We can all hear Jeanne Beker’s expressive, exuberant voice inside our heads, and you can feel the same cadence when you read her writing, too. Especially in her new ultra-personal memoir, “Heart on My Sleeve.” This is actually the third one the legendary reporter has written.
“I must be old to have written three memoirs!” Beker says. “But every decade, when you look back it is different.” Different, too, is the structure of this book, non-linear and conversational, filled with memories both public and private.
Paul McCartney with Jeanne Beker, both in plaid. The stories are charming, centred on important garments in Beker’s life. There’s the Fuddle Duddle underwear that channelled Pierre Trudeau and revealed her parents’ sacrifice to let her go off to New York to study acting.
The red Alexander McQueen booties that she keeps on display to remind her of the fragility of life, since the designer’s death by suicide. The Elsa Peretti bracelet that made her feel like Wonder Woman during her 2022 breast cancer diagnosis. There’s the plaid shirt she wore to interview who also wore plaid and did not disappoint.
And the Anna Sui bellbottoms she wore to interview Madonna, who turned up wearing the same pants. (The diva was not pleased, and Beker came away with a deeper understanding of celebrity personas.) “I rubbed shoulders with a lot of luminaries,” said Beker.
“But the people in my personal life shaped me and made me who I am.” Jeanne Beker as a baby.
