Mean Baby

A Memoir of Growing Up

By: Selma Blair

Narrated by: Selma Blair

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Selma Blair has played many roles: Ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best as … a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.

"Blair is a rebel, an artist, and it turns out: a writer." —Glennon Doyle, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Untamed and Founder of Together Rising

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.

Over the course of this beautiful and, at times, devasting memoir, Selma lays bare her addiction to alcohol, her devotion to her brilliant and complicated mother, and the moments she flirted with death. There is brutal violence, passionate love, true friendship, the gift of motherhood, and, finally, the surprising salvation of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

In a voice that is powerfully original, fiercely intelligent, and full of hard-won wisdom, Selma Blair’s Mean Baby is a deeply human memoir and a true literary achievement.

Story was interesting

Interesting story, however I always find it difficult to listen to someone that cries so frequently during the read. Understand that the author wants to express emotion but comes off overly dramatic. Not for me.

Wow

I couldn’t decipher what was more shocking her drinking or her MS struggle. The drinking by far. Perfectly narrated by Selma Blair her humbleness is apparent throughout.

Beautiful Resilience

A memoir of maternal damage, self-destruction, pain, joy, love and beautiful resilience. Creative story telling and her narration full of emotion feels as if she is talking directly to me. Her description of being diagnosed with MS is so relatable to what I know so many of us have experienced with incurable chronic illness.
Excellent book! I highly recommend listening to the audio version. ❤️💜

Absolutely loved!

Coming from someone battling the autoimmune diagnosis, her book was very relatable. Gives you a new insight on the daily lives of those we watch on the screen!

Introspective, thoughtful

Fascinating psychological look at the actors life through the beauty of hindsight. She is sympathetic, very candid and I’m rooting for her!