Mean Baby

A Memoir of Growing Up

By: Selma Blair

Narrated by: Selma Blair

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Selma Blair has played many roles: Ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best as … a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.

"Blair is a rebel, an artist, and it turns out: a writer." —Glennon Doyle, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Untamed and Founder of Together Rising

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, devasting 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 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 Knopf (P)2022 Random House Audio

Loved this beautifully written and narrated book.

This book was a beautiful book about Selma Blair and growing up along with her struggles with MS.

Authentic, honest, and vulnerable

I normally don’t read/listen to memoirs but I saw Selma on the Today Show and what she shared piqued my interest. I loved listening to her memoir. Its very well written and intriguing. It’s timeless. You can glean wisdom from her experiences, no matter your age. Most of all, you learn how big her heart is. After listening to her memoir you feel like she is one of your best girlfriends.

Like finding a long lost friend …

This book and Selma Blair are both top notch!
I laughed with you and cried with you I felt that I had known you forever . I didn’t want the book to end because that meant not hearing your voice. All my love ! Oh and people read/listen to this book it will never leave you it’s terrific!

beautiful story

what a beautiful story. thank you selma for sharing it!!! Good health!! you are AMAZING

Bravo!

I’d watched all of her films over the years. During the early days of the pandemic I started being a bit more active on Instagram—lots of us having a bit more time to connect to people, things, conversations we might not have otherwise taken the time to follow. I first started following @reesewitherspoon who was also following @selmablair and was intruduced to Selma’s life living with MS. One of my cousins mom has MS-I never really knew what it does or can do to the body, but the condition wasn’t foreign to me. Selma’s language challenges were similar to mine when I am having a slow down and readying for a hard bi-polar crash—language center crash. Then the book came out #meanbaby - get this book! I’m not a big fan of the memoir and it is an art form - it’s hard to get a true sense of a person’s life without being bored or thinking it a bit self aggrandizing or self important—this memoir is none of these things. I have about 2.5 hours in commute time every day—so #Audible books has been my go to in order to feed my brain and introduce me to people, interests and things I might not otherwise have time to entertain or pursue. To hear Selma read her story in her voice—her inflections—her intonations is a wonder to take in—she’s funny, deep, emotive, feels, empathetic and sometimes you can feel the necessary natural boundaries. I finished the book Friday. Her book inspired me to watch her documentary #introducingselmablair —allowing people to join her in even a sliver of a life with treating MS, surging with MS, raising a son when you are in an MS storm and too trying to make words happen is such an naked vulnerability. The documentary is a fortune in grace. I was able to watch the film through the #discoveryplus APP. It’s on AmazonPrime as well. Selma Blair is a wonder. Wishing she and her family peace and comfort and continued healing. 🙏❤️

A Must Read

For anyone who has come into themselves and then realized…”wait, there is more!” Every single day is a struggle, a smile, a belly roll and a belly flop. Selma Blair wrote with grace and performance with raw perfection. Selma, your mother would be proud…

I cried with her

As a chronic illness suffer I felt this story to my core. Thank you for being so raw and exposed. It definitely helps women like myself.

loved it

great book. enjoyed it. selma is inspirational and I pray she stays feeling as good as she can. God bless Selma and Arthur

Realness from a REAL person, So LOVED IT

Selma-Blair, what a wonderful, wonderfully written memoir. I loved it so. And you reading it, in all your emotion, gravitas, struggle and realness, was so grand. We have much in common, and also our lives are so different, but I felt a connection to you that surprised me in its strength. Your candidness alongside your vulnerability was heartfelt, heartbreaking, heartsmooshing. I loved it! Your Advocacy written in the stars. You’re doing so much good! You can do hard things, it’s the easy ones that are tricky. Love to You!

Thank you for writing this book!

I work with teenagers - what an amazing story of perseverance and determination. Beautiful!! I treasured every minute of this book...