Beauty, Disrupted

The Carre Otis Story

By: Carre Otis, Hugo Schwyzer

Narrated by: Carre Otis

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Teen runaway, supermodel, and actress Carre Otis found herself in the public eye from a very tender age. Millions of people gazed at provocative images of her in magazine and billboard ads from Guess and Calvin Klein as well as in features on the pages of Playboy and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. By the time she was twenty, they had also seen her on posters for the controversial film Wild Orchid, with Mickey Rourke. The troubled marriage to Rourke that followed soon thereafter was widely reported on in the media, as were Carre's struggles with drugs and a particularly brutal eating disorder. But to see someone naked on the page or exposed on the screen and in tabloids doesn’t mean we know who that person really is.

After a decade-long deeply reflective and spiritual journey to discover for herself who she is, Carre found the balance and serenity she sought and is now ready to share her side of the story with the world. She confronts her complex past fearlessly and with unrelenting candor to set the record straight. The result is a narrative of success, despair, and ultimate triumph over sexual exploitation and our cultural obsession with appearance - a narrative of beauty disrupted, reclaimed, and made more radiant through self-acceptance, inner peace, and the love of family.

©2011 Carre Otis (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

A surprising depth.

I always thought of Carrie as that annoying superficial model that slept her way into her career. That may of been true in part in her early years but I soon found myself drawn deeper into her story and found a surprising deth there. She has overcome a violent marrige to Mickey Rourke, a hardcore drug addiction and many other trials in her life. She found her way to grace and harmony, to being honest in herself and creating a positive future. She used her faith to heal her past and found her way back onto her highest path.

Her story draws you in, takes you by the hand and shows you the world behind the looking glass.

Awesome beautiful story

I loved this book everything about it was great Carre is a very bold strong incredible woman.

keep you turning pages

if you love bio's and memoir's then this is one for you. I didn't know that much about her before I started listening to this book and was afraid it was going to be a lot of I'm a pretty girl my life is so hard feel bad for me, but it wasn't at all. She was very honest and open about her whole life and has really overcome quite a lot. She became a human and I suggest this book to anyone who think they may know about her and her life.

Great job Carre!

If you could sum up Beauty, Disrupted in three words, what would they be?

Honest, upfront, unflinching

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beauty, Disrupted?

Wow, there were so many - Carre's early years (before she left home) really set the stage for the years to follow

What does Carre Otis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice provides the honesty to recount her journey. I really did';t know much about her, but since my favorite audiobooks are ones read by the author, I thought I would give this one a try. What a jarring story! I am amazed she made it through and admire the strength

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I think I would just leave it as Beauty, disrupted.

Any additional comments?

Glad I listened to it and hope you like it too!

Powerful story.

Powerful story. I reccomend this book to all the women in my life and for all women period. read by Carre Otis herself, makes the story even more powerful and compelling.

This book touched me.

What a powerful story. This woman lived a pretty extreme life and I learned a lot from her story.

Great Read

BRAVO. Beautiful A must read ......Loved everything about it!!!!! Should be a movie!!!!!!!!! So honest and uplifting!!!!

Authentic!

Loved Carre’s vulnerability and courage to share her story! Adds much to it with her narration of her own story.

A hot mess, but interesting

I like that she narrated it. In the beginning, I was just saying, dear god, this girl was so stupid and kept getting herself into so much trouble. But after a while, I began to see that she just wasn't brought up normally. She wasn't giving the tools to deal with life.
It was an interesting story. And in the end, I found her to be one tough cookie.

fashion industry exposé meets self-help

What made the experience of listening to Beauty, Disrupted the most enjoyable?

It was great to hear the story narrated by Carré herself and within the story she doesnt seem to hold back on revealing some of the more uncomfortable/ less than glamorous expereiences.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beauty, Disrupted?

Don't want to give away too much, but can say that it was quite entertaining getting a glimpse of characters like Linda Evangelista. There were also lots of uncomfortable moments when I found myself shuddering, feeling upset and thinking: "How could that happen?" This book really does well as conveying some quite distressing incidents with lots of detail which other authors may have shyed away from.

What about Carre Otis’s performance did you like?

Although a well directed performance it did feel like it was genuine and loaded with emotion. I've listened to autobiographies where the author has chosen somebody else to narrate as some parts are too uncomfortable, so it was admirable that she lent her voice to what at times were quite difficult subjects to listen to.

It was also quite sweet when she did different accents- some more successfully than others, but it was enderaring nevertheless.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

fashion industry exposé meets inspiring story of empowerment.

Any additional comments?

I think the influence of the co-author of the book feels very strong in the sometimes flowery style which makes the book quite a bit of a tome. It's enjoyable but sometimes a bit indulgent. Also, yes, there are bits when you might be tempted to skip some of the exploration of Carré's spiritual journey and get to the juicy bits, but as somebody who has some experience of co-dependency and volatile partners (thankfully nowhere as intense as Carré's) it was quite interesting and useful to hear how she eventually healed herself both mentally and physically as well as her approach to fertility.

On another note: as somebody who has prematurely retired from the fashion and beauty industry a lot of things rang true and it's confirmed that I made the right decision to step away from what can be amazing and glamorous and lots of fun but can be quite a negative infuence on very vulnerable and young girls .