Book ~ "Happy Accidents: A Memoir" (2011) Jane Lynch

From Goodreads ~ In the summer of 1974, a fourteen-year-old girl in Dolton, Illinois, had a dream. A dream to become an actress, like her idols Ron Howard and Vicki Lawrence. But it was a long way from the south side of Chicago to Hollywood and it didn't help that she'd recently dropped out of the school play, "The Ugly Duckling". Or that the Hollywood casting directors she wrote to replied that "professional training was a requirement."

But the funny thing is, it all came true. Through a series of happy accidents, Jane Lynch created an improbable and hilarious path to success. In those early years, despite her dreams, she was also consumed with anxiety, feeling out of place in both her body and her family. To deal with her worries about her sexuality, she escaped in positive ways such as joining a high school chorus not unlike the one in Glee but also found destructive outlets. She started drinking almost every night her freshman year of high school and developed a mean and judgmental streak that turned her into a real- life Sue Sylvester.

Then at thirty-one, she started to get her life together. She was finally able to embrace her sexuality, come out to her parents and quit drinking for good. Soon after, a Frosted Flakes commercial and a chance meeting in a coffee shop led to a role in the Christopher Guest movie "Best in Show", which helped her get cast in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". Similar coincidences and chance meetings led to roles in movies starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and even Meryl Streep in 2009's "Julie & Julia". Then, of course, came the two lucky accidents that truly changed her life. Getting lost in a hotel led to an introduction to her future wife, Lara. Then a series she'd signed up for abruptly got canceled, making it possible for her to take the role of Sue Sylvester in "Glee", which made her a megastar.

Today Jane Lynch has finally found the contentment she thought she'd never have. Part comic memoir and part inspirational narrative, this is a book equally for the rabid "Glee" fan and for anyone who needs a new perspective on life, love, and success.

I like reading bios/memoirs and had put this book on my Goodreads to-be-read list ten years ago and then forgot about it. I recently found it there so even though the book was written 13 years ago, I thought I'd check it out.

I haven't seen Lynch in any TV shows nor have I ever watched Glee but I have seen and liked her in many movies. I always find it interesting to read about how people "make it" and I liked getting the behind the scenes scoop in show business. 

Once she realized she was gay and embraced it, Lynch was searching for a relationship but ended up sabotaging them (most of her relationships never lasted more than two months). She would do the same with friendships but her true friends saw through this and stuck with her. The book is written about a year after she marries Lara, her first wife, so it was weird reading about how much in love they were and how settled she'd become knowing they would be divorced just a couple years later and she is now married to someone else.

I liked the writing style and that there were pictures along the way. As a head's up, there is swearing.