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Unbearable lightness
- Narrated by: Portia De Rossi
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
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Unbearable lightness
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Publisher's Summary
Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work - first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.
In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids.
With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviours and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.
What listeners say about Unbearable lightness
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-06-2023
Brutal
Raw, honest and brutally fat phobic. A sad tale of self hatred fuelled by the thin ideal beauty standards of the 90s and early 2000’s. A wonderful insight into the pressures of being a female actor and model and the grotesque means one feels they must take to ‘make it.’
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Alia
- 16-10-2016
Interesting and sad.
De Rossis voice often sounds a little slurred. Easy to understand just distracting. Odd accent.
A little lacking more...something. But a good listen
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-03-2022
THANKYOU Portia!
Thank you for playing a role in my breakthrough & for helping me understand my experience!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bunny O’Connor
- 31-05-2022
Wonderful
Great book and relatable journey. I didn’t realise who the person was untill halfway through the book but it was a delight to slowly realise because I probably would have never read a book about a “famous person”. Yep I’m famous person judgy. So.. I love a good book about anorexia first had experience and this like the book “wasted” was well written and constantly relatable. I recommend this especially the audible version. I listened to it while exercising 😂
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amanda
- 15-07-2016
A wonderful insightful book
I really found this helpful to help me understand the anorexic mindset. Great performance by Portia and a courageous book to write.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-02-2020
Hard
Incredible what a person goes through and how society shapes us to be who we think we need to be. Great message at the end but pretty harsh story. Made me anxious just hearing about it, being of italian family brought up to know that food is love. Go Portia
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Simon
- 16-04-2018
loved it
nicely written and read...well done Portia ! this book will help alot of young women.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kirstyn
- 08-06-2024
Heartfelt and relatable
From another recovered anorexic/bulimic/BED individual. I think this is the truest and most profound eating disorder material I have ever read. I could write an entire essay but will hold myself back and just say this is an incredible listen. I don't think I will ever forget it. Not in the annoying way I will never forget the BS that was To The Bone.
Unbearable lightness captures the highs, lows, inner voices, self rationalisations, lies, addictive and obsessive behaviours, coupled with the strange coexistence of pride and shame, and the hurt we cause to others and tell ourselves is their jealousy and desires for drama.
I think for anyone planning to work with patients for eating disorders this should be a mandatory read. Thank you Portia for baring the truth and not a glamorous Hollywood rendition from an outsider perspective on what they think disordered eating is. I am so happy to read that you now have love in your life and love for yourself too.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- maddy
- 02-03-2015
Really related to Portia
This was a good read. I related to her struggle with eating disorders and was very relieved that in the end she was doing much better. Very well read by her as well.
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