Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide To Giving Herself A Break (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Sherri Shepherd has overcome much in her life and risen to celebrity against a lot of odds. Yet she seems down-to-earth and grateful for everything she has in her autobiography “Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break.” Shepherd begins her book by explaining that she came across a notepad of permission slips a while back, and remembered how good it felt when you could present a slip to an authority figure and you were automatically excused. She decided to purchase an entire box of these slips and write them to herself excusing anything she needed/wanted excused. This, she said, was cutting herself a break when she was being too hard on herself. I imagine most people, especially those who have children, could benefit from this idea. Shepherd talks quite a bit about her failed marriage and her husband’s affair with, “the white J-Lo” and how both she and the other woman were pregnant by her husband at the same time. She and her husband tried for years to get pregnant, eventually becoming successful through in-vitro fertilization, how she ended up losing one of her twin fetuses; then in the end another woman accidentally gets pregnant by her husband. Yet, the forgiving and self-admitted mistake-making person she is, Shepherd ended up staying with her husband after she knew all this, and allowing the other woman’s child and her own child to grow up together as siblings until she moved away to New York to join “The View.” Starting out in Hollywood after her family moved there from Chicago, Shepherd began her career as a legal secretary. She and her girlfriends used to go out to comedy clubs, and Shepherd would think to herself, “I am funnier than these comedians.” One time she got up and tried it out. And she bombed. She tried again, and she was successful. And her career took off from there. Not quickly, but it took off. For many years she was worked comedy clubs and night and worked as a legal secretary during the day. She began getting noticed and eventually began guesting on talk shows. Eventually, Barbara Walters took notice of her and invited her to be a co-host on “The View.” Shepherd admits she often times feels inadequate up against her other co-hosts and that she has to study for hours every night so she feels informed enough to do the show. She started out doing the quirky, funny segments, but Barbara has increasingly been inviting her to also do some serious segments, which is allowing Shepherd to grow and become more confident. This book seems heartfelt and honest. Shepherd seems like the girl next door who could end up being your best friend. I am a little sick of reading about celebrity dirty laundry, but it’s my own fault for picking up this book. Otherwise, Shepherd comes across as a likeable single mom who admits to making mistakes and yearns for the best for her son—just like every other mother in the world. Having watched The View a lot (but no more!) and reading interviews with Sherri, I felt like a lot of the information in here was nothing new. What may have been funny anecdotes fell flat because I already heard them. I also felt like she thinks she could have prevented her marriage from ending if she just had sex with her husband whenever he wanted, even though she didn't want to. Not a great lesson to teach others.
What do You think about Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide To Giving Herself A Break (2009)?
Pleasantly surprised by this one, was not expecting so many laughs and candid truths.
—poormario123
Sherri is honest straight up funny. I am not a female but thoroughly enjoyed it.
—mini
Light, easy read. She keeps it real & shares a lot about her humble beginning.
—ravichandran
