to a 4-6 in college to a 12 in my 20s and early 30s to a 20 now. So I‘ve been on both sides. 5y
Cinfhen It‘s such a constant battle @Megabooks but you‘re right self acceptance is vital!!!! 5y
Emilymdxn I loved this book! I‘ve struggled with disordered eating for years - I was dangerously underweight as a teen then I guess I ‘recovered wrong‘ and found myself in a bingeing cycle for years at uni, making me very ashamed and unhealthy. I‘ve spent last 2 years working hard on finding a medium ground but it‘s hard and I always feel I could slip back. Idk how ppl younger than me manage - they get so many more messages in media than even I did 5y
Emilymdxn My fave book about eating disorders is this one, it‘s written in a very mindful way to try to avoid being triggering for people and talks about a lot of different aspects of eating disorders and how they‘re perceived in culture 5y
Cinfhen I‘m 53 and still dealing with my unhealthy relationship with food @Emilymdxn I had bulimia and my body is still coping from the trauma. It lead to so many physical problems. I agree, SM is so rough on our psyche. I‘ve heard about the book you tagged. Stacking 5y
Centique @Emilymdxn thanks for that recc Emily. I think I‘ll get that for my friend. She‘s not finding the counselling she‘s been given very helpful - maybe a book will fill the gaps. 5y
RohitSawant So true about most of us locked in a constant battle when it comes to self-acceptance. I was bullied in school for my weight which compounded the negative self-perception. I still find myself grappling with body image despite following a much healthier lifestyle but I'm learning to be more kind to myself about it. Have you seen To the Bone on Netflix? 5y
RohitSawant It's a well made film starring Lily Collins, about a young girl dealing with anorexia, directed by Marti Noxon who was the Sharp Objects showrunner. 5y
Centique @rohit-sawant much love to you R 💕and boo hiss to the bullies 😡 I‘m going to go look that up, I think I saw that title in there. 5y
Cathythoughts I didn‘t realize she had an eating disorder... so difficult ♥️💔 5y
Cinfhen Kids can be so cruel @rohit-sawant ☹️I‘m definitely going to look for that Netflix film. Thanks for the recommendation 5y
Cinfhen Yes, it was apparently life altering her eating disorder @Cathythoughts I think that‘s why she left show business 5y
Eggs Well done 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. @Cinfhen 5y
wanderinglynn @Cathythoughts @Cinfhen There‘s a great biopic movie about Karen & her struggles that ultimately ended with her death. It all stemmed from when they started getting successful as The Carpenters. So tragic. 5y
Cathythoughts @wanderinglynn yes very tragic. I see that sometimes great success can trigger deeper issues for people ... 💔 5y
RohitSawant @Centique @Cinfhen Thanks, guys 💕 Glad to signal-boost the film. 5y
Andrew65 I loved her voice, but how sad and tragic! 😢 5y
gradcat I cannot believe that I was unaware of Portia de Rossi‘s book...I‘ve been a fan of hers since “Ally McBeal.” Thanks for educating me! Stacked! (edited) 5y
Kaye 💚 5y
93 likes1 stack add24 comments
review
Smrloomis
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Pickpick

This was both a pick and very tough for me to finish listening to. Maybe it was the fact that it was audio and I couldn‘t just skim some parts, but I found her struggle with her eating disorders to be deeply, deeply sad. And that was so much more of the memoir than I was prepared for. So a pick, but one I am happy to have finished!

Smrloomis I should add that I missed all the publicity around this book when it came out - hence my cluelessness about how intense her suffering was. I loved her in Arrested Development but didn‘t know anything about her personal life really until now. 6y
Zelma I love memoirs on audio because they are more intimate but then again they can be really intense. I prefer listening to people‘s stories though. 6y
Smrloomis @Zelma yes, you‘re definitely right. I can‘t remember the last memoir I listened to like this; it was so intense! Going to have to keep that in mind for future listening/ reading choices. 6y
75 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Smrloomis
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I just started listening to this and... woah. My fellow Littens, it gets better, right? I mean she falls in love and eventually has a happier life, right? Because the beginning when she describes what it is like to live with her anorexia is so hard to listen to - even as a person who has never had to struggle with this personally!

