This Is Me: Loving the Person You Are Today by Chrissy Metz Audio Book: 6 hrs., 26 mins Hardback Book: 320 pages
Chrissy Metz, the female child in the hit series, “This Is Us,” wrote this book about her life and how being a larger size person has impacted her. Growing up, lots of male authority figures either walked out on her (her father) or mentally and physically abused her with be-ratings and beatings (her step-father). Her mother did without so her kids could have more, food, material things and while during her childhood, Chrissy couldn’t understand why her mother allowed her step-dad treat her the way he did, and how her mother even sided with him against Chrissy when he wanted her to get out of the house and she was only eleven years old! Later in life Chrissy comes to understand her mother’s reasoning – she had four kids and couldn’t make it on her own. Step-Dad while a huge jerk to Chrissy, did provide food, a home and material goods throughout their lives and never stopped being a good provider if any angry one when it came to Chrissy. He assigned her a multitude of chores to accomplish every day which in his mind was keeping her busy so she wouldn’t eat but in her mind it wasn’t fair because the other kids weren’t made to do chores. Plus if he didn’t like a look she gave him or if she dared to add sass to her response to him the beating was on. Her mother wouldn’t make waves and never held up for Chrissy and tried to push Chrissy off on her biological Dad who had walked out on the family years before leaving them nothing to live on. He didn’t want her and made no bones telling her so. Although when later in life her career in television took off he kept asking her how much money she made. Her biological father never gave her a cent nor did he pay child support. When Chrissy asked him a couple of times when she was out on her own and nearly destitute he always refused her and didn’t spend any time talking to her, never called, never cared, until the reporters started coming around interviewing him to which he played the role of concerned parent to which Chrissy denied everything he lied about in all of the follow-up interviews she did. Her maternal grandmother loved her dearly and wished she could take her to raise, but, her grandmother was living in a home for seniors and unable to care for herself unassisted much less raise a child. Though they always stayed close. Chrissy’s life lead her to extraordinary things – she became a Hollywood agent for 9 years prior to her pursuing her own career in acting, she lucked into a role on “American Horror Story,” which landed her auditions and other roles that led to her landing the choice role of Kate on “This Is Us,” in its second season. The show is on fire with a huge fan-base. Chrissy’s character, Kate, is a plus-size woman who’s inner turmoil is brought out dramatically on the show and has helped many fans to be able to deal with their own sense of insecurity over their size. It has also brought out the mostly ignored form of hateful prejudice against obese people. To this day, though she doesn’t name the actress, Chrissy says, one actress constantly posts hateful things about Chrissy on her Facebook page. Chrissy counters with hurt people hurt people and tries to remain positive against the onslaught of insults this person throws at her via cyber assault. Chrissy says, while it hurts, she doesn’t reply back in kind and it seems to infuriate this person even more by not getting a rise out of her. Chrissy says the only thing she can attack her on is her weight, because, even in person Chrissy has ignored the ugly and tries to stay positive and tell the actress that she (Chriss) poses no threat to her and has never tried to nor could she steal her thunder (which the actress has accused her of). Chrissy is delighted with the, “This Is Us,” cast and crew and they all get along with and support one another. She is riding high and loving life not letting the haters bring her down. She loves that her character Kate is who she is and that the writers never try to make her less of a person because of her size but instead celebrate Kate for who she is and bring out her struggles so people can see and know and hopefully be more accepting of the diversity of all body types. This caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey and she invited Chrissy out to her home for lunch and chatting. Niecy Nash, too, talked to her on the red carpet and told her she wanted to be her friend and they talk and get together now. Niecy offers her advice and they have become great friends. Another happy place and incentive for plus-size gals that they don’t have to hide in a corner but must look at the naysayers for who and what they are, shrug them off – their opinion is just that -their opinion and keep on keeping on till you realize your dreams – Disney was right – dreams do come true if you persue. Diligence pays off. Another true life story with a happy here and now. Good book.
