ANKRBOY

A veteran, Emmy Award–winning news anchorman reflects on his life and storied career in this fictionalized autobiography.

Raised in rural Georgia, Pettit was an overachieving student who managed to hide his sexuality throughout his radio and TV jobs while in college, nurturing a dream to become a news anchorman. His first shot at TV news reporting occurred in Tennessee, where the author became known for a risky but impressive report on skinheads. Called a “gunslinger” by his peers, he worked his way up the media ladder while secretly courting boyfriends. As his star rose, Pettit documented a serial killer in Nebraska, reported on Rock Hudson’s death from AIDS, and celebrated a monumental first day as an anchorman at the age of 22, though it was overshadowed by the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. As a closeted newscaster, Pettit grew weary of the constant struggle to be dazzled by the work of Dan Rather and celebrities like Oprah Winfrey while shielding his gay sexuality from public scrutiny, knowing the truth would vanquish his TV career in the 1990s. As “gay cancer” continued to ravage the LGBTQ+ community, the author recounts that he boldly insisted the network report the disease’s true cause. A career-driven move to Atlanta increased his popularity, but the death of a lover to the AIDS epidemic when Pettit was just 28 was personally catastrophic. He recounts that his life grew increasingly darker after he lost his anchor job to homophobia and painfully accepted that the station “had viewers to keep and ratings to grow” and, in the ’90s, open queerness was too dangerous. He became a gay man “who honestly hated himself and his life,” recklessly indulging in drug use and “debauchery” with friends at Southern California parties. But he eventually returned to TV news with a renewed vigor to overcome his past and thrive in media, acting, writing, and beyond. Though the timeline of his memories and anecdotes isn’t always linear, Pettit’s moving confessional remains consistently well written and forthright. This hybridized memoir draws wisdom from personal hindsight while dramatically elaborating on a fully realized life and media career. Now in his 60s, Pettit writes freely from the heart, imploring everyone to “treat each other with a little more kindness and grace.”

An engrossing, candid, passionately heartfelt self-portrait of a courageous life in the media spotlight.