Lucinda Bassett - Truth Be Told: A Memoir of Success, Suicide, and Survival

Talk about having your cheese moved! This memoir is an extraordinary example of how you can survive and thrive in the face of unfair change.

Spencer Johnson, MD
Author of Who Moved My Cheese? and
coauthor of The One Minute Manager

The human spirit inspires all of us to help another, with the benefit of our own experiences, trials, and tribulations. Lucindas book is an honest, open, quieting story that so many spouses and family members who have lost loved ones, or experienced extreme tragedy, will learn from. Love and honesty with one another is what improves us all, and Lucinda does just that in Truth Be Told. It is so worth reading!

Delilah
National radio personality and author

Truth Be Told tells an intimate, powerful, and riveting story of success and loss. Everyone has tragedies in their lives; it is what one does with them that matters most. This book will be an inspiration to many, especially to anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide. I highly recommend it.

Daniel G. Amen, MD
Author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life and
Unleash the Power of the Female Brain

In this brilliantly courageous and candid book, Lucinda opens up about topics of pain that are so taboo most people choose to keep them in the closet. These are the unspeakable topics that people do not want to address; child sexual abuse and suicide. In this bold, powerful memoir, not only does Lucinda address these topics, but she demonstrates the power of the human spirit to move beyond the suffering. This inspiring book will help anyone who has been traumatized by either to understand that healing is possible.

Arlene Drake, PhD
Expert/Adult Survivors Sexual Abuse

Lucinda Bassetts life journey will inspire others to move beyond extreme pain and find peace again. I recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss and heartbreakand that would be just about everyone.

Kenny Loggins
Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, and author

These are difficult times, and many people are experiencing tremendous anxiety, loss, and tragedy. This compelling memoir is a timely reminder that hope, loved ones, patience, and strong conviction and belief in your own ability to survive, and eventually thrive again, will ultimately get you through and absolutely make you stronger. An excellent, intimate, and highly motivating read.

George J. Pratt, PhD
Coauthor of Code to Joy and past chairman of psychology
at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, CA

This is an incredibly moving and candid story of one the most loving and successful couples in direct-response television who made it their business to help people. In this powerful memoir, Lucinda has chosen once again to use her pain and struggle to help others heal. A beautiful tribute to her husband, and an inspiring read for anyone who has experienced tragedy or loss.

Bill Guthy
Cofounder of Guthy-Renker

Having been honored to review Lucinda Bassetts remarkable memoir, this day ends with a feeling of gratitude and peace. Lucindas capacity for love, empathy, and forgiveness is her key. I believe that destiny follows from a life that touches fellow travelers in those shared moments of love and beauty that transcend the inevitable losses that intrude in this gift of being.

Owen Stanley Surman, MD
Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and
associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told

A MEMOIR OF
SUCCESS, SUICIDE, AND SURVIVAL

Lucinda Bassett

An Imprint of Sterling Publishing
387 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016

STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered
trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

2013 by Lucinda Bassett
Photographs 2013 by Lucinda Bassett

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

ISBN 978-1-4027-8944-1

Some of the names and details have been changed to protect peoples privacy.

Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing
c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6

For information about custom editions, special sales, and premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales at 800-805-5489
or specialsales@sterlingpublishing.com.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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www.sterlingpublishing.com

Contents

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my best friend, life partner, and my biggest fan David. Thank you for giving me two beautiful children, a wonderful family life, and for helping me to build an amazing career. Thank you for showing all of us through all the years we had you, how a man should love a woman, and how a father should love his children. Thank you for believing in me and helping me to find my star while helping millions of people all over the world. We still greatly struggle with the fact that you left us, but as I am learning, that was your journey. Our duty to you and to ourselves is to continue to live well, in spite of your choice. That is the challenge we face. We all miss you so much it hurts every single day, almost every single moment, honestly. I will always love you, and I doubt Ill find another man like you. You were such a giver. Until we meet again

What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.

Muriel Rukeyser

THE IRONY IS THAT my biggest fear for many years was a fear of going crazy, fear of losing my mind. Who would have thought that twenty-five years later, my partner, lover, and best friend, one of the most together, sane people I knew, would lose his.

Two days ago was the three-year anniversary of my husband Davids death, and no matter how much time goes by, it is still excruciatingly painful. And the worst part is I really have no one to share the grief with. My kids have decided to ignore it or disown it, all in an attempt to forget it. Right.

The two people who I should have been sharing the grieving process with on this painful day, my two children, Brittany and Sammy, simply cant deal with the horrific memory of that day when David took his life. If he had died in a car accident, of a heart attack, or from some disease, it would be so different. But when someone you love commits suicide, when someone chooses to leave you, there is a huge amount of guilt, blame, anger, and shame that goes with itso much that its unbearable.

You would think after three years, three years you could at least talk about it.

When I called my daughter to remind her what day it was, she broke into tears, got angry with me, and said, Dont bring it up again.

Okay. If thats the reaction I got from her, I told myself, Id best not say anything to remind my son. Instead, I poured a glass of wine and sat at my laptop flipping through files of family photospictures of David: the father, the husband, on ski trips, at graduations, with friends, with his dog, at Christmases, in family portraits, and on camping trips all gone now. I cried. I kept crying. I wanted to throw up. What was he thinking?