Say Everything: A Memoir

by Ione Skye

Overview

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Gen X icon Ione Skye bares all in an achingly vulnerable coming-of-age memoir about chasing fame, desire, and true love in the shadow of her famous, absent father.

In 1987, sixteen-year-old Ione Skye landed the breakout role of Diane Court, the dream girl who inspires John Cusack’s iconic boombox serenade in the hit Cameron Crowe film, Say Anything. While Skye seemed perfectly typecast as an aloof valedictorian, she was anything but.

Deserted by her dad, the folk singer legend Donovan, Skye was a ninth-grade dropout who sought solace and validation in the eyes of audiences and dreamy costars like Keanu Reeves, River Phoenix, Matthew Perry, John Cusack, and Robert Downey Jr. But like her sixties It Girl mom, Skye’s greatest weakness was musicians.

On the heels of a toxic relationship with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis, which began when she was just sixteen and he was twenty-four, the actress leapt into wedded bliss with her first great love, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz.

But marriage was not the magical hall pass to adulthood Skye had imagined. Awakening to her bisexuality and desperately insecure, she risked her fairytale marriage for a string of affairs with gorgeous nineties “bad girls.” The dream marriage imploded, and Skye’s trust in herself and her future along with it.

Set against a backdrop of rock royalty compounds, supermodel cliques, and classic late-century films like River’s Edge, Gas Food Lodging, and Wayne’s World, Say Everything is a wild ride of Hollywood thrills as well as a lyrical reflection on ambition, intimacy, and a messy, sexy, unconventional life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668048269
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	03/04/2025
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Ione Skye made her film debut opposite Keanu Reeves in River’s Edge, followed by her iconic role as Diane Court in Say Anything. Skye has appeared in other notable film and television projects including Zodiac, Wayne’s World, Fever Pitch, Arrested Development, Camping, Good Girls, Beef, and much more. In addition to acting, Skye is a painter who has exhibited and sold her work for twenty-five years. She is the author of the children’s book, My Yiddish Vacation, and cohost of the weekly podcast Weirder Together. Ione is the mother of two daughters and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, and collaborator, the musician Ben Lee.

Editorial Reviews

Her stories, fun as they are to read, are grounded in some of the most relatable human experiences: the search for love and a little understanding.”
–The New York Times

“The book is a wild ride — from the fantastic, messy 1990s Hollywood parties of her youth to ashrams, backstage at rock shows and on movie sets like “Wayne’s World,” “River’s Edge,” “Say Anything” and “Gas Food Lodging” ... Skye wraps her memoir with an homage to the husband and adult children she adores.”
–The L.A. Times

“Her hard-won breakthroughs lend a compelling structure and relatable themes.”
–The Washington Post

“I raced through it in two sittings . . .unusually upfront and racy. The writing is so good. . . as much a tapestry of the era as it is a story about Ione Skye."
–Bret Easton Ellis

“Delightfully juicy”
–PEOPLE Magazine

“A must read.”
–The Times (UK)

“Like Ione Skye herself, Say Everything leads with her wonderful heart. There is a timeless authenticity about what she’s written. Deeply personal, riveting, and funny, Ione has created an emotional diary that feels like a song you never want to end. As an actor and as a writer, her honesty is unforgettable.”
–Cameron Crowe, filmmaker and journalist

“Ione Skye's unflinching memoir embodies the grit of Eve Babitz mixed with the enchanting guilelessness of Alice navigating her way through the most illogical wonderland of them all: Hollywood. Ione tells her story of grappling with primal abandonment, love and heartbreak with compassionate candor and a true visual artist's recall of detail. As the title states, she really does say everything and left me wanting even more."
–Molly Ringwald, actor and author of Getting the Pretty Back

“Ione grew up in Hollywood’s fast lane where she crashed and burned more than once in pursuit of love but lived to write a coming-of-age tale with heartbreaking honesty and devilish humor. Say Everything also perfectly captured the excitement of making movies and music in the 90’s which was a delight to revisit.”
–Griffin Dunne, actor, director, and New York Times bestselling author of The Friday Afternoon Club

“Ione Skye captivated an entire generation when she emerged as a new kind of ingenue — idiosyncratic, almost vulpine, she made the films she appeared in her own and became a fascinating fixture of LA lore. But this book proves that even though she was on everyone’s screen (and bedroom wall) she had more to say than anyone else’s work could contain. That the most fascinating, funny, and ferocious version of events is her own.”
–Lena Dunham, actor, filmmaker, creator of HBO’s Girls, and New York Times bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl

“Ione Skye has always been a bit of a mystery; beautiful, elegant, and artistically accomplished in various realms of the arts. It was an absolute pleasure to read her book and highly satisfying to discover the many stories she reveals, while still remaining an engaging mystery."
–Crispin Glover, actor and filmmaker

“Always charming and witty, Ione was in the center of my 90’s L.A.”
–Sofia Coppola, filmmaker

From the Publisher