Candy at Last (20 page)

21

Stardust

I proceeded with cautious optimism. I wasn’t entirely confident about venturing out into the real world, so I thought that exploring the world via the Internet was the safest way to go. Before I could do this, I needed to learn how to do more than shop on the Internet, so I hired a computer tutor. He taught me how to open multiple browser windows and Google people, places, and things, as well as send attachments like jpegs. Soon I was reading online news sources and posts by bloggers. I felt like Magellan as I navigated my way around the new world of the virtual globe.

Then there were times I would click through to a site or try to upload a file or download one, and I wasn’t sure how I had gotten to that point. I tried to retrace my steps, but it was digital overload. It felt like I was in high school trying to pass the Beverly Hills High School “Senior Problems” examination all over again.

Despite my frustrations I was not deterred. I felt more secure exploring the possibilities that might be out there for me in the privacy of my home. I know I’m really dating myself here, but I had a great deal of affection for “letting your fingers do the walking” in the Yellow Pages.

Over the years we hired many vendors for the house and for our parties, not to mention dog groomers, straight out of the Yellow Pages. People were
always so surprised that we did that. Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but it was what we did back then. We also used the big fat book as a booster seat at restaurants when they didn’t have any. And back in my modeling days, we used the slimmer version of the Yellow Pages balanced on our heads to practice walking with perfect posture.

I was resistant to letting go of my phone book until one day when I wanted to look up a former neighbor to see how she was doing. It was nothing short of magical that I could Google her and contact her through one of the social media sites. I sure couldn’t do that with the Yellow Pages. One day I discovered the Yellow Pages was available online, complete with customer reviews. I knew then I needed to build my own Candy Spelling website and step out of the shadows.

I hired a friend of a friend to build me a cute and user-friendly website. As soon as it was live, I started getting e-mails on a daily basis. I got fan mail and hate mail, e-mails from fans of Aaron’s shows, and one day, an e-mail from Bravo’s Andy Cohen. Soon after came a message from an executive at Disney. They both wanted to kick around ideas for television shows. Honestly, I had to pinch myself.

In the meantime, my friend’s husband who was an agent had agreed to represent me. His name was David Shapira, and he must have had a book in mind because one day he showed up with Elizabeth Beier, a senior editor from St. Martin’s Press. He was a smart man and kept whatever he was thinking to himself. There was no spotlight on me, so I was completely comfortable chatting with the editor in what seemed like just a social setting. I was clueless and had absolutely no idea I was actually in a pitch meeting.

I started telling her the now-infamous Rock Hudson bathroom story and she stopped me cold.

“Can you write that down as a treatment?”

I did as she asked, and two weeks later I had a book deal. Honestly, nobody was more shocked than I was. It was incredibly exciting and scary all at the same time. The book was my story. My life before I met Aaron, our courtship, and also my life as a wife and mother against the backdrop of Hollywood. I
thought it would be fun to share a glimpse into that time that was our own legendary Camelot.

The approach to the book was very creative and whimsical. It was a scrapbook template of sorts that was perfect for me because I am an avid scrapbook enthusiast and collector of memories. When I delivered the book to St. Martin’s, I had it gift wrapped (of course!) and placed in an original
90210
messenger bag.

The book tour was like my coming-out party. It was big adventure and reminded me a bit of taking the Cannonball across the country. This time around I was going to fly, and I wouldn’t have fifty pieces of luggage in tow.

We kicked off the book tour at Borders Books in New York City (it’s a Barnes & Noble now) at the Time Warner Center. We also went out to Long Island and then on to Chicago. In Seattle, it was pouring rain, and I slipped and fell before the book signing. Fortunately I didn’t get hurt and had a change of clothes with me. In Dallas, a wonderful book club threw a luncheon for me. In Houston, philanthropist Lynn Wyatt threw a lovely party for me. Then it was back home to California, where I made appearances at Book Soup, Vromann’s in Pasadena, and Barnes & Noble at The Grove.

Initially I was a bit panicked because this would be my first time speaking in public. I didn’t want to read excerpts out loud because of my eye convergence insufficiency. I was also hesitant to read from a teleprompter because I thought it would seem too forced. The thought of losing my place on the teleprompter seemed to have potentially disastrous consequences.

Instead of using written words on a teleprompter, I decided to have visual aids on a screen so I could refer to them while I was speaking. It was the most comfortable option for me, sort of like having someone hold your hand. Well, Murphy’s Law caught up to me pretty quickly, and at my very next appearance in Huntington, New York, at a store called Book Revue. Technical difficulties prevented my visual aids from going up, and unlike television in which you can cut to the color bars, I was live, so I had to wing it.

This minor disaster turned out to be the best thing that could have happened for my book tour, not to mention the best possible thing for my self-confidence. Interacting with the audience turned out to be much more fun than reading from a script, and I wound up staying for an hour longer than I was
supposed to. I didn’t feel like I was on stage at all. It was like chatting with friends in my own yard at one of our barbecues.

My book tour gave me a new appreciation for anyone who goes on a promotional tour for a movie, television show, or a cause they believe in. As much as I was enjoying it, traveling to a new city every couple of days was not easy. I was amazed that people stood in line for so long to see me or hear me speak. I happily chatted and signed books for everyone who was kind enough to show up for me.

Promoting the book challenged me in so many ways. I was really nervous about doing television, but I knew I had to do it. The more I did it, the more I just forgot the camera was there and that anybody was watching. In the end, I did nine television shows and three radio shows.

My appearance on
The View
was definitely the unexpected low point of my promotional tour. It’s a bit of a blur now, but I distinctly remember being ripped apart by hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar. It didn’t matter that neither one of them had any facts; they had already found me guilty. It was so awful. Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg tried their best to intervene, but it was too late, I had already been thrown to the lions.

I left the studio in tears. Whoopi was very sweet and followed me to the door and put her arms around me. I think because Whoopi is a mother and a grandmother, she understood the complexities I was dealing with. Barbara is of course a veteran journalist, and despite her intimidating persona, she refrained from judging me. She has her own daughter, so I think she approached me with a more balanced perspective.

It was definitely the school of hard knocks, but I had signed up for it. I had no choice but to dust myself off and get back on the horse. Which is exactly what I did.