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  • Mean Baby

  • A Memoir of Growing Up
  • By: Selma Blair
  • Narrated by: Selma Blair
  • Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (141 ratings)
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Mean Baby cover art

Mean Baby

By: Selma Blair
Narrated by: Selma Blair
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Summary

**The Instant New York Times Bestseller**

Selma Blair has played many archetypal roles: gullible ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Fire-starter in Hellboy. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Face of Chanel. Cover model. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best for being one thing: a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Selma Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention. 

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape. 

Over the course of this beautiful and, at times, shocking memoir, Selma lays bare her addiction to alcohol, her devotion to her brilliant and complicated mother, and the moments she flirted with death. There is brutal violence, passionate love, true friendship, the gift of motherhood and, finally, the simultaneous devastation and surprising salvation of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. In a voice that is powerfully original, fiercely intelligent, and full of hard-won wisdom, Selma Blair's Mean Baby is a deeply human memoir and a true literary achievement.

©2022 Selma Blair (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK

What listeners say about Mean Baby

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Powerfully engaging, passionate & brutally honest!

Delivered with so much genuine emotion and passion. Sad, yet overall it's the positivity that shines through from the darkness. Highlights the realism of life and a candid account of many shared experiences which so many will resonate with. Things, that they may have hidden for years. A grounded normality behind the LA glamour. A reminder that life is rarely what you see on the surface and to be kind and patient always. Seek to understand below the surface (for yourself and others). Everything shone through as rooted from love, even when misunderstood. Massively charismatic and inspirational life story. Thank you for shining the light on the MS community also. Selma gives hope and support to thousands and am sure will touch all that read this. 🙏

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

tough to review

this book is tough. I hated a good percentage of it and only carried on out of sheer disbelief that someone could be so egocentric and repulsive. I was so angry with it my partner told me to stop reading it!! but it does, thank goodness, turn a corner and become bearable ... even enjoyable. if you can cope with overtly self centered, ED triggering, narcissistic content...give it a go. it gets better.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing - but possibly needs a trigger warning

Selma's story is incredible! I only knew of some of her film and tv appearances then following her 2019 appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscars dinner I started following her social media, where she is unapologetically honest about her life with MS.
The disease isn't even a fraction of the hell she has suffered and endured.
Listening to her emotion breaking through as she shares her story, it frequently stopped me in my track. I just had to listen and focus on what she was sharing. Her candour is brutal and beautiful and I'm now in absolute awe of her will to survive.
This book has been an incredible find and I highly recommend it...but for some in an unstable place, maybe now isn't the time.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A little boring. Sorry.

This is just sounds so shallow and pretentious. Nothing against Selma Blair, but maybe she had she waited a decade to write it, I'd be all over it. Might also be that I, after some Time, refind this and Love it!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and unvarnished

Selma Blair’s story is an unconventional one and I felt that she told it in an unvarnished and honest way. She is not always likeable, as she does some things that are unpleasant at times and often behaves in very self-destructive ways. People are complicated and I felt that Selma was very open about her flaws, without asking for sympathy. I really engaged with her story and was rooting for her to be okay in the end. She’s had a fascinating life and it was entrancing to hear about it, straight from the person whose life it is. She is a brave soul. Bravo!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not great

I love autobiography’s and have never listened to one that I haven’t loved, until now. Selma has definitely had some difficult times in her life but I spent half the time listening to them cringing as she started ‘crying’ whilst telling the story. I really had to push on through to get to the end and you shouldn’t have to do that with an audiobook that you have bought. I think you would probably have to be a fan of hers to enjoy this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

5 stars for book and 5 stars for narration!

It's probably the celebrity memoir I've ever read. This book was phenomenal, and I loved every bit of it and didn't want it to end. It was so raw and honest and well written. She also narrated her story so beautifully. I didn't know much about Selma Blair but was intrigued by the book title and cover, and I'm really glad I gave this book a chance.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A deep but not a cheerful tale

I struggled a bit with this book, I mostly read autobiographical books, and whizz through them! This was a tale of trauma. Selma presented one part of her- the mean baby, the script given to an innocent child that turned them into a scared, lonely, mean person. Susceptible to abuse, both by the self and by others. It shows how powerful the mother daughter attachment is. I wish there was more in this book about the other parts of her, what do her friends love about her? Is she funny? Is she sweet? She seems well loved by friends. I’m sure she has light and joy in her. This book had a low tone to it. I appreciate how vulnerable and authentic Selma was in this book, although the crying seemed acted as her tone flips very quickly, but maybe it is and that’s ok- I guess either way it’s to accentuate the emotion she was describing. Selma courageously lays bare the most unfavourable parts of herself in this book, maybe it’s the part that’s most familiar, but I hope a future book shows us the other parts of her, that really leans into the hopefully part, the brighter parts, they are there but they weren’t the ones in the spotlight during this story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I knew I will love her book!

So honest, raw and touching. There is learning and reflection, but entertainment too. Recommended listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

5 star recommendation. Read it.

It’s difficult writing a review about someone’s life. A beautifully tragic yet heartwarming insight into Selma Blair’s life and experiences. I wish it was slightly more chronological, sometimes she bounces around between ages but it’s her first book and I know storytelling in a timeline is difficult. I love that she read it too, you can tell when she’s truly happy or distraught explain different events.

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