My assumption about this stunning actress I knew from Friday Night Lights was that she’s had a picture perfect life with very little struggle. Well, I stand corrected! I flew through this book and learned that Minka is quite the survivor. Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Minka Kelly’s memoir ‘Tell Me Everything’ is a deeply emotional, intense introspection into her childhood, her relationship with her mother and how that has shaped her and her relationships. I think it’s been easy to have a certain perception of Minka, for better or for worse, but reading her memoir really gave us such a look into how she sees and deals with things. It was a touching, emotional read for me. Devastating at some points. I’m very glad she decided to tell her story, I think it’s a very important one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had no idea that Minka Kelly had been through so much before becoming an actress. The amount of horrible things that happened to her as a child was appalling. An amazing story of resilience and showing how an abandoned child became a strong powerful woman.

More info about her acting classes and early career would have been welcome.

Here is a full list of things that I knew about Minka Kelly prior to reading this book:
1. She was on Friday Night Lights
2. She's very pretty

I am glad to now know so much more, but I'm having a hard time describing the reading experience I had with this memoir for a few reasons. The first of which is that I would not describe Minka Kelly as a particularly gifted writer or storyteller (I do not think she worked with a ghost-writer on this). I think a lot of this was fairly clunky both thematically and in terms of timeline. However, I do think that she's a person who's had a fascinating and often tragic life, and she writes with the wisdom of someone who has done a lot of work to process her childhood trauma and offers a healthy perspective on what she went through and how it complicates her current feelings on the people who failed her, but were ultimately trying their best with the tools at their disposal.

Because of that, I think this book is probably best suited for women who are in the process of understanding their own trauma and definitely not for anyone looking for any kind of dishy celebrity gossip. This is a fairly quick read and is broken up into pretty short sections, which I really prefer particularly when digesting some of the tougher topics that she has to discuss. She's also very upfront about the fallibility of her memory, and gives clear credit for the parts of her story that have had to be told to her again in adulthood, just due to the sheer instability of her childhood.

Please look up a full list of content warnings, but these are the ones that really stuck out for me: child neglect/abuse, domestic violence, drug abuse/addiction, coercive sex work, dubious consent, revenge porn, cancer/terminal illness, loss of a parent

I've always been a casual fan of Minka Kelly's, but after reading her new memoir, I am much more interested in going back and watching more of her work. She is such a fascinating, strong woman, and her memoir does a great job in capturing her rough childhood and how her childhood trauma impacts her life today.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

All I can say is.. wow. I love Minka Kelly as an actress but she’s an even better storyteller. To say she is resilient is an understatement. Her entire childhood was a living nightmare and while I’m sure she will forever be healing she has turned a bad situation into a successful life. She starts her memoir off with how she’s decided to be one of those coin slot dancers at the back of an adult movie rental place so she can earn enough money to start a new life.. and when you think what could have made her get there? She takes you on an emotional, disturbing, and anxiety filled rollercoaster of her life as the daughter of an addict/dancer. She is neglected, abused, bullied and so much more. I am in awe of how honest and brave the author was to tell this intimate of a story but also how well it’s told. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and Net Galley for the digital ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Mostly, I knew who Minka Kelly was from Friday Night Lights. I really wasn’t interested in her until I read her book. She had such a harrowing childhood, and it broke my heart what she went thought as a child. It is amazing how much she accomplished on her own at such a young age. It upset me how her father who was never around when she was a child, couldn’t give her more than a few months to make it in her own in Los Angeles when she first got there. First her mother and now her father failing her. She accomplished so much on her own. She is resilient. Good read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I know Minka Kelly from Friday Night Lights, and that part of her life only covers about a chapter. I had no idea that her childhood was a struggle where she had trouble finding her place or feeling cared for. She writes with honesty about her difficult life and about her need to surround herself with unhealthy relationships. It was hard to read at times, but overall, it was an interesting tale of a woman who now stands strong.

I absolutely flew through the pages of this book in just a few days, it was so engaging. What a beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking story. So many moments in the book that I wanted to scream at her mother, David and anyone else who caused the pain she endured. Many tears shed as I felt my heart breaking over and over again, especially in the last days with her mother.

I grew up with a pretty great childhood, so it just seems so unimaginable that stories like this exist and this beautiful woman has not only risen like a phoenix from the ashes, but she has worked to support other women in their rise from shame. There are so many lessons to be learned from Minka's healing, even for those of us that didn't experience a fraction of what she did.

