upper cut highlights of my hollywood life

#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life full#
#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life professional#
#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life tv#

The reader sees the train wreck, but the character does not, which is the case in life, and allows the reader to sympathize with a little girl who becomes the alcoholic mother from whom she disconnected. Again, the consequences are not spelled out until the children themselves are old enough to begin articulating their disappointment. We watch her drive for success keep her from being present for her own children. She is a chameleon, cleverly fitting in to whatever environment she finds herself, including drugs and alcohol when she arrives at Hollywood High School.įrom high school, White dives into the world of hairdressing, a field dominated by men. Like White herself, we don't have the luxury of reflecting upon how dysfunctional her upbringing is: we just move on to the next thing White has to do in order to survive. The author's voice remains objective, yet still intimate, which has the effect of allowing the reader to grow up in her shoes as opposed to through the author's reflection of pathos for the obvious consequences her circumstances have on her psyche. A page-turner, White delivers her story with sparse, conversational prose as if you were sitting at her chair, while she works her magic on your hair, only she does this on the page.īeginning with the childhood memory of her father walking out of the room and never returning, White delivers the successive tragedies of her neglected and abused life growing up in Pacoima with an alcoholic mother. The result is a blend of the celebrity memoir with the popularly growing recovery memoir.

#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life full#

' ― TCM.com “White offers a mesmerizing lens into the lives of the bold-facers that called Hollywood home in the sixties and seventies as only a hairstylist could everyone knows that the salon floor is where all the best gossip happens.' ― “Hair! Drugs! Rock 'n' roll! Redemption! You MUST buy this book, and also give a copy to your stylist.” ― 'A riveting tale.' ―Jackie CollinsĬarrie White's debut book Upper Cut is a memoir, but not just any memoir: it's chalk full of celebrities she worked with during her sudden rise to success as a hairdresser coupled with a gradual dependence upon alcohol and drugs that unravels everything she has built: an A list clientele, a family and an unlimited future. It captures the turning of decades, the humanity behind the celebrities we elevate to Gods, and the heartbreak of the circle of life. Carrie's story is poignant, sometimes devastating, and ultimately universal. autobiography is as inspirational as it is cautionary, an often larger-than-life story about chasing your dreams, while also offering a graphic depiction of substance abuse. “As one of Hollywood's most sought after hairstylists, White tells a rollercoaster of hair, celebrities and surviving life in the fast lane…White's voice is captivating.and her story is an inspiring one, spiked with Hollywood gossip.” - Publishers Weekly “White writes insightfully…an engaging, celebrity-filled life story.” ― Library Journal 'Carrie White reveals a life as dramatic as any Hollywood movie. An unflinching portrayal of addiction and recovery, Upper Cut proves that even in Hollywood, sometimes you have to fight for a happy ending. But she battled her way back, getting sober, rebuilding her relationships and her reputation as a hairdresser, and today, the name Carrie White is once again on the door of one of Beverly Hills’s most respected salons.

#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life professional#

She fueled the frenetic pace of her professional life with a steady diet of champagne and vodka, diet pills, cocaine, and heroin, until she eventually lost her home, her car, her career―and nearly her children. Carrie was sipping cocktails before her tenth birthday, and had had five children and three husbands before her twenty-eighth.

After her father abandoned the family when she was still a child, she was sexually abused by her domineering stepfather, and her alcoholic mother was unstable and unreliable.

But behind the glamorous facade, Carrie’s world was in perpetual disarray and always had been. She has counted Jennifer Jones, Betsy Bloomingdale, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, and Camille Cosby among her favorite clients. As the “First Lady of Hairdressing,” Carrie collaborated with Richard Avedon on shoots for Vogue, partied with Jim Morrison, gave Sharon Tate her California signature style, and got high with Jimi Hendrix.

#Upper cut highlights of my hollywood life tv#

Behind the scenes of every Hollywood photo shoot, TV appearance, and party in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, there was Carrie White. And I was becoming competition for my heroes. My appointment book was filled with more and more celebrities.

I was making my mark in this all-male field. Shampoo meets You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again in a rollicking and riveting memoir from the woman who for decades styled Hollywood's most celebrated players.