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Early in March 2006, Norwood Young invited me to dinner. At first glance, Norwood could be a long-lost brother of Michael Jackson: he must have visited the same plastic surgeon who has sculpted the Jackson kids' imminently recognizable noses and cleft chins. The skin around Norwood's eyes is tight, leading me to believe he's also been nipped and tucked, not just sculpted and dimpled. He also dresses very flamboyantly, with multicolored outfits of exotic materials. His hair is short, black, and wavy, and both ears are adorned with diamond earrings of about six carats. In fact, the earring in his right ear was so heavy, his lobe couldn't bear the weight, and it fell out on several occasions.
Dinner was set for seven at Los Angeles's uber-trendy sushi restaurant Katana, which boasts a full sushi bar, ample, cozy seating in its dimly lit dining room, and a spacious patio overlooking the infamous, fabulous Sunset Strip. A place for the nouveau riche and the celebrity, the eatery shares a building with Miramax Films and boasts a dual staircase leading from the sidewalk onto its outdoor patio and entrance. Inside, Katana is authentically Asian, with a tasteful veneer of Hollywood on top. It's a great place to see famous faces. KISS front man Gene Simmons passed by our table on the way to the men's room as the server brought my second order of hot sake. The sushi bar was packed and became even more alive each time another patron entered the dining room, as the sushi chefs greeted each with a yell. What they were saying is far beyond me, but I could only guess it's Japanese for "Welcome!"
As I said, Norwood is flamboyant; nothing about him is understated. From his fur coat to his designer denim and expensive shoes, it's obvious he has a story to tell. From the second I first saw him, I knew he was different. It takes an unusual man to alter his face to the degree that he has and to dress as outrageously as he does. When Norwood walks into a room, all eyes are on him. Everyone knows he's somebody, but who? He was once the lead singer of an R & B group named Pieces of a Dream, but now no one can pinpoint what he does to support his lavish lifestyle.
Norwood's amazing house is an eyesore to some, and a work of art to others. For those of us who know him, it's a direct reflection of his personality and his own personal, internal revolution. The house, recently featured on the E! series High Maintenance 90210, is on one of the busiest corners in Hollywood and is a gaudy display of art and defiance, making it an instant Los Angeles landmark. It is protected by a white decorative gate, and in the driveway is Norwood's late-model Bentley Continental, next to his Lincoln Navigator SUV, painted in an iridescent burnt orange, which changes hues as you walk around it.
But the true attraction of this once average home are the many white replicas of Michelangelo's David, historically and infamously naked. The chalk-white forms litter the front yard and even the roof of the home. Though I have not counted them all, there must be at least fifteen statues in the front of the property alone. Not surprisingly, offended neighbors complained and lawsuits were filed, but the statues remain.
I walked up the cobblestone driveway, careful not to ruin the heels of my new stilettos. Norwood met me at the door, but my eyes were not on him as I said hello. They were focused on the painting behind him, an enormous black-and-white self-portrait. The inside of his home is decorated in the same vein as the outside, and to tie it all together, there were two tiny dogs nipping at my heels-one pink, one purple, and aptly named Diva and Divo. There is a strange collection of oversized furniture and artifacts; white lacquer and African masks, neon lights and mirrors all around. Even while standing still, I was spinning, unable to keep my balance. From the curb to the living room, I was already overwhelmed. The closet in his bedroom holds hundreds of outfits on one of those carousel racks that you see at a dry cleaner's!
Norwood and I met on February 22, 2006 on the red carpet for the premier of a little-known film called Seat Filler, starring Kelly Rowland, of Destiny's Child fame, and Duane Martin, known from the CW series All of Us. I guess we didn't actually meet, but we exchanged glances, as if to say, I see you, you see me, and we're both hot! Three days later I ran into him again at the GM brunch the morning of the NAACP Image Awards, then later that evening on the red carpet of the Awards. During the brunch we made our first formal introduction with the help of our mutual friends, columnist Jawn Murray and comedian Kim Whitley.
"Karrine, have you met Norwood?" Jawn asked.
"You guys don't know each other?" Kim added.
"No, but I think it's about time we do. I have seen you everywhere!" I replied, offering him my hand.
"Yes, I keep bumping into you. I'm Norwood."
"I'm Karrine. It's a pleasure to meet you finally and officially." By the end of the brunch, he and I had exchanged numbers, which led us to that first night out together at Katana.