Truly a beautiful testament to the power of doing the work of healing your trauma and I am certainly a full-fledged Minka fan after this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Writing an autobiography like this, especially with the trauma that Minka experienced, is very vulnerable. Minka deserves a lot of applause for creating a different life for herself and recognizing and working towards a better self. I give her a huge amount of credit for sharing her story.

With that being said, this is being released at a time where MANY other autobiographies are being released and this one just didn’t stand up for me compared to some of the others I’ve read recently.

Wow! This was a phenomenal story. The fact that it’s true is heartbreaking. Minka Kelly is an excellent writer and guides the reader through her early childhood trauma at the hands of parents, family, boyfriends, and others. She is brutally honest about the hardships she endured to survive and the work she’s had to do since to thrive. I am so inspired by this woman and the journey of self-awareness that she is now on.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fans of Minka Kelly will be thrilled to get their hands on Tell Me Everything, the new hit memoir revealing Minka Kelly at her most honest and real. Even if you aren't yet a fan, her essays will connect to readers. Minka Kelly exposes her raw depths and just comes across as real and authentic. Readers will find her relatable and enjoy the stories Minka shares throughout her life and growth. Highly recommended!

I am going to be honest I did not know what to expect. I know Minka’s work primarily as a therapist on the show Parenthood. I knew she was incredibly talented and obviously beautiful but had no idea what she has been through and what a gifted writer she is. Her story is honest and touching and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I could not put this book down! I started reading and stayed up late just to finish it. I haven't really followed the author's life. When I saw this book was coming out, I thought I would really like to get to know more about Minka Kelly so decided to read it. I'm so glad I did. You never really know what people have gone through or are going through when you see them on your screen or interviewed on the morning shows. The normal press interviews cover the most recent project or ask light questions like what the actors' favorite food or summer activity is. In this book you will get to know her and how she became the person she is today. I appreciated her openness and honesty about her life. I felt like she was sharing an intimate part of herself with me the reader. I was honored to read about her personal life and am in awe of her determination and resilience. Whether you are a fan of hers or just wanting to get to know more about her, you will definitely love the book!

I knew very little about Minka Kelly prior to reading this memoir about her run-ins with Hollywood, modeling, and learning to love her true self, and I'm so happy I got to jump in on this ride with her, NetGalley, and Henry Holt Books. Tell Me Everything has a publication date of May 2, 2023, and I'm so excited for more of my pals to get their hands on this text.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Minka Kelly bares her soul in this raw, unabashed telling of her upbringing as the daughter to a mother who struggled to take care of herself, let some a child and the challenges life presented to them. It made me want to cry for her, cheer her on as she overcame adversity, discovered the joys of loving yourself and making the conscious decision to put yourself and your needs first. Thank you for sharing your story!

Never judge a book by its cover. It's a simple phrase that comes with so much complexity. We see a beautiful celebrity and assume that equals happiness. Minka Kelly shatters all of the preconceived notions and stereotypes that come with being famous. She tells us everything; the good, the bad, and everything in between.

I have been a fan of Minka's since I saw her on 'Friday Night Lights'. Her character was a wholesome girl who seemed to have a picture-perfect life, and if I'm being honest I assumed that translated to her personal life. Boy was I wrong.

From childhood, Minka never had a 'normal life'. Her mother worked as a stripper, was a single mother, and dealt with addiction. That left Minka to fend for herself and do whatever she could to survive. She jumped around a lot never having a steady place to live. As she described her younger years going into her teenage years, I could see how she put on a brave face to hide her vulnerability. I also realized how childhood/young adult trauma can leave a lasting effect on a person. There are times when she mentions not wanting to become her mother, and yet she can't help but fall into some of the same patterns.

I felt for Minka because she had to grow up really fast. As a reader, it was easy to put the blame on her mother for not taking care of her the way a mother should. But at the same time, I felt compassion for her because she was dealt a tough hand. And I continued to feel this way especially when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Minka was in her late 20s filming 'Friday Night Lights' and was dealing with this news all on her own. She denied it until she couldn't anymore. The beautiful part of this tragedy is that Minka finally understood, forgave, and respected the choices Maureen made.

I didn't expect this book to hit as hard as it did emotionally. I shed a few tears, which isn't normal for me because the writing is so compelling yet brutally honest. I applaud Minka for telling me everything about love, loss, heartbreak, guilt, hope, and forgiveness . Tell Me Everything is one of my favorite memoirs I have read this year!

