Justine Bateman - Face

Praise for Fame: The Hijacking of Reality

Justine Bateman was famous before selfies replaced autographs, and bags of fan mail gave way to Twitter shitstorms. And heres the good news: she took notes along the way. Justine steps through the looking glass of her own celebrity, shatters it, and pieces together, beyond the shards and splinters, a reflection of her true self. The transformation is breathtaking. Revelatory and raucous, fascinating and frightening, Fame is a hell of a ride.

Michael J. Fox, actor, author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future

In Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, the two-time Emmy nominee takes a raw look at the culture of celebrity, reflecting on her stardom at its dizzying peakand the disconcerting feeling as it began to fade.

People

Wholly riveting.

New York Times Book Review

If youve ever dreamed of being famous someday, you need to read this book. If youve ever called a celebrity a has-been or a flash in the pan on social media, then you really need to read this book. Justine Bateman has crafted the most compelling and comprehensive treatise on the nature of fame that youre ever likely to read. Through a fearless act of self-examination, which she conducts with the scientific detachment of an anthropologist, Bateman illuminates both the short- and long-term effects of attempting to navigate the labyrinth of celebrity.

Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One

Justine Bateman, in a voice both empathetic and take-no-prisoners, has produced a fascinating look at the psychology of present-day fame. She traces its roots down to humble beginnings in the injured psyche of every human, hoping to find a cure for what ails us all. In these early, heady days of the ascension of social media, in which everyone seems able to fulfill the Warholian dictum of fifteen minutes, Bateman casts a sober, never overly serious eye on todays media landscape and emerges without cynicism on the hard-won side of love and acceptance.

David Duchovny, actor, author of Miss Subways

I thought my ideas about fame were intractable until Justine Bateman took them apart with her relentlessly truthful and engrossing investigation. She mines the subject with bracing honesty, and by including herself in the whole experiment she makes it hard for the reader to avoid examining their own ego, their own social agenda. Justines voice is fresh: she throws down with a free-associating slam that you wont expect but can identify with, and the searching and sometimes profane rant that accompanies each idea is one you cant help but trust. She distills it all into the questions: Why do we value this person over that one? And why do we ultimately resent the ones we overvalue? An honest and eminently quotable rumination by a qualified and intellectually formidable source.

Mary-Louise Parker, actress, author of Dear Mr. You

A smart, unflinching, touching, riveting, one-of-a-kind hybrid of memoir and cultural analysis. Fame in its contemporary form is strange and powerful and deeply American; so is Fame.

Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland

Bateman digs into the out-of-control nature of being famous, its psychological aftermath and why we all cant get enough of it.

New York Post

The Family Ties alum has written the rawest, bleakest book on fame youre ever likely to read. Batemans close-up of the celeb experience features vivid encounters with misogyny, painful meditations on aging in Hollywood, and no shortage of theses on social medias wrath.

Entertainment Weekly

Bateman addresses the reader directly, pouring out her thoughts in a rapid-fire, conversational style. (Hunter S. Thompson is saluted in the acknowledgments.) But her jittery delivery suits the materialthe manic sugar high of celebrity and its inevitable crash. Bateman takes the reader through her entire fame cycle, from TV megastar, whose first movie role was alongside Julia Roberts, to her quieter life today as a filmmaker. She is as relentless with herself as she is with others.

Washington Post

In Justine Batemans Fame, a deeply personal book about the Family Ties actors experience in the limelight, she reminds us that famous people are exactly that: people.

Guardian

Youve never read anything quite like this bookdont call it a memoirby the actress/director/producer best known for her role on the 80s sitcom Family Ties. Its a meditation on fame (if something so raw and full of expletives can be called a meditation), examining what it does to celebritiesand the rest of us.

Newsday

Walking through the familiar trappings of stardomfalse friendships, abusive management, trust issuesBateman underlines with grit the misconceptions of being a luminary which oft lead many to its pursuit.

Womens Review of Books

Instead of crashing and burning, Bateman has found a life outside the maelstrom, ably described in this sharp, take-no-prisoners book.

Kirkus Reviews

Bateman delivers a blisteringly honest analysis of fame and her years in and out of the spotlight Batemans impassioned narrative points out to those who relentlessly seek fame that rather than a blessing, it can be a curse.

Publishers Weekly

[R]azor-sharp Rarely has anyone written so honestly about the experience of being famous. In the interest of better understanding the figures we claim to know and love, Batemans book is a must-read.

Booklist

Actor and writer Bateman reflects on the toxicity of fame in this brutally honest, seemingly cathartic work

Library Journal

A raw look into stardom and how notoriety got to now with a style that would make Bukowski proud. Justine gives us a vivid, sharp, and forceful read.

Jerry OConnell, actor

Fame grabs you by the lapels. A raw, raging blast of honesty aimed squarely at what being famous is, does, and means; the absurd gravity of it, and the myriad public, personal, and private distortions it precipitates. This is a bracing read.

Jon Cryer, actor, author of So That Happened

I met Justine Bateman in 1988, when she was one of the most famous women in the world. For over three decades we have walked through this life together. Fame is a sociopop culture frontline must-read, told by one of the funniest, most powerful and elevated women I have ever met in my life.

Kelly Cutrone, fashion publicist, author of If You Have to Cry, Go Outside

FACE

ONE SQUARE FOOT OF SKIN

JUSTINE BATEMAN

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Published by Akashic Books

2021 Justine Bateman

ISBN: 978-1-61775-922-2

E-ISBN: 978-1-61775-937-6

Library of Congress Control Number 2020947283

First printing

Akashic Books

Brooklyn, New York

Twitter: @AkashicBooks

Facebook: AkashicBooks

E-mail:

Website: www.akashicbooks.com

To all the current and future older broads out theremay you always qualify for that honor

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