Product Description

Now in paperback with updated photos and additional interviews, The Harder They Fall reveals the intimate thoughts, feelings, regrets, and beliefs of celebrities in recovery. Among those profiled are comedian Richard Pryor; musicians Grace Slick, Dr. John, and Chuck Negron; actors Malcolm McDowell and Mariette Hartley; and athletes Dock Ellis and Gerry Cooney. Addiction devoured their pride and accomplishments until each found the courage to ask for help, the honesty to face their disease, and the strength--ultimately--to rebuild a life of extraordinary success. Here, legendary Los Angeles publicist, Gary Stromberg, gives readers an up-close look at fame and addiction, as told by the stars themselves. These are stories of greatness rebuilt--one day at a time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596179 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The celebrities interviewed here--from Ann Lamott to Alice Cooper--are all in recovery from addictions to alcohol or drugs that originated in the 1960s and '70s. Among them are athletes, musicians, actors and even a member of Congress, Jim Ramstad. With the assistance of veteran writer Merrill, Stromberg, who ran a P.R. firm for musicians and produced films (Car Wash), provides a brief introduction to each subject before eliciting his or her first-person story. Stromberg, a former abuser of heroin, cocaine and alcohol, also shares his spectacular success in the 1970s and his equally dramatic drug-addled fall in 1980, when he lost his home, lover and career. Like many of those he interviewed, he became sober through traditional rehab and recovery programs. But Pete Hamill found his path to sobriety alone by deciding "to live my life without anesthesia, and that meant accepting the pain along with the laughs." Top jockey Pat Day describes how he was saved from drug and alcohol dependence through a commitment to born-again Christianity. The strength of these always honest and affecting anecdotes is, in fact, their variety of paths to recovery; the diversity should help this excellent volume appeal to a wide audience. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Film folk (Mariette Hartley, Malcolm McDowell), musicians (Dr. John, Alice Cooper), athletes (Gerry Cooney, Dock Ellis), and comedians (Richard Lewis, Richard Pryor) as well as one politician (congressman Jim Ramstad) proffer heartfelt as-told-to tales of personal ruin and redemption in this occasionally overamped, dreadfully sincere collection. Three Dog Night singer Chuck Negron kicks things off with a harrowing addict's-progress yarn ("I started with Romilar but heroin became my love"). Slipped a peyote-LSD combo early in his career, Negron missed out, strictly by chance, on the carnage, celebrated in the movie Wonderland, that porn star John Holmes figured in. Dock Ellis tells of pitching a no-hitter while on LSD, and Grace Slick contributes her rich and varied substance-abuse history. As a publication of the famed drug-treatment center Hazelden, there is a religious component at work here, and Stromberg and Merrill leave little doubt as to their absolutist positions on recreational substance abuse. Still, this is a creditable addition to the debauched-celeb literature. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"As an alumni of Hazelden with a proud and grateful 18 years of sobriety, I will never forget just how hard I fell and how Hazelden's hot seat afforded me the opportunity to take a rigorous and hard look at my own behaviors around this disease called addiction.

My own disease would like to tell you that my "isms" are now my "wasms". But as this book reads, it's an ongoing process that leads to the sweetest spirituality.

My hat's off and great Kudos to those that share in their story like it is, for those of us that still need to hear it."
-Steven Tyler 2004

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended. Beautiful and Courageous stories.
You don't have to be interested in reading celebrity stories to enjoy this book. I highly recommend it. I found the book really hard to put down. Because there are so many great short stories, I was able to get a broad view of the disease's nature. Also, I am very impressed with the honesty and vulnerability of the people who shared their stories. They are very human, beautiful and courageous.

Mind Altering Experiences
This book lays entertaining, healing tracks down in your mind!. Even if you're not a big reader, you'll have no trouble getting through it. It's a gripping collection of tales of the most fascinating, diverse celebrities you'd ever want to know, and I think their experiences are identifiable with all human turmoil. They reveal secrets and break through taboos, which is why you'll never forget what they say.

Julie Merle, New York City

Exploring Addiction and Recovery From Celebrity Stories
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (2/06)

In "The Harder They Fall," publicist Gary Stromberg and author Jane Merrill write stories about twenty-one celebrities and their experiences with addictions. Stromberg begins with his own story about how he got addicted and how hard he had to hit bottom before he could climb up on top again.

What really made this book refreshing is that the stories are written about celebrities from a variety of walks of life. They are not just movie stars or musicians, they are also athletes, politicians, writers and even a cowboy. In spite of the difference in their backgrounds, a common thread runs through the lives of these people. The substance abuse usually began as they became famous. Some of these people even thought that they could use the drugs or alcohol as their muses. As they crashed and burned, they had to go into recovery. In most cases, there were relapses. Then the real healing began and as they healed their inner selves, they made peace with their demons and found a better way to live.

This book is really well written. The first thought that came to my mind as I was reading it, was that, "This is a really good book." That is a simple statement, and I know that the authors could have phrased it much better because they write so well, but the bottom line is, I really enjoyed this book.

People who are interested in stories about celebrities will enjoy it. But, I think that a person struggling with an addiction or a person who knows someone close to them that is struggling with an addiction will get the most out of these stories. The reason I feel this is because that the underlying theme is one of hope. These people hit bottom and in many cases they also had to deal with the humiliation of having the public involved in their private lives. But they manage to overcome their addictions and rise above them to become even better, stronger people than they were before.

The authors also mention celebrities that they would have liked to include in the book, but were unable to, because they are dead as a result of their substance abuse. The most famous one was Elvis. The chapter mentioning these people provides a sobering eye opener to what can happen if you do not go into recovery.

Mariette Hartley ends her story with a powerful quote from a woman that was her spiritual advisor, "One's deepest wounds, integrated, become one's greatest powers." This quote sums up the outcome of people that survive addiction and make it through recovery. I highly recommend this book.