Sweettartlaura I mean... I don‘t wanna spoil it for ya, but... you know who her partner (spouse, maybe?) is now, right? 6y
Sweettartlaura So yes... it gets better for her 🙂 6y
Smrloomis @Sweettartlaura thanks for worrying about the spoilers 😁 yes, I do! and I saw it on the book blurb too. I think I was just unprepared for how horrible her mental critic is, yikes. The prologue was almost too much for me 😢 6y
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review
Erika13137
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Pickpick

Finished this one late last night. I remember watching Ally McBeal with my mom and thinking that the actress that played Nelle was just gorgeous. So hard to believe everything she was struggling with at the time with her eating disorders and her sexuality.

This was such and open and honest look about how women today struggle with what they see in the mirror and how no matter what, you can find peace and happiness.

#dogsoflitay #corgisoitsy

Sheryl63 I love your Corgi! My Malinois needs a friend; we lost my Sheltie last year. But Lena, my Sheltie was her first so she had Zoe, my Mal under control. I know Zoe would be jealous she's extremely possessive of me; she will not go outside unless I'm with her. She loves to push her tennis balls beneath the fence to the neighbor‘s dog. I've got a cat, that was hit by a darn truck and she's pretty out there, physically, mentally. She‘s a hoot! 6y
Sheryl63 I‘m getting a Veiled Chameleon for Mother‘s Day. I love Lizards, I bought a tiny Iguana in 1994 and he grew to be Six feet long, he lived for 12 yrs. I've had two Veils back in 1998 one had parasites and died the first year the female lived for three yrs. I know more about them now. So we are headed to this big reptile show in May to get a female. It's the same show i bought my first two from. How odd is that? 6y
41 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Erika13137
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Juno and I have gotten a good start to this autobiography. Haven‘t read nonfiction in awhile and it‘s a nice change of pace.

#dogsoflitsy #corgisoflitsy

DivineDiana Those eyes! ❤️ 6y
JoScho So sweet 😊 6y
stacybmartin Such a sweet face! 💜🐶💜 6y
DebinHawaii Adorable face! 🐶❤️ 6y
58 likes4 comments
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Erika13137
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A little bit of everything in tonight‘s book haul from the library. 🤓 #librarygirl #nolatefees

review
Clwojick
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 I thoroughly enjoyed this autobiography.

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Dragon
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#true #lyricalapril two memoirs I happen to have close by . I read Mindy Kaling's book and enjoyed it. I haven't finished Portia De Rossi's book yet. Her book is more difficult to read. Anorexia is a very scary illness for the person suffering and for their loved ones.

Cinfhen I didn't know Portia De Rossi wrote a memoir 🤔I've only heard good things about Mindy Kaling's memoirs 7y
Dragon Thanks @Cinfhen 😀👍 7y
51 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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readinginthedark
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I listened to this on audio (narrated by the author!) about four years ago, and it's really stuck with me. I love that de Rossi displays her progression from a young girl who just wants to be appreciated and noticed as something special through her struggles with anorexia and her sexuality to becoming a woman who understands that happiness is the key to health. #memoirlove #17booklove

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Simona
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I can't say that this is the most #memorablememoirs but her honesty about eating disorders and body image obsession is memorable.

#booktober

Amandajoy This breaks my heart. 7y
Simona @Amandajoy Yes, it's sad story but worth to read because of her honesty without sentimentality. 7y
EnidBiteEm 😢 I was surprised. The restraint in her writing, and her skill in letting the story tell itself, made it more powerful. When she writes about the isolation on set in her first big US break (Ally McBeal) ... 😯😢 7y
See All 8 Comments
Simona @EnidBiteEm I like this too, she tells the story without over dramatization and not looking back to criticize herself. 7y
BarbaraTheBibliophage I just got this at the thrift shop. Curious to get inside her head about the disordered eating. 7y
Simona I think that story is helpful for families and friends of people with eating disorders. @BarbaraTheBibliophage 7y
readinginthedark I found this one very well done. She narrates the audiobook, too, and that was very powerful. 7y
Simona I can imagine that such a intimate story told by herself must feel very powerful. @readinginthedark 7y
54 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Kitta
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Portia de Rossi's memoir about her struggles with anorexia and accepting her sexuality. Managed to read the entirety of this on the flight, very engrossing. I've struggled with discorded eating and my own sexuality over the years and this was really tough to read, although the epilogue was really uplifting and lovely. ❤️❤️❤️

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