12 of the Most Shocking Celebrity Memoirs: Leah Remini, Britney Spears, Caitlyn Jenner and More

Britney Spears dropped her highly anticipated memoir The Woman in Me on October 24. Before the book's release, People dropped excerpts that made headlines over the past few days — from her pregnancy with Justin Timberlake's child to her whirlwind romance with Colin Farrell.

The "Everytime" singer announced on Instagram that her memoir scored a major milestone only one day after it hit the bookstores, as it became the highest-selling celebrity memoir in history.

Caitlyn Jenner unveiled the most shocking secrets she has in her memoir The Secrets of My Life. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum tackled many topics in the book, released on April 25, 2017 — from her long journey to transgender womanhood, past suicidal thoughts and her relationship with Kris Jenner.

Among her revelations, the former Olympian claimed that she told Kris about her gender issues before they made love.

"This will always be a subject of dispute between Kris and me as to how much she could intuit about my gender issues," she wrote. "She insists that she was taken by surprise by my ultimate transition to Caitlyn … I told her I dressed as a woman, and she knew I did, because I did it several times in front of her after we were married."

However, the momager told Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian in an episode of KUWTK that everything Caitlyn said was "all made up."

On May 31, 2022, Teen Wolf star Colton Haynes released his memoir Miss Memory Lane, which explored his life and career as he dealt with criticisms because of his mannerisms.

The actor, who came out as gay on Tumblr in 2016, broke his silence about the sexual abuse he suffered from and his mother's struggles to make ends meet for the family.

"Doing things like that — s-- things — was going to give me that sensation again, the feeling of being desired, the feeling of getting someone else's attention," he wrote.

Worthy, Jada Pinkett Smith's new memoir, did not receive the attention she expected to have after outing her own dirty laundry and relationship with Will Smith.

The Red Table Talk host shocked everyone with the revelations from her book prior to its arrival on bookshelves. Some excerpts revisited the 2022 Academy Awards blunder, her separation from Will, Chris Rock asking her out and her infamous "entanglement" with August Alsina.

According to Newsweek, Jada's memoir dropped to No. 81 on Amazon's bestsellers list over a week after its arrival.

Following Jamie Lynn Spears' ABC News interview, she presented her memoir Things I Should Have Said on January 18, 2022, which details her strained relationship with Britney and her sibling's conservatorship battle. She alleged in the book that their family was "torn apart by money, distorted truths, and undisclosed personal issues."

Aside from the "Toxic" singer, Jamie Lynn also opened up about her pregnancy at 16 and her beef with Alexa Nikolas.

Jessica Simpson poured out all her feelings when she wrote her memoir Open Book.

Published on February 4, 2020, the "I Wanna Love You Forever" singer looked back at the issues and controversies she got involved in over the past years. She also wrote about her body image struggles that led her to restrict her food consumption and take diet pills.

Simpson also made noise as the book covered her past relationship with John Mayer, who once used the term "sexual napalm" to describe her.

"He'd dump me, then come back saying he had discovered he loved me after all. I always saw it as him mercilessly taking me in from the cold," she wrote. "Every time John returned, I thought it was a continuation of a love story, while my friends saw a guy coming back for s-- with some foolish girl."

John Stamos shared the highs and lows of his career in his new memoir If You Would Have Told Me. The Full House actor revisited the experiences he had in his life that left him with moral lessons — from his divorce from Rebecca Romijn to his struggles with substances.

He said he hopes people can learn something from his memoir and use it in their lives.

"It could be the stuff that I learned from Bob [Saget], which was, Tomorrow's not promised," he told People when he promoted the book. "Live every moment to the fullest and tell everybody that you care about them. Or the wisdom that I got from my parents, my dad, treating everybody the same. My mom, always looking for the best part of someone and that's what defines them. But I hope they can relate to me."

Julia Fox shared what she went through on and off the camera in her memoir Down the Drain. In the book, released on October 10, she talked about the previously unknown things about her, from her shoplifting habits when she was younger to her relationship with Kanye West.

The Julia De Fiore star also wrote about trying marijuana when she was 11 and how she felt afterward.

"I feel warm and fuzzy and everything is so funny. My thoughts are more linear and I can finally hear myself think," she said.

Fox also tried heroin when she was 16, and it was the beginning of her addiction that lasted in her 20s.

Leah Remini shocked everyone with more juicy details about leaving Scientology in her memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. She wrote about the physical abuse she allegedly suffered from in the Sea Org and her sister Shannon's experience in the Quality Inn, as the then-infant was neglected like other children.

"In Scientology, minors are considered spiritual beings and not children in need of protection and guidance," Remini wrote. "You are the only one responsible for the condition of your life, regardless of your age. The Sea Org members believed that their kids could make up their own minds. As a result, these kids could no longer live with their parents."

On October 20, 2020, Matthew McConaughey shared his tell-all "approach book" Greenlights.

"This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life," he said. "Adventures that have been significant, enlightening, and funny, sometimes because they were meant to be but mostly because they didn't try to be."

Among the shocking revelations included a man who molested him when he was 18, his parents' relationship and divorce, his flings and his Wolf of Wall Street cameo.

Matthew Perry spoke candidly about his long battle with substance abuse in his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. In the book, out on November 1, 2022,

"I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again," he told People after the arrival of his memoir. "I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people."

The Friends actor wrote about his terrifying experience with prescription opioids and how his alcohol addiction started when he began drinking at 14.

In another shocking part of the memoir, Perry revealed that he was originally cast to appear in the hit film Don't Look Up, but his hospitalization made it impossible for him to do the project.

Royal fans and the world learned about the royal family's dramas through Prince Harry's Spare.

The memoir, which earned criticism for his alleged attacks that targeted the members of the monarchy, shocked everyone with the revelation that he and Prince William had a physical altercation. He also admitted to taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms that helped him see "another world where the red mist didn't exist" amid his unhappy life.