--- title: One Direction Book and Celebrity Autobiography Secrets description: We hope the One Direction memoir is just as scintillating as these five classics canonical: https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-07T13:00:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:35.540Z article:section: History og:title: One Direction Book and Celebrity Autobiography Secrets og:description: We hope the One Direction memoir is just as scintillating og:url: https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf147f19354e6b085/6986a72fe8524b002e6051ce/455895400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 2 - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: One Direction Book and Celebrity Autobiography Secrets twitter:description: We hope the One Direction memoir is just as scintillating twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf147f19354e6b085/6986a72fe8524b002e6051ce/455895400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Shocking Secrets That Celebrities Revealed in Autobiographies > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 7, 2014 1:00 PM UTC  One Direction poses in the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 2 One Direction poses in the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 2 Steve Granitz—WireImage by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 7, 2014 1:00 PM UTC Tuesday marks the release of the One Direction’s autobiography [_Who We Are_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0007577311/ref=cm%5Fsw%5Fsu%5Fdp?tag=harpercollinsus-20) — that’s one memoir for all five of them, which we guess means they’re officially a single entity — which promises to provide, per the publisher’s description, “intimate insights” into their lives. But, considering the band’s need to appeal to young fans, it’s hard to believe that the revelations will be all too shocking. Not that it never happens: celebrities have been known to disclose jaw-dropping tidbits of what happened behind the scenes. Here are five controversial moments revealed in the highest-brow genre of all genres: The celebrity autobiography. **Christina Crawford,** [**_Mommie Dearest_**](http://www.amazon.com/Mommie-Dearest-Christina-Crawford/dp/0966336909) Crawford’s hard-hitting 1978 memoir was one of Hollywood’s first and darkest celebrity tell-alls. Predating the film, _Mommie Dearest_ outline’s Joan Crawford’s abusive parenting — including beating her daughter after discovering she had hung her clothes on wire hangers in the closet. While the “no more wire hangers!” line has become kitsch since the release of the film, its revelation in the autobiography was chilling. **Melissa Joan Hart,** [**_Melissa Explains It All_**](http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Explains-It-All-Abnormally/dp/1250032830)**_:_**The fact that Hart [didn’t like her animatronic cat co-star Salem](http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/melissa-joan-hart-didnt-like-salem-the-cat.html) on _Sabrina The Teenage Witch_ only scrapes the surface of the shocking revelations of Hart’s tell-all. The former child star claims to have [taken Britney Spears to her first club,](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2487428/Melissa-Joan-Hart-took-Britney-Spears-club.html) hooked up with Ryan Reynolds and done her fair share of [making out with girls while on hard drugs on the way home from a Playboy Mansion party.](http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/09/25/melissa-joan-hart-drug-use-details-shock-in-new-tell-all/) **Andre Agassi,** [**_Open_**](http://www.amazon.com/Open-An-Autobiography-Andre-Agassi/dp/0307388409) The tennis star admits to lying about [using crystal meth](http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=4600027) in 1997\. He writes: “I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed. There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful — and I’ve never felt such energy. I’m seized by a desperate desire to clean. I go tearing around my house, cleaning it from top to bottom. I dust the furniture. I scour the tub. I make the beds.” **Rosie O’Donnell,** [**_Celebrity Detox_**](http://www.amazon.com/Celebrity-Detox-The-Fame-Game/dp/B002U0KT4K)The 2007 memoir tackled everything from O’Donnell’s difficult relationship with Barbara Walters on _The View —_ and with Donald Trump in essentially every medium — to dark times in her childhood. O’Donnell reveals that she used to break her own limbs using a baseball bat and wooden hanger, “My hands and fingers usually. No one knew. It was a secret…\[as\] proof I had some value, enough to be fixed.” O’Donnell hints but doesn’t expand on another potential motivation: “There were many benefits to having a cast. In the middle of the night, it was a weapon.” **Morrissey,** [**_Autobiography_**](http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Morrissey/dp/0399171541)Sure, Morrissey writes about his first relationship with a man (at 35), falling victim to an attempted kidnapping and his near death during childbirth. But the real stunner is the fact that he could have had a role on _Friends_ [and said no](https://uk.celebrity.yahoo.com/news/morrisseys-autobiography-shocking-revelations-091658311.html). He writes, “I am asked if I’d jump in on a newly jumbled plot-line with the character Phoebe in the Central Perk diner, where I am requested to sing ‘in a really depressing voice.’ Within seconds of the proposal, I wind down the fire-escape like a serpent, and it’s goodbye to Hollywood yet again.” **_Read TIME’s original review of_** **Mommie Dearest** **_here, in the archives:_** [Joan Crawford’s Other Life](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,948345,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/"},"headline":"5 Shocking Secrets That Celebrities Revealed in Autobiographies","datePublished":"2014-10-07T13:00:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:35.540Z","description":"We hope the One Direction memoir is just as scintillating as these five classics","url":"https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/","keywords":["Books","Newsfeed","Music","Memoir","entertainment","celebrity","One Direction"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf147f19354e6b085/6986a72fe8524b002e6051ce/455895400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf147f19354e6b085/6986a72fe8524b002e6051ce/455895400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 2 - Press Room","caption":"2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival - Night 2 - Press Room","creditText":"Steve Granitz—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3462433/celebrity-autobiographies/","name":"5 Shocking Secrets That Celebrities Revealed in Autobiographies"}}]}] ```