I Am A Child Star Memoir Junkie!

Doesn't this building almost look like it could be on the set of "Little House on the Prairie" (minus the gas pumps, of course)? It's actually in Story, Indiana.

I just finished reading “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch” by Alison Arngrim and have fully immersed myself in re-runs of “Little House on the Prairie.” Her book was fascinating for any fans of the show. It was a behind-the-scenes tell-all told by someone who loved being on the show and stills loves and appreciates the fact that she got to be Nellie Oleson. What a fun read!

As a six-year-old child, Alison Arngrim was sexually molested by her brother. He was a child actor, too, in a series that I’ve never heard of. (It was before my time.) She had a bizarre household and upbringing as did some of the other child stars I’ve read about. And she was painfully shy. So being a mean-spirited villain was freeing for her. She says that she learned to let out a lot of rage while she was being Nellie.

She also shared funny stories about being best friends with Melissa Gilbert. My favorite was that she and Melissa would go shopping together in stores and as soon as they separated to look for grocery items, people would run up to “Laura” and warn her that “Nellie” was in the store. She could never cast off her Nellie character, but didn’t especially want to.

She also shared that Melissa Sue Anderson was an antisocial, insulting prima donna; that Michael Landon and most of the cast drank daily during filming; and that her on-screen husband Percival was gay and died of AIDs.

She gave so much background information on some of the episodes that I am now tuning into Hallmark, TNT and other channels that air re-runs. I’m hooked on the show all over again.

This happened when I read Maureen McCormick’s (Marcia Brady on "The Brady Bunch") memoir, too. Hers was the most compelling of the child star memoirs I’ve read. She was a hardcore cokehead, which I didn’t realize but could see when I started watching the re-runs again. But she also had one of the most f**-ed up families of all. Her brother rivals Alison Arngrim’s for “people you should avoid at all costs.” But what was sad was that Maureen’s mother went insane from syphilis and Maureen spent her whole life worried that she would, too. Oh, Marcia!

Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie Tanner of "Full House") was a big druggie, too. Mostly crystal meth.

Valerie Bertinelli (Barbara on "One Day at a Time") was a cokehead and was sleeping with Steven Spielberg while she was a teenager!

Mackenzie Phillips (Julie on "One Day at a Time") – well, we all know her sad junkie & incest tales, don’t we?

I am anxiously waiting to see which child star’s publish next. Maybe Erin Moran? Tina Yothers? Nancy McKeon? Lisa Bonet? I can’t wait!

Don’t judge me because I’m hooked on child star memoirs. Someone’s got to read them.