Thank you Netgalley & Henry Holt and Co for the advanced reader copy. I didn't really know much about Minka Kelly or follow her career in any way, but I love memoirs and celebrity things so wanted to check this out. Minka Kelly's childhood was anything but ideal with an absentee father, a mother who has substance abuse issues, violence, neglect and a lot of sadness. Over 70% of the book covers Minka's formative childhood and young adult life and her ability to survive and ultimately reinvent herself and find stability after so much instability. The last quarter features being discovered as a model and then ultimately landing Friday Night Lights along with the loss of her mother.

If you are looking for juicy hollywood gossip this isn't the book for you. While, Minka's story of survival and growth is incredible, this wasn't one of my favorite memoirs and I just found it okay.

4.5 stars rounded up!

In “Tell Me Everything,” actress Minka Kelly shares her life story, and it’s an intense, compelling one. I was a fan of “Friday Night Lights,” have seen some of her more recent work, and—yes—read a good deal of celebrity news, so I knew the bits and pieces of her early life that became part of her public profile: Stripper mom. Absent musician dad. Nomadic, underprivileged childhood. These scant details were already heavy enough, yet I always had the feeling she had much more to say. With this memoir, she finally reveals a fuller picture of herself, and while it’s not one that can be easily packaged in glossy print magazines and clickbait headlines, it’s an important story about what it was like to grow up in a world in which food on the table and a bed to sleep in wasn’t guaranteed and how being pliable, uncomplaining, and emotionally guarded helped her survive her childhood but would later make adult interactions and relationships difficult for her.

If you’re looking for a celebrity memoir with juicy Hollywood gossip, let me save you some trouble: This is not that kind of book. It’s more complex and substantial than that. “Tell Me Everything” is about the neglect and abuse Minka endured in her young life. It’s about her complicated relationship with her mother Maureen, both as a child desperate for attention and stability from her and as an adult trying to understand and make peace with her shortcomings. It’s about Minka trying to avoid making the same mistakes as her parent, but still on occasion getting close to following in her footsteps because all she was familiar with was dysfunction. And, most of all, it’s about the work she’s done and is doing to unlearn the unhealthy behaviors and perspectives she picked up growing up in chaotic, harmful environments and witnessing toxic relationships.

One of the few weaknesses of this memoir is that a chunk of Minka’s life appears to be missing from it. The book seems to jump from her working on “Friday Night Lights” and losing her mom in her mid-20s to dealing with another loss later in her life when she’s more established in Los Angeles, possibly in her late 30s/early 40s though the timing isn’t clearly stated. Since this gap was a busy time in her film and television career—and typically a formative period in most people’s lives—the omission is somewhat puzzling and leaves the reader a bit wanting. She may have skipped over this period because events from then are not as relevant to the themes of her memoir, or maybe she is still working on processing and accepting those events, or perhaps she’s not comfortable sharing details about famous friends, romantic partners, and work colleagues. It could very well be all of those things. Nonetheless, the memoir and its messages are still strong and worth reading without it.

Given the difficult situations she has had to overcome and the complicated people in her life, it’s understandable why Minka has held back her life story from the public for so long. It is an account that needed to be told from her perspective when she was ready to share it, with sensitivity and nuance. Though “Tell Me Everything” can be raw and painful at times to read, it’s also a beautiful and touching tribute to unconventional women and families of all forms.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. My review was posted online on February 27, 2023 to: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5246743251.

Tell Me Everything is the story of Minka Kelly’s life, in all of its grit and glory. It is an exceptionally well written memoir that brought me to tears and made me feel so much compassion for the author.

This is truly a story of childhood trauma, and I am amazed by the brutal honesty Minka employed in bravely telling her story. There are so many adults out there that will read this and see echoes of their own childhood, and I believe her story would be incredibly inspiring to anyone who reads this. The story itself is gripping, and I didn’t want to put it down. The author has a way of writing that showed you the ugly side but also her small moments of joy and connection in her early life.

It is easy to see why Kelly is now involved in philanthropy and helping others. She had a difficult upbringing with a difficult parental relationship, and she is absolutely a survivor for pulling herself out of the endless cycle of couch surfing and not having money for dinner that she grew up in. I hope that this book brought her a form of catharsis, and I believe she has such an important story to share. I love her focus on the importance of therapy to help overcome personal trauma.

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.