The Biggest Bombshells From Celebrity Books, Ranked
Anybody who’s anybody has a celebrity memoir to their name. But if today’s stars want their autobiographical books to rise to the very top of bestsellers’ lists, they really have to deliver the goods. The very best ones give us something new: maybe they dish up previously unknown details about celebrities’ personal lives, or perhaps they finally explain the truth behind longstanding rumors. So, we’ve collected the most shocking, revealing, and scandalous celebrity books ever so that you don’t have to.
40. Spare by Prince Harry
There are so many stories from Prince Harry's much-anticipated autobiography, Spare, that they could fill an entire article. But the one we're choosing for this list is about his royal, ahem, package. In the book, Harry recounts how he suffered from a frostbitten member while he attended the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. "What was the universe trying to say to me by depriving me of both my penis and my brother?" he wrote, rather memorably.
39. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Former first lady Michelle Obama intended her second book, The Light We Carry, to be a "toolkit to live boldly." But after the book came out in 2022, the headlines focused on her admission that she “hates” her appearance “all the time and no matter what.” Obama wrote that she often wants to turn off the bathroom light after she takes a look at herself in the mornings.
38. Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man by Paul Newman
Screen legend Paul Newman died in 2008, but he released an autobiography in 2022. For the book — which is based on recently discovered recordings the actor made before his death — Newman wanted "to leave some kind of record that sets things straight." But the thing everyone took away from the resulting memoir was that he liked to have sex with his wife, Joanne Woodward. "Joanne gave birth to a sexual creature," Newman wrote. "We left a trail of lust all over the place. Hotels and public parks and Hertz Rent-A-Cars."
37. Open Book by Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson revealed many stunning details about her much-talked-about life in Open Book. But among the most shocking of them — including her struggles with body dysmorphia and her high-profile relationships — is that she took diet pills for 20 years. This happened, Simpson wrote, because music producer Tommy Mottola told the then-17-year-old star to "lose 15 pounds." The comment made her "immediately" turn to diet pills — and resulted in a lifetime of body image issues.
