Growing Pains - Billie Piper

In Celeb World age is just a number; celebrities live life in the fast lane and speed rapidly through all the milestones of marriage, kids and more. Failure to have had at least two marriages, three kids, four different career paths and two properties in two different continents by the age of thirty is the true epitome of failure in an industry where having everything and doing everything is key. Without taking this in to consideration, twenty three ...
...an autobiography. However, for Billie Piper, who first encountered fame at the tender age of fifteen, an autobiography actually seems strangely long overdue.

Billie has experienced more than many of us will experience in our entire lifetimes. No young girl could have failed to have been intrigued over the years by the career and personal life (OK, predominantly the personal life!) of the UK's pre-Britney Britney who first burst on ... more

In Celeb World age is just a number; celebrities live life in the fast lane and speed rapidly through all the milestones of marriage, kids and more. Failure to have had at least two marriages, three kids, four different career paths and two properties in two different continents by the age of thirty is the true epitome of failure in an industry where having everything and doing everything is key. Without taking this in to consideration, twenty three may seem like a young age in which to publish an autobiography. However, for Billie Piper, who first encountered fame at the tender age of fifteen, an autobiography actually seems strangely long overdue.

Billie has experienced more than many of us will experience in our entire lifetimes. No young girl could have failed to have been intrigued over the years by the career and personal life (OK, predominantly the personal life!) of the UK's pre-Britney Britney who first burst on to the music scene in 1998 and rapidly progressed from the cheeky girl next door who brought us the wonders of teen anthems 'Because We Want To' and 'Girlfriend' and famously had an ill-fated relationship with Rich from Five (which was said to have concluded after she dumped him by Answer phone message), to the glamorous and sexy popstar behind Britney-esque hits 'Day and Night' and 'Something Deep Inside', to the tramp-esque unemployed Vegas wife of Chris Evans, and finally to the quirky, cute actress and star of 'Doctor Who'. Yes, Billie has lived a truly intriguing life and her autobiography is an interesting and compelling insight in to her at times exciting, at times bizarre and at times shocking past, and in to the music industry as a whole.

Billie's story contains it all; intrigue, romance, secrets and scandal, but what ties it all together and makes this such a compulsive read is the overwhelming and refreshing honesty in which Billie confides it all. Billie approaches the task of writing her autobiography with a touch of self-mockery, a bit of humour, a lot of maturity and a great deal of hindsight, and she doesn't hold anything back. Billie candidly lifts the lid on her relationship with Chris; spills the beans on her life prior to fame; exposes the secrets and scandals of life as a popstar and confides the truth about her struggle with an all-encompassing and life-threatening eating disorder. It answers all the questions you may have ever wanted to ask this young enigma, and reveals much, much more. With such an interesting story revealed in such a warm and humorous way, this is one autobiography that has got to be worth a read.

WHAT I LIKED:
In my opinion one of the greatest tings about this autobiography is the level of honesty. I have read many autobiographies that skim over the gory details and scandal and withhold all the truly interesting parts and details that people actually want to know, instead writing a glorified timeline of their achievements in chronological order, with little or no mention of their private lives. However, this is not one of those books. Billie reveals the intriguing details of both her career and her private life in a VERY honest way, from her experiences during puberty, her sex life and her experimental use of drugs as a teenager. She does not shy away from revealing the horrific truth of the impact of achieving fame too young and does not try to dilute the facts to keep her family and ex record label sweet.

Another advantage of this book is that, although Billie honestly admits that the book was not written entirely and 100% by herself ("I'd be lying, terribly, if I said that I penned every word myself. These are all my thoughts, experiences and conclusions, but I've had help") you can really hear Billie's voice behind the words and tell that she had a lot of input in to it. It is not a glossed over collection of facts or a perfectly written voiceless text; it is written by a real person, things are not always put perfectly, parts of it jump all over the place, but this adds to its real and honest feel. It is written in an entertaining way and Billie's humour and warmth consistently come through in her words.

One of the biggest advantages of this book is that Billie has had such an interesting life. The book gives an intriguing insider insight and new perspective on a person and story that you may have thought that you already knew. Everybody sees the life of a young popstar from the outside; sees the glamour, the photo shoots, the expensive outfits and glossy interviews, but it is interesting and unique to get a true, un-edited view of what the industry is really like for a young star. It will make you look at Billie's music career, her intriguing relationship with Chris Evans , the much publicised Bille/Rich union and the Doctor Who phenomenon in an entirely different light.
Another entertaining and positive aspect of Billie's autobiography is the amount of photographs. There are a couple of good sections of photos from Billie's past, including shots of baby Billie from the family album, backstage photographs from Top of the Pops and TV studios; and photos of Chris and Billie at their wedding and extended honeymoon. And, in my opinion, photos always have good entertainment value.

As well as the entertaining and intriguing aspect of Billie's autobiography, what is also interesting and appealing about this book is that there are some inspiring messages behind the surface humour. Billie has some good thoughts and words of advice that many girls in her position would do well to take on board, from her words on the dangers of eating disorders and self obsession to her warnings about embarking on fame at such a young age. Billie has come through many traumas and troubles and has come out of it with a smile, an inner strength and a renewed interest in living life to the full. Her earnestness to express her thoughts and words of warning to other young girls in her position and the success story of her life so far makes her story, as well as being ultimately entertaining and interesting, an inspiring and uplifting read.

