Tell Me Everything: A Memoir

Raised by a single mother who was also a stripper and experienced addiction, Kelly’s upbringing was laced with domestic violence, drug abuse, and sexual abuse. Her eventual celebrity and success as an actress on Friday Night Lights are mere footnotes in this memoir that is otherwise her coming to terms with the neglect and turmoil of her childhood. With extremely brief moments of optimism sprinkled solely in its final chapters, Kelly openly exposes her most complicated relationships and how they shaped her into someone habitually attracted to chaos. Recounting recurring trauma and abuse, she attempts to break free of a difficult past. But the retelling of these memories is neither educational nor inspirational; they are simply deeply upsetting. Her introspection into her past is ultimately the defense and justification of the adults responsible for her troubled childhood—a roller coaster ride of one minute praising them for their affection, the next sparing no detail about her abuse and abandonment. It’s clear she’s still navigating their long-term consequences.