Description

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

Beloved Generation X icon Ione Skye opens up with remarkable honesty in an intimate coming-of-age memoir that explores fame, desire, heartbreak, and the complicated legacy of having a famous but distant father.

In 1987, sixteen-year-old Ione Skye skyrocketed to fame with her breakout performance as Diane Court, the girl behind John Cusack’s famous boom-box serenade in Cameron Crowe’s hit film, Say Anything. Although perfect as the aloof yet charming valedictorian, the truth behind her ascent was more complicated. Abandoned by her famous father, folk-rock legend Donovan, Skye left school in ninth grade, longing for acceptance and validation through her audience and her romantically intriguing Hollywood co-stars—including Keanu Reeves, River Phoenix, Matthew Perry, John Cusack, and Robert Downey Jr.

Following in the footsteps of her mother, a 1960s It Girl, Ione found musicians irresistible and struggled in complicated relationships. At just sixteen, she became involved in a turbulent romance with Anthony Kiedis, the twenty-four-year-old frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Later, hoping to anchor her life and find maturity, she married her first true love, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz. But marriage didn’t bring security or ease; instead, Skye found herself grappling with newfound bisexuality and deep insecurities, jeopardizing her seemingly fairytale marriage through passionate affairs with magnetic “bad girls” of the nineties. When her marriage eventually collapsed, so did her belief in herself and her hopeful vision of the future.

Set amidst glamorous Hollywood circles, rock star gatherings, supermodel friendships, and the backdrop of acclaimed late-century films like River’s Edge, Gas Food Lodging, and Wayne’s World, Say Everything is both a tantalizingly entertaining journey through celebrity culture and a deeply poetic meditation on ambition, intimacy, and creating an authentic, messy, passionate life.