WHAT I DISLIKED:
There are few negatives about this interesting and entertaining book, at least not enough that would prevent me from recommending it whole heartedly to you, however there are a couple of things that I did find at times the tiniest bit irritating. One of these things is that Billie has a minor propensity for self indulgence. Although the majority of the time she is fairly self deprecating and down to earth, occasionally she can come across as a tiny bit pretentious. One of the examples of this is the way that Billie, like so many stars, makes out that she was somehow 'born for fame', that she was always singled out for it and different from 'normal' people.

One of Britney Spears' favourite memories that I have seen her quote repeatedly on various shows about her childhood is how she was always set to be a popstar; she was always a show-off, always wanting to be the centre off attention, always singing and dancing. Likewise, I have heard the same spiel from various other celebs including Christina Aguilera and even, amusingly, Chantelle Houghton. And Billie is no exception to this rule; "Mum says I was creative from the start, constantly dressing up, prancing around the living room, putting on plays and shows." These celebs imply that they are different from everyone else because they are exuberant and interested in drama and dance and getting attention. I wish they would realise that no, lots of kids are interested in dance and drama (hence the huge amount of little girls enrolled in ballet classes), most children love being the centre of attention and are full of energy (you only need to enter a school classroom to realise this) and lots of kids have big imaginations and are creative (which is probably why imaginative games such as playing house are always so popular). They are not made for fame and the implication is quite annoying; the only real difference between 'them' and 'us' is that they happened to get lucky, to have parents with the right amount of money, opportunities or pushiness and, ultimately, to be in the right place at the right time!

Another instance of Billie's less down to earth side is that at times she is a little bit sycophantic. Although, as I have said previously, the majority of the time Billie is quite honest and genuine about those who helped further her music career, when it comes to those involved in the television industry and her acting career it appears that everyone is just 'wonderful'; there was the "wonderful redhead Carrie Grant", all the "actors I really liked and admired" on the set of 'Things to do before you're thirty', the "superb actor" Al Southey, the "brilliant writer" Russell T. Davies, the "inspirational Julie Gardner", the "delightful and sweet and warm" 'Doctor Who' Assistant Director, Steffan Morris, the "wonderful Eddie Izzard", the "brilliant actor" Chris Ecclestone, the "wonderful" Sarah Paris who Billie "adored" and "the brilliant Philip Pullman". Everyone is just wonderful, brilliant, amazing, darling! And at times this little personal fan club for everyone that she has ever met during her acting career got just a little bit grating.

Another drawback, perhaps, of this book is that it tends to jump all over the place. Billie's autobiography begins right in the centre of the action, with Billie signing up for a record deal, but then the second Act goes right back to the beginning suddenly, to Billie being born. I could understand the logic of this, that the aim was to get the reader involved and engrossed in the story before going back to Billie's life before fame, but it did get a little bit confusing to suddenly go back in time like that. Also, within the acts, Billie often jumps around a bit from one thought to the next. Although this is good in a way as it means that the book comes across more real and honest and less polished and edited to perfection, but it does gets a bit confusing at times.

One of my main grievances with this otherwise fantastic book, however, is that it really rains on my happy memories of Billie's music career. Billie's music has always been something that I have remembered fondly; I think she has a really nice voice, some really great pop songs and even her cheesier earlier songs always evoke happy memories of being fourteen and hearing them performed in school talent shows. However, this book completely de-romanticised (don't know if that's a word but I'm using it!) my happy memories with Billie's revelations of how much she disliked her earlier songs, how miserable she was with her singing career and how weak she feels her voice to be. I think that her negative claims about her lack of vocal talents are a bit unfair as she actually has a really nice tone to her voice, not only in my opinion but in the opinions of those at Sylvia Young, who stated on her audition report that "Her voice is clear, strong and she held the tune well. Well presented. There is more to come." And they ought to know, right?

One final minor negative aspect of this book is that while the book contains so much honesty and so many secrets and revelations regarding her career, her childhood and her relationship with Chris, it completely fails to mention her relationship with her new boyfriend; how they met, how they got together, how it was coming so soon after her divorce from Chris. Being a little bit nosy, I was intrigued how this relationship came about, but she doesn't mention meeting him, he just suddenly appears in the book with the statement "I brought my wonderful new beau Amadu along - he'd become part of the Doctor Who family, and they were more than happy to have him join in the festivities", and no mention of where he had come from, which I thought was a little unfair on us people with nosiness issues!

RECOMENDED FOR... Those who enjoy nosing into the lives of others; readers of Heat and other celebrity gossip magazines.

READ WHEN... You are feeling fed up that you missed the boat and failed to claim your place in the ranks of celebdom; Billie's revelations will reassure you that child stradom is not quite all it is made out to be. Or just when you fancy something entertaining, humorous and gripping with a little bit of depth.

IF IT WERE FOOD IT WOULD BE... Lemon meringue pie; sweet, sharp and moreish with light and fluffy overtones yet something harder and more substantial under it all.

IF IT WERE A COLOUR IT WOULD BE... Dark purple; deep and quite dark at times, combined of shades of blue (representing Billie's depression, loneliness and eating disorder) and shades of red (representing the love and romance factor supplied by her relationship with Chris).

IF IT WERE A SEASON IT WOULD BE... Spring; a story of growth, progression and transformation to happy and brighter times.

MARKS OUT OF 10 FOR:
WRITING STYLE- 8
PLOT- 9
CHARACTERS- 8
UN-PUT-DOWN-ABILITY- 8
OVERALL BOOK- 8

RECOMMENDED? - Yes, this is so much more interesting and genuine than your average autobiography and would appeal to anyone with even a minor interest in Billie, the music business or the world of celebrity.  

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