The best beach reads are typically breezy novels that don’t require heavy concentration or a thesaurus. Come June, bookstores stock their summer section with romance and chic-lit. In my opinion, celebrity memoirs are sorely missing from that category as their pages virtually turn themselves, perfect for sun-soaked days and short attention spans.

We can’t get enough dirt on stars’ scars and suds — and tell-alls promise to tell us everything we want to know and often surprise us in unexpected ways. They peek behind the curtain of the public persona: fame, fandom, and opulence in ways we can only dream of.

But the special sauce of a memorable celebrity memoir is vulnerability — relatable stories of less-than-perfect upbringings, painful uncouplings, career failings, health struggles, and the complicated mess of being human. These reveals remind us that celebs are, indeed, just like us.

Fire up your Kindle (or muscle up to tote around the hardcover), pack travel tissues, and be prepared to ignore calls and emails, just like VIP. 

Best celebrity memoirs to read this summer

Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth

You devoured the Netflix series, then watched the Hulu documentary to hear the real story. If you weren’t already in love with Pamela Anderson, you might be in admiration of the world’s biggest sex symbol, whose heart is arguably bigger than her star status.

From her discovery story at age 22, her tumultuous — and surprisingly tender — relationship with rocker Tommy Lee, struggles being typecast, and the whole sex tape debacle that won’t leave her alone, Love, Pamela is a vulnerable tale of wild success and equally untamed heartbreak.

What makes Anderson’s memoir uniquely detailed is her ability to source the dozens of journals she’s kept throughout her life. If you want to learn how to carpe diem, Anderson shows us how to forgive, trust fall, and live fully. 

Tell Me Everything: A Memoir

If you missed the 2006 high school football drama Friday Night Lights, you might not know actress Minka Kelly by name. FNL fans hoping Kelly spills the tea on the popular show’s cast may be disappointed that only a few pages are devoted to that time in her life.

However, any reader who loves a rags-to-riches story will devour Kelly’s aching memoir of resilience and recovery. To give you an idea of the instability and dysfunction she grew up in, for a time, Kelly lived in a storage unit with her mother, a stripper who struggled with addiction.

The weight of her childhood doesn’t get any lighter in her young adulthood: depression, abuse, assault, and the inevitability of her repeating familial patterns. But her commitment to breaking the cycle, which radically changes the trajectory of her life, is bold and beautiful. 

I’m Glad My Mom Died

Another memoir rooted in an early life without a safety net, Jennette McCurdy grew up in the limelight as a child star and in the shadows of an abusive mother. Fame and a less-than-perfect home life led to battles with addiction and eating disorders.

What else can you expect from a memoir named I’m Glad My Mom Died? A book that achieves a rare blend of heartbreak and humor. It also deliberately gives away her turning point, a road that veers away from acting and toward the two s’s — self-discovery and self-love. 

Pageboy

Whatever happened to the actor who wowed audiences with their portrayal of a pregnant teen in the 2007 indie hit Juno? Inquiring minds catapulted Elliot Page’s memoir, Pageboy, to first position on The New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction. Straying from your swimlane after establishing yourself in Hollywood is a big no-no, and coming out as queer and, more recently, transgender, is a role you can’t prepare for. 

Page dedicates the book to “all those who came before” and says that violence against the LGBTQIA+ community was the impetus behind sharing his story. From multiple accounts of abuse, self-harm, and eating disorders, Page has had his share of trauma and is now stepping into a “body that feels my own.” Page’s story is a brave one of radical honesty and, ultimately, freedom. 

Spare

If there’s an obsession greater than celebrity, it’s the lives of royals. In Spare, Prince Harry spills the (English) tea on the most famous family across the pond, living in the public eye, and his decision to live a “normal life.”

Losing himself when he lost his mother, his search for stability and love led him to the British Army, then his romance and marriage to Meghan Markle. Disappointment and racism followed, and in Spare, so do amends for his own past mistakes.

A story of grief and insurmountable loss, Prince Harry proves that love, time, and maturity can heal even the deepest and most public wounds. 

Wildflower: A Memoir

Sustainable fashion designer and activist Aurora James’s memoir Wildflower is a beauty. Her lyrical voice traces her childhood and the abusive and uneven scales of female entrepreneurship, even more so for Black female founders.

It’s an unconventional and hard-earned American success story for the Canadian high school dropout who started her luxury fashion line Brother Vellies with $3,500 and a flea market booth on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to become a million-dollar luxury brand.

James details the conception of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, which urges the fashion industry to reserve 15% of their racks for Black-owned businesses. James’s determination and vision will embolden anyone interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, and equality.