REARVIEW MIRROR

Stewart reflects on her modeling and acting careers and her marriages to actor George Hamilton and rock star Rod Stewart.

Stewart (My Life with Farrah, 2009) grew up in Texas in the 1950s, the daughter of a single mother whose decades-long drug addiction eventually led to her death. Stewart's father left when she was only 1 year old, and she never heard from him again. Describing the effect of her father's absence, she writes, “[t]his has certainly been the pattern for most of life—looking for that 'powerful daddy' that would love me and make me feel safe yet choosing men who couldn't possibly fill those shoes.” Her beloved grandmother, whom she calls "Mama," was her primary caretaker. Following her high school graduation, Stewart got engaged to her first boyfriend, started working as a flight attendant, broke off her engagement, and was the victim of a home invasion and rape. Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York, where her "glamorous years" began. Her striking beauty garnered her immediate success as a model, as well as enormous male attention. The author devotes a good portion of the book to her paramours and her volatile marriages to Hamilton and Stewart, both of whom were already famous. She lists famous friends, such as Elton John, and her book contains photographs with her husbands and various celebrities. In addition to Rod Stewart's infidelity, she writes of raising her three children—a son with Hamilton and a boy and a girl with Stewart—mostly on her own and of her ongoing financial problems. She details her sons' battles with drugs and the terrible guilt she carries for her perceived failings as a parent. Her recollections are surprisingly detailed—a result, she explains, of the many journals she's kept throughout her life.

Stewart's gritty story will appeal to readers interested in her ex-husbands and her own rags-to-riches tale, rife with kiss-and-tell vignettes and the personal insights she's gleaned as an adult.