This Will Only Hurt a Little

Comedic actress (Freaks and Geeks; Cougar Town), Instagram star, and now late-night talk show host (Busy Tonight) Philipps recounts her formative years, countless failed auditions, and her hit-and-miss career in this candid memoir. Philipps admits that when she was growing up in Scottsdale, AZ, her chief goal was to get attention. She knew early on that the Hollywood route would be her path to success. She reflects on her often painful teenage years (date rape, abortion, peer pressure) with emotion, but her stories also contain doses of humor (her imitations of her mother are very funny). In Hollywood, she has faced sexism and body-shaming, and she is not afraid to name names (James Franco and Steven Levitan are chief among them). Philipps also discusses her marriage to screenwriter Marc Silverstein, her pregnancies, and children with brash candor.