It wasn't long before Norwood's story began pouring out of him, and his truths began to sound strangely familiar. There were many things said at that Katana dinner that I just cannot repeat. As Norwood said, the things he could write a book about would kill his mother, and I don't want to be the one to send Miss Betty over the edge.
What I will say is this: I learned that my story is the story of many women and men alike. Sexual abuse is the hidden secret of many people. Those who were abused as children often grow up with greatly damaged self-esteem coupled with a warped view of sexuality-and many of them get the idea that becoming rich and famous will make all that childhood pain disappear. Perhaps it is not surprising that promiscuity, homosexuality, and just plain sexual confusion runs rampant in Hollywood. Young girls come here hoping to "make it"-and so do young gay men. Who Norwood has slept with and what he has done with them does not amaze me, because we are male and female mirrors, two sides of the same coin. From our lists of liaisons and indecent proposals to the secrets and lies we keep hidden on behalf of those we love, this man and I are twins. However, his stories would not only kill his mother, they would send shock waves through the entire entertainment industry.
Hollywood is a place both of dreams and of scandal. I have lived in this town for over seven years now, and the longer I stay, the more jaded I become-and the more I cannot leave. When I moved here, a friend warned me about the deceptive power of Hollywood. The city seems to be slow paced compared to meccas such as New York, London, Paris, and even Miami, but it is all an illusion. It will lull you to sleep with its palm trees and warm breezes, its beautiful people and casual opulence. And at the exact moment that you relax, the vortex that is Hollywood will suck you in, and your former self will never be seen again.
Hollywood transforms you and makes you into one of them. If you're not careful, it's easy to become one of the self-absorbed Beautiful Ones, whose only thrill in life is collecting people and things, as if living in a virtual board game. It becomes impossible for you to fit in anywhere else. Your life revolves around pleasure and beauty-you live your life shopping, exercising, and preserving your youth. Where else is it normal to have your face stretched and your lips puffed up? Where else is having the fat sucked out of your butt and relocated into the crevices of your face a typical lunch-hour appointment? Hollywood is the only place I know where having real breasts is strange and frowned upon, where being an eighty-year-old, wrinkle-free, surgeon-assisted voluptuous former playmate in a new Mercedes Benz SL is a life goal. Hearing the stories of others who live here lets me know that it's not just me; I am not the only one who has changed out of necessity. I am not the only one who has seen and done horrific things in this cesspool of sin.
It is so difficult for people who don't live here to know whatHollywood is like, or to believe the truth about it. And when I say Hollywood, I don't mean the city so much as the lifestyle and frame of mind. When Confessions of a Video Vixen was released, I received a lot of initial backlash from people who just couldn't fathom a lifestyle like this: fast money, drugs, and sex-the stuff of which movies are made. But you have to understand that people who know what goes on in this town write the movies we love so much. From Pretty Woman all the way to Boogie Nights, it's rarely fiction.
As I sat and listened to Norwood, I was reminded of where I was and that this was indeed the land of lost angels. I wondered how much deeper I would sink into this bizarre, materialistic lifestyle. It has already changed me so much. I've gone from bargain-bin shopping to Rodeo Drive, from appreciative to entitled. I have spoiled myself rotten, and I only wonder what I am overcompensating for. Am I still making up for my past and using it as a crutch and an excuse? Or am I just living the good life with "champagne wishes and caviar dreams?"
