Unbearable Lightness – Portia de Rossi

 Unbearable Lightness:  A Story of Loss & Gain
 By:  Portia de Rossi
 Published:  2010
 Pages:  320
 Genre:  Biography

 

Model and Ally McBeal actress, Portia de Rossi, gives us a candid description of her struggles with anorexia in her biography Unbearable Lightness.  Her brutal honesty about the destructive thought processes that accompany this disease was courageous and hopefully cathartic for her as well.  But with her only sustainable relationship being with food, it was very one-dimensional.  Maybe that was the point, to show how all-consuming it was.  But the constant ritual of yogurt and exercise became monotonous and boring. 

Her popularity and platform could have been better used to help inspire young women, especially those who struggle with the same disease.  Instead, it reads more like a How-To book for girls who desparately want to be thinner. 

For the Ellen fans out there who had hoped that this book would shed some light on their relationship, the only mention of her relationship with Ellen is in the epilogue where she refers to Ellen as saving her.  It makes you wonder if she has really won the battle against this disease.  Someone else can’t save you from your demons.  Only you can save yourself.