Fall to Pieces: A Memoir of Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, and Mental Illness

by Mary Forsberg Weiland, Larkin Warren

Overview

On the surface Mary Weiland had a fairy tale life. She was a successful model married to a successful rock star—Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland—and a world traveler with a home and two beautiful children. But it wasn’t until her rampage in a Los Angeles hotel room and the resulting media frenzy that the world got a glimpse into Mary’s inner turmoil, self-destructive behavior, bipolar disorder, and drug abuse.

In Fall to Pieces, she reveals the extreme highs and lows of her life, the volatilty of which long hinted at her bipolar disorder. Weiland tells her story with refreshing candor, unflinching detail, and more than a little humor. Reminiscent of celebrity memoirs from Tatum O’Neill, Brooke Shields and Valerie Bertinelli, Weiland offers a window into the world of modeling and rock’n’roll celebrity while at the same time providing deep insights into a serious and misunderstood mental illness.

Co-written with veteran journalist Larkin Warren, Fall to Pieces is a blistering, eye-opening memoir of Hollywood meltdown.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061719165
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/07/2010
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	458,615
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mary Forsberg Weiland lives with her two children in Los Angeles, where she is studying for her certification in drug and alcohol counseling, with a focus on co-occurring disorders. This is her first book.

A former editor at Esquire, Lear's, and Good Housekeeping magazines, Larkin Warren was a contributing writer to Addiction: Why Can't They Just Stop?, the companion book to HBO's documentary of the same name, and collaborated with Professor Elyn R. Saks on Saks's bestselling memoir, The Center Cannot Hold, which Time magazine named one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 Crown City by the Sea 9

2 Walk Fast 31

3 "Be a Model or Just Look Like One!" 53

4 Love Is the Drug 69

5 Trouble 87

6 Black Again 107

7 Not Dark Yet (But It's Getting There) 129

8 The Chaos Tour 145

9 Swimming Through Cotton 171

10 Into Your Arms 187

11 I Do ... Again 211

12 En Fuego 233

13 October Winds 263

14 Bye Bipolar 273

Acknowledgments 289

What People are Saying About This

Terri Cheney

“Mary Weiland describes the depths of madness and addiction with surprising clarity. Fall to Pieces is a wild, gripping story, told with intense emotional honesty.”

Dave Navarro

“A brutally honest and compelling account of Mary Weiland’s struggles with addiction and mental illness. Brave, bold and unfiltered, Mary’s writing injects humor and levity in a way that is both entertaining and necessary. I have no doubt that this important book will help save many lives.”

Drew Pinsky

“Mary Weiland’s beautifully crafted memoir takes the reader through the journey that is so very common today, the slow drift into addiction and mental illness. Honest, clear, and accurate, Fall to Pieces is perhaps the most vivid rendition of this experience I have ever come across.”

Editorial Reviews

A harrowing story of addiction and mental illness.” — People

“A worthy addition to the rock canon.” — New York Post

“Weiland’s lively, vernacular memoir tells the sadly wasted but ultimately self-directed tale of her meteoric rise as a model from impoverished, half-Mexican roots to a precipitous plunge into drug addiction....Weiland’s forthright, resilient can-do spirit injects this sad story with a healthy moral.” — Publishers Weekly

“A brutally honest and compelling account of Mary Weiland’s struggles with addiction and mental illness. Brave, bold and unfiltered, Mary’s writing injects humor and levity in a way that is both entertaining and necessary. I have no doubt that this important book will help save many lives.” — Dave Navarro

“Mary Weiland’s beautifully crafted memoir takes the reader through the journey that is so very common today, the slow drift into addiction and mental illness. Honest, clear, and accurate, Fall to Pieces is perhaps the most vivid rendition of this experience I have ever come across.” — Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of Loveline and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, author of The Mirror Effect and Cracked

“Mary Weiland describes the depths of madness and addiction with surprising clarity. Fall to Pieces is a wild, gripping story, told with intense emotional honesty.” — Terri Cheney, New York Times bestselling author of Manic

“For all the death and devastation detailed in its pages, this book is surprisingly funny.” — Reuters

From the Publisher

For all the death and devastation detailed in its pages, this book is surprisingly funny.

Reuters

A brutally honest and compelling account of Mary Weiland’s struggles with addiction and mental illness. Brave, bold and unfiltered, Mary’s writing injects humor and levity in a way that is both entertaining and necessary. I have no doubt that this important book will help save many lives.

Dave Navarro

A harrowing story of addiction and mental illness.

People

A worthy addition to the rock canon.

New York Post

Mary Weiland’s beautifully crafted memoir takes the reader through the journey that is so very common today, the slow drift into addiction and mental illness. Honest, clear, and accurate, Fall to Pieces is perhaps the most vivid rendition of this experience I have ever come across.

Dr. Drew Pinsky

Mary Weiland describes the depths of madness and addiction with surprising clarity. Fall to Pieces is a wild, gripping story, told with intense emotional honesty.

Terri Cheney

For all the death and devastation detailed in its pages, this book is surprisingly funny.

Reuters

A worthy addition to the rock canon.

New York Post

"Mary Weiland’s beautifully crafted memoir takes the reader through the journey that is so very common today, the slow drift into addiction and mental illness. Honest, clear, and accurate, Fall to Pieces is perhaps the most vivid rendition of this experience I have ever come across."

Doctor - Drew Pinsky

"A harrowing story of addiction and mental illness."

People Magazine

Weiland's lively, vernacular memoir tells the sadly wasted but ultimately self-directed tale of her meteoric rise as a model from impoverished, half-Mexican roots to a precipitous plunge into drug addiction. Growing up in a broken Southern California home in the 1980s, where she lived mostly with her working Mexican mother in near poverty, the author, née Forsberg, found autonomy and financial independence early on in modeling; by age 14 she was a finalist for a Seventeen magazine modeling contest and traveling to New York; by 16, she had quit school, been legally “emancipated” and booked overseas jobs. She also became infatuated with aspiring rock and roller Scott Weiland, who was briefly her driver, and as he became hugely successful with his band, Stone Temple Pilots, he slid into heroin addiction and dragged her along with him. He was also involved with another woman, and the author's account is a painful re-enactment of her youthful abasement. From partying scene to junkie desperation to psychiatrist's office, jail and rehab, Forsberg Weiland battled her demons, learning with some surprise that she suffered from bipolar disorder. Having two children with Scott turned her around, though her marriage crumbled when he didn't change. Weiland's forthright, resilient can-do spirit injects this sad story with a healthy moral. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly