Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia De Rossi

Rating: 8/10 (B+)  GREAT!
Extremely good read! Had many awesome, memorable moments, and really kept my interest throughout! I warmly recommend it, and look forward to reading more from the author. Probably wouldn't mind reading it again one day!  

• ISBN-13: 9781439177785
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 11/1/2010
• Pages: 308

Portia De Rossi seemed like a woman that had it all. She is model beautiful, with a movie star life.  But this autobiography of her life with an eating disorder reveals more of this actress than you could ever imagine.  I have always been a big fan of Portia, I loved her in Ally McBeal and I have always thought she was beautiful and talented.  One of those actresses you want to grow up to be.  When I heard she had a book out I instantly wanted to read it, wanted to know more about her life.

In the beginning I wasn't sure I really liked Portia all that much, she seemed like a whiny spoiled actress who looked down on everyone else. But then you start to realized that although in the beginning she may have looked down on others, she was hardest on herself and this was all part of the emotional turmoil that has her down the path of Bulimia and then Anorexia.  After a few chapters you see more and more into the mind and feelings of Portia and you begin to feel for her.  You also begin to see how relatively easy an eating disorder could occur under the right set of circumstances.

For me, I related to this book much more than I ever thought I would.  I have never had an eating disorder but in my path to lose weight and get healthy over the past year and a half I recognized some of the "crazy" habits that Portia had and started to see how things could easily get out of hand.  At the end of the book there are pictures of Portia in her Bulimia and Anorexia days and I have to say they are shocking.  Watching her on Ally McBeal I didn't see how very thin she had gotten.. I don't remember her weight fluctuations and it makes me want to go back and watch the series again and see the changes as they occur.

I really felt for Portia and was very glad I read this book.  I enjoyed it very much and I definitely recommend it.  I would have like to have more of the story of her and Ellen's relationship, but maybe that's another book all together.

I read this for the WoWO.