I felt a connection to Norwood that night as I listened to him tell me about his life, especially the horrible experiences that changed him as a little boy and shaped his manhood. He told me almost unbelievable stories about the double lives of powerful men at the top of the entertainment business in this town, their secrets and lies-things that, if made public, would change their existences and ruin their careers. We spent several hours at Katana that night, letting each other know that we were not alone and, in many ways, not that different. And at the end of it all, it made me think about what my father had said to me long ago about being born a girl. Here before me was a man who had it no better that I had, a man who also lived his life as a vixen and felt the need to do some confessing.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Vixen Diaries by Karrine Steffans Copyright © 2007 by Karrine Steffans. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Book_Lover21
Posted February 19, 2009
I really like this book. At first i wasnt really sure how she would be after everything i read in confessions. But im happy to say that she's matured and this book is very good. After reading about how she started to view things in life it made me think. But this book is definetily a page turner and not a disappointment.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MsStarStatus
Posted October 14, 2008
This book was a waste of money. She built so much hype around the book and it deflated as I turned each page. The most exciting part about the book was the first chapter and that was about it. The book resembled her life as what it is now, no direction what-so-ever. She needs to stop running away from the fact that what made her "famous" (i use the term very loosely) is bed hopping and knob slobbing, that's what got her "in" if you will. If she wants to play the role of someone who has learned from their mistakes of their past, then miss honey act like it! Let it show in the context of the pages we read because that is your platform. No one is checking for her in any other way. You are not the only chick who can do things with her mouth! You have got to come harder than that Miss Karrine. The book was a snore and so is she. One thing I will say that is a kudo to her, she did make $ and established her own financial security, at what cost she paid to get it...left to be desired :(
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 24, 2008
Ms. Steffans' second book would have been good if she didn't have such an over inflated sense of her own fame. This woman is so stuck on herself it's pathetic. Every other page was about how she was a bigger celebrity then this person and how that person was jocking her. I became increasingly irritated with her constant mention of how successful she was and how much money she has and how famous she is. I really hope she gets a reality check and soon. Honey, you may have money now but you are still nothing.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 30, 2008
Very disappointed in the book, she contradicts herself without the whole book she is supppose to be grown up from the last book but is not the only thing is that she has her own money and does not have to depend on anyone. Speaks a lot about her wealth, cars, and home which i am very happy for her, and that she is also spending more time with son.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 12, 2007
I have read the Confessions book and almost done with the Vixen Diaries. Yes, I will admit there is a bit of redundance throughout the book about her cars, home, and wealth but we have to try to step into her shoes for a moment. For those who read the book for more than just juicy gossip about the entertainment industry like myself would have read about the horrible life this woman had growing up. If I want juicy gossip I will read the tabloid, or better yet, talk to someone I call my friend, but to make all of these negative comments about the woman for really no reason is really un-called for. She is an eloquent writer and she does have a gift and I don't know about anyone else, but when you truly begin to realize what your talent/gift is in life you get excited. You can't help but to brag sometime about what GOD gave you and especially if you're not used to having anything in the first place. My main thing is, through all of the negativity I've seen posted on this site about this book, why did you naysayers go into reading this book with eyes closed looking for 'surface literature'. If she is ever going to evolve as a woman and a responsible mother and role model for her child she has to, at some point, write about more than meaningless and juicy experiences and that's what she did in her second book. We all have to grow up sometime and her time was with the second book. She has something to prove and I think she's going in the right direction. Proving that she can write about things other than her past permiscuous behavior. I think anyone should at the very least respect her for that.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 29, 2007
If you are interested in JUICY GOSSIP 'although she has releases a little bit of pertinent information',your time is better off spent reading the national inquiry while standing in line at the supermarket. While I loved Confessions, I very much so enjoyed THIS book. Whenever I am reading something it is from beginning to end and without breaks or being over the course of many days. And The Vixen Diaries was no different. This book still the same as her first best-seller, all depending on how much you want to get out of it. Karrine states in the book that she has denounced her infamous nickname. The Vixen Diaries was successful in helping me view her in a different light. Buy/Read the book and FORM YOUR OWN OPINNION!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 28, 2012
I will rather die than read this book
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 12, 2011
this book is extremely boring. I find myself struggling just to finish it. Quite frankly i dont think ill waste anymore of my time with this read.
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Posted January 25, 2011
Wow...having read the first book and feeling deeply disgusted with women in general...I thought wow maby in this next edition she has turned her life around. Sadly this is not the case. She is still an unnattentive aweful mother who allows herself to be absent all the time, or parading random drug addicted men in and out of her sons home....all in the name of a dollar. She talks about empowering women? OMG..wow please don't speak for me.
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Posted December 29, 2010
I ne thought that I would become so interested in someone elses life. This book kept me on the edge of shock wondering who else would give into lust and cravings. I now feel like industry 'people' are not so far away fom us common folks as tney would lik to portray. This book is a definate page turner. I cant wait to read about who else is an undecover freak, lesbian, homosexual, or pothead!!!!!
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Posted August 5, 2008
I enjoyed both books, i felt like in book 2 she seemed to have the same feelings i have at times.. i am proud of her, she got me thinking.
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 16, 2008
The book had no direction and is poorly written... need I say more. Thank goodness for public libraries since I didn't have to waste my money, only my time. On second thought .. I wish I could get those hours back.
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Posted February 18, 2008
I give her credit for making it out of the whole that she was in, but writting books like this is a waste. She should be writting to better young women from going down the road that she took.
