Richard Dawson
While it’s undeniable that the list of everything Hayden went through is shocking, I felt that a lot of these issues were skimmed past quite quickly in This Is Me: A Reckoning. For example, how did she forgive Wladimir after he surprised her by suing for legal custody of their child? After her mother’s threat of ‘you owe me’ when Hayden asked her to step back from the business side of her life and just be a mom, where do they stand now? There were also sections which I felt were completely skipped over, like her much-publicised interviews after the death of her brother where she was slurring her words. I was expecting her to address this, but instead, the book finished quite abruptly after his death. In fact, I have learned more about her past through the interviews she has conducted to promote this book than from the book itself.
The level of detail sometimes felt like ‘this happened and then this happened’, a trap which celebrity memoirs can often fall into. I don’t think it helps that this is very obviously ghostwritten, which makes it harder to connect with her as a person.
None of the men in this book come off particularly well. The break-up of her age-gap relationship with Milo Ventimiglia sounded humiliating. Wladimir Klitschko’s secrecy and his view of a woman’s role in a relationship and as a mother were infuriating. Lastly, her depiction of domestic abuser Brian Hickerson is unpleasantly favourable; they are still in contact, and he even said in a recent interview that he hopes to marry her one day! I hope for Hayden’s sake she finds someone more deserving.
As a fan of Nashville, I was sad that it did not sound like a positive experience for her, nor a place where she built lasting friendships.
I wish the best for Hayden and hope to see her happy and thriving as an actress in the future.
While it’s undeniable that the list of everything Hayden went through is shocking, I felt that a lot of these issues were skimmed past quite quickly in This Is Me: A Reckoning. For example, how did she forgive Wladimir after he surprised her by suing for legal custody of their child? After her mother’s threat of ‘you owe me’ when Hayden asked her to step back from the business side of her life and just be a mom, where do they stand now? There were also sections which I felt were completely skipped over, like her much-publicised interviews after the death of her brother where she was slurring her words. I was expecting her to address this, but instead, the book finished quite abruptly after his death. In fact, I have learned more about her past through the interviews she has conducted to promote this book than from the book itself.
The level of detail sometimes felt like ‘this happened and then this happened’, a trap which celebrity memoirs can often fall into. I don’t think it helps that this is very obviously ghostwritten, which makes it harder to connect with her as a person.
None of the men in this book come off particularly well. The break-up of her age-gap relationship with Milo Ventimiglia sounded humiliating. Wladimir Klitschko’s secrecy and his view of a woman’s role in a relationship and as a mother were infuriating. Lastly, her depiction of domestic abuser Brian Hickerson is unpleasantly favourable; they are still in contact, and he even said in a recent interview that he hopes to marry her one day! I hope for Hayden’s sake she finds someone more deserving.
As a fan of Nashville, I was sad that it did not sound like a positive experience for her, nor a place where she built lasting friendships.
I wish the best for Hayden and hope to see her happy and thriving as an actress in the future.