Baggage

September 15, 2021
The acclaimed actor reflects on overcoming a painful past to make room for a fruitful future. In his moving debut memoir, Not My Father's Son (2014), Scottish actor and activist Cumming (b. 1965) urgently confessed to growing up in a sadistically abusive family and how that experience hobbled his adult life, suppressing his emotional maturity and limiting his capacity for happiness. In this wise, pensive, sometimes chatty book, the author examines how he has been able to embrace the painful memories embedded in his "splintered psyche" in order to move forward and face further challenges along the way. He shares stories of his strained eight-year heterosexual marriage and his deep dive into early theater roles to fill the void. From there, Cumming nonchronologically glances further back into his childhood and his burgeoning love of performance and drama school. In the 1990s, British theater gave way to glittery feature film junkets and side character roles in Hollywood; he includes an expanded memory about his work with Stanley Kubrick and Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut. Cumming came out in the late 1990s after a momentous Tony Award-winning performance in Cabaret and a greatly anticipated relocation to New York City. The book's midsection is aflutter with Hollywood anecdotes of stars, dalliances, and heartbreaks over men as well as the breathless first encounter with his husband, Grant. Thoughtful, candid revelations join with intimate confessions while Cumming's witty repartee never falters. Regardless of his traumatic past, the memoir lifts the veil on a happier man who has "transcended and bloomed." With heartfelt anecdotes and an honest perspective, Cumming shares the struggles and joys of a fulfilling life while making peace with the baggage of a troubled past. Cathartic and revelatory, Cumming's memoir will fascinate fans and those who relate to his internal struggle.

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Starred review from September 27, 2021
Actor Cumming (Not My Father’s Son) returns with a series of revealing and witty reflections on coming to terms with his demons rather than conquering them. He lays out the truth as he sees it: “I believe the second you feel you have triumphed or overcome something, anything... you have merely decided to stop being vigilant and embraced denial as your modus operandi.” Growing up with a sadistic father and navigating the oft-bizarre situations that came with fame were just a fraction of the ups and downs that comprised Cumming’s personal and professional life. Though confronting his father about his abusiveness was transformative, Cumming resists the narrative that everything was magically solved; there were misguided decisions (including rushing into doomed romantic relationships), drug usage (“Ecstasy was my self-prescribed anti-anxiety medication”), and interventions that failed. But compassion trounces nihilism as Cumming looks back at his past with hard-earned wisdom and acceptance. “If life has taught me anything, it’s that change is a given.... The sooner we embrace its possibility the sooner we can really start living.” Engaging and often funny, this surprisingly deep work beguiles with its sharp observations and earnest life lessons. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

Starred review from October 22, 2021

Tony- and Emmy Award--winning actor, author, podcaster, activist, and businessman Cumming follows up his memoir Not My Father's Son (in which he recalled childhood abuse at the hands of his father) with this new candid reflection on his adult life. Here Cumming describes failures, successes, and his ongoing journey to grapple with a past that inextricably influences his present. Told in a time-bending, nonchronological swirl, the book recounts Cumming's marriage to Hilary Lyon, plus other relationships, his experience coming out as bisexual, and meeting his now-husband, Grant. Cumming's memoir includes many delicious theater and Hollywood stories--featuring the likes of Liza Minnelli, Gore Vidal, Walter Cronkite, Parker Posey, and Jessica Lange--juxtaposed with insight into a wildly diverse spectrum of theater, television, and film projects. There are especially fun details of Cumming's Tony Award--winning performance as the androgynous emcee in the late '90s Cabaret revival. Perhaps the only actor to have worked with both the Spice Girls (in 1997's Spice World) and Stanley Kubrick (in 1999's Eyes Wide Shut), Cumming is an exceedingly talented, witty, brave soul; his poignant book is a testament to his willingness to wrestle with demons and move forward. VERDICT This second act is sure to be another hit in Cumming's career; readers will be left hoping for a third memoir.--Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

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