Since then, the publishers have followed the standard PR protocol for celebrity memoirs: maintain a drip-feed of carefully chosen “leaks” from the book, the more straightforwardly ‘scandalous’ the better. A similar modus operandi was followed by some of the other celebrity memoirs this year, including Prince Harry’s Spare, Paris Hilton’s Paris and Patrick Stewart’s Making it So. Spears’s book is about losing one’s autonomy, and the ignominy of losing it to a trusted family member. Simpson’s book is largely about the tabloid culture of the 90s, and how it chewed up and spat out young, female stars like herself. One big reason why celebrity memoirs are expected to be extra ‘scandalous’ today — and why so many of them fail to be that way — is the post-Instagram grammar of celebrity social media interaction.

Source: The Hindu October 27, 2023 13:03 UTC