Okay, but what really happened with you and your secret husband? (It does rate a brief mention in the book, along with the disclaimer that she can’t legally discuss it. Sigh.)
If those are the kinds of things you want to know more about, you’ll probably have to run into Jackson in a bar somewhere in a distant country and get her very, very drunk, if that’s even possible, or wait for Kitty Kelley or J. Randy Taraborrelli to take her on as an unauthorized biography subject. If juicy gossip is not what you’re looking for, then “True You” might have some value.
In the book, Jackson talks mainly about her struggles for self-acceptance, despite her money, beauty, famous family and celebrity. While she speaks eloquently on those topics, there are two inherent problems with “True You.”
The first is that it’s just difficult to relate to the personal issues of someone who was raised with so much privilege and who has enjoyed so much fame and success. Jackson is undeniably human, and therefore, it’s not particularly surprising that she, too, has dealt with issues of self-esteem, doubt, family, body image and relationships. Some of the information she provides about her life is new – attending a school with a more diverse student body that helped her to appreciate her own ethnic background is one revelation. Given her sheltered background, it makes sense, but it reads almost as though she viewed herself as someone from a different race in the first place. Insider information about certain things – like her tortured time on “Fame” and her brief marriage to James DeBarge – are interesting, but as Jackson has lived so much of her life in the public eye, very little of the book seems as though we’re hearing anything new.
The other part is that Jackson doesn’t provide much context. Sure, she was teased by her brothers, nothing that anyone with several siblings couldn’t understand. Her father was famously distant, and her mother, although loving, had to distribute her affection over several children as the matriarch of a large family. There’s little about Jackson’s relationship with her sisters or any kind or unkind words they may have used, which is odd considering she’s the youngest of the three Jackson girls. (Did LaToya provide any makeup advice? Did Rebbie talk to her about dating?) And while the book is meant to be empowering and Jackson shares several letters from fans encouraged by her work, it definitely seems to be geared toward a younger audience or one of hardcore Jackson fans.
That said, one of the nice surprises of “True You” are the rare photos (including a wonderful shot of Janet and Michael in the late Jackson 5 days) and the conclusion featuring a contribution from Jackson’s nutritionist, David Allen. He shares information about Jackson’s yo-yo dieting efforts and why working out, however intensely, is but one part of a total weight loss program. He offers some great nutritional tips, as well as several recipes that assist healthy eating, of which Jackson assures readers she and her friends have road-tested and throroughly approve.
That Allen’s relationship with Jackson provides some of the more compelling aspects of the book may just be a casualty of Jackson’s years of celebrity and her unwillingness to share any more intimate details …..