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Posted March 12, 2008
I enjoyed book 1, Book 2 is not the same as Book 1, in Book 2 Karrine tell the story of how she is growing, snd how her video vixen days are over. This young woman was given an oppertunity to tell her story,in which she turn something ugly into something beautiful, and to get a chance to see the positive progression of that thru her books and her public speaking is amazing. Book 2 is not all gossip as some of us hoped it would be, it's her growing up process.
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Posted March 10, 2008
I borrowed Ms. Steffans' book from the library, and I am fortunate, because had I purchased this book I would have wasted my money. As I was reading the memoir, I felt as though Ms. Steffans was being very self-centered and condescending. What I loathed the most, was the repetitiveness and redundancy throughout the novel. I also got frustrated when she constantly kept mentioning Bill Maher, a man who was in her life at one point and time, and eventually moved on with his life. I am truly convinced that Ms. Steffans is not only producing these scandalous books for money and publicity, but also because she is vindictive and malevolent. In a world where there are probably millions and millions of talented writers, it just baffles me how she can make money off of this jabberwocky. I think she is motivated to write these books, because of the moniker, Superhead, that she was given in the entertainment industry. I think she uses her words to intentionally injure other parties. When she was living a sumptous lifestyle on the expensive of athletes, musicians, and other rich and prominent men she was'nt writing and publishing books. When the tables were turned on her, she now wants to air out dirty laundry. When you choose to live a promiscuous lifestyle, it comes as no surprise that it will eventually lead to a negative reputation. I strongly believe she tries to berate others to make herself feel more secure and powerful. From the descriptive details she provides about her lifestyle, she does'nt appear to be any less promiscous and vulnerable than when she was 'Superhead'. I think she is a classic example of what young women everywhere should not aspire to be.
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Posted January 22, 2008
I have read Confessions of a Video Vixen and also the Vixen Diaries and I love both of them.I am a fan of these books, but the only thing I would like to see in the upcoming books is that you tell who is 'THE BOY TOY' and who is 'BABY BOY'. But anyway this book is a GREAT BOOK and I would recommend people buying it. I really appricate your books. Keep wrighting from a friend.
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Posted February 24, 2008
This book was awful i recommend no one waste their time on this book. I really didnt know where karrine was going with the story , the same as the last book, nothing new karrine is bored and so am i.
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Posted January 15, 2008
I don¿t usually write reviews and when I do I follow the saying ¿if you have nothing nice to say don¿t say anything at all¿ but this book is just that bad. I wouldn¿t want anybody wasting his or her hard earned money on this sorry reason for a book. First of all the writing is terrible, or did she really believe that people bought her first book because it was an exceptional piece of literature. She writes on a third grade level. Her story has no beginning, no middle and no end. She calls herself a best selling author, somewhere out there Dan Brown and J. K. Rowling 'true authors, you know ones that can write' are cringing because they are authors as well and probably would not want to be associated with her. The story is not interesting all she does in the book is try to make herself look good by putting everybody else down. She talks about all her success, she is SO repetitive, and the whole book could have been written in four pages. SHE CAN¿T WRITE. This book does not talk about her life as in the first book it talks about how happy she is and how successful she is 'BORING'. I did not buy this book I borrowed it from the library just to see if it was as bad as the reviews say, and it was. So piece of advise save yourself the trouble.
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Posted January 18, 2008
I am so sorry that I wasted by money on this book. I am so disappointed. I really thought it would be great. I loved the first book it kept me interested. This book is so dumb. She thinks she has arrived for selling a book about her having sex with everyones man. Girl please. Go back to school and be a mother to your son. If they publish your next book make it more interesting and I might check it out from the library. I can't spend another dime on this.
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Posted November 20, 2007
What a total bummer!It's a waste of money.It was so boring,I started falling asleep while reading it. She's a confused woman.Thinking everyone is hating on her.She's a best seller because she slept with everyone whose anyone,& wrote a book about it.Not because she has talent for writing.The proof is in this boring book.All she does is repeats herself.Don't waste your money!
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Overview
A true exposé, this book chronicles the personal and professional adventures of this tabloid-laden socialite, dispelling some rumors, while confirming others. It unveils the heavily shrouded Hollywood backrooms and its coveted secrets and reveals an up-close and personal look at a life of fast money and sex.Here Karrine candidly discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and explains how she copes with it all. A provocative and enthralling volume that offers Karrine's ardent fans lessons learned and answers to burning questions, THE VIXEN DIARIES will not disappoint.