A riveting account of life as a closeted professional athlete from gay NFL player O’Callaghan, against the backdrop of depression, opioid addiction, and the threat of suicide. “[O’Callaghan’s] story is one of beautiful vulnerability, and it further shows the importance of knowing you aren’t alone.” —Oprah Daily, recommended by Gayle King Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was always to play football and then, when his career was over, kill himself. Growing up in a politically conservative corner of California, the not-so-subtle messages he heard as a young man from his family and from TV and film routinely equated being gay with disease and death. Letting people in on the darkest secret he kept buried inside was not an option: better death with a secret than life as a gay man. As a kid , Ryan never envisioned just how far his football career would take him. He was recruited by the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent five seasons, playing alongside his friend Aaron Rodgers. Then it was on to the NFL for stints with the almost-undefeated New England Patriots and the often-defeated Kansas City Chiefs. Bubbling under the surface of Ryan’s entire NFL career was a collision course between his secret sexuality and his hidden drug use. When the league caught him smoking pot, he turned to NFL-sanctioned prescription painkillers that quickly sent his life into a tailspin. As injuries mounted and his daily intake of opioids reached a near-lethal level, he wrote his suicide note to his parents and plotted his death. Yet someone had been watching. A member of the Chiefs organization stepped in, recognizing the signs of drug addiction. Ryan reluctantly sought psychological help, and it was there that he revealed his lifelong secret for the very first time. Nearing the twilight of his career, Ryan faced the ultimate decision: end it all, or find out if his family and football friends could ever accept a gay man in their lives.

When Johnny Cash died in September 2003, the world mourned the loss of the greatest country music star of all time. I Walked the Line is the life story of Vivian Cash, Johnny's first wife and the mother of his four daughters. It is a tale of long-kept secrets, lies revealed, betrayal and, at last, the truth. Johnny and Vivian were married for nearly fourteen years. These years spanned Johnny's military service in Germany, his earliest musical inclinations, their struggling newlywed years, Johnny's first record deal with Sun Records (alongside Elvis Presley), his astounding rise to stardom, and his well-known battles with pills and the law. Vivian decided that, near the end of her life and with backing from Johnny, she should tell the whole story, even the parts at odds with the iconic Cash family image such as Johnny's drug problems; Vivian's confrontation with June Carter about her affair with Johnny and, most sensationally, the Cash family secret of June's lifelong addiction to drugs and the events leading up to her death. Also revealed are unpublished love letters between the couple, family photographs and artefacts. I Walked the Line is a powerful memoir of joy and happiness, injustice and triumph and is an essential read for all Cash fans.

An award-winning chef describes how he lost his sense of taste to cancer, a setback that prompted him to discover alternate cooking methods and create his celebrated progressive cuisine.

This revealing, introspective look at an athlete's intense drive to succeed in football also explores the adjustment to life after the final whistle. John "Hog" Hannah was a two-time All-American for the Crimson Tide under Bear Bryant. Hannah starred for the Patriots from 1973 to 1985 and was one of the most beloved New England Patriots players of all time. In his autobiography, the greatest offensive lineman in the history of the sport candidly discusses the price of dominating the trenches. Hannah also recounts his battles on the field against the Raiders and Dolphins and off the field with Patriots management. An introspective man who found religion later in life, Hannah describes the forces that shaped his drive to succeed and his addiction to control anything that threatened to separate him from perpetuating the "glory of greatness." Reflecting on how this mind-set proved detrimental beyond his playing days—leading to the breakup of his first marriage, his estrangement from his children, and an egomaniacal approach in the business world, he shares how he ultimately found God. Offensive Conduct is both an inside look at the world of college and pro football in the 1970s and 1980s and a chronicle of the ups and downs of a driven, successful athlete.

One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. Her 2009 Australia Open championship earned her the #1 world ranking for the third time in her illustrious career - and marked only the latest exclamation point on a life well and purposefully lived. As a young girl, Serena began training with an adult-sized racquet that was almost as big as her. Rather than dropping the racquet, Serena saw it as a challenge to overcome-and she has confronted every obstacle on her path to success with the same unflagging spirit. From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women's player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been without struggle: being derailed by injury, devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister, and criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis. Yet somehow, Serena always manages to prevail. Both on the court and off, she's applied the strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.

Craig Summers had one of the most dangerous jobs in television. His task? Keeping adventurous celebrities alive. Summers was the BBC's security advisor through some of its most turbulent years. His job took him to war zones, scenes of natural disaster and big international sporting events - as well as on undercover operations involving child trafficking, football hooliganism and narcotics. Using his extensive military experience - he served with the British forces in both the Falklands War in 1982 and the Balkans conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina - he has been the right-hand man, confidant and enforcer to many adventurous celebrities, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Gary Lineker, John Simpson and Matthew Pinsent. In Bodyguard Summers talks extensively about these relationships, demonstrating how his knowledge and experience have been vital in keeping BBC casualties to a minimum. From Kabul, to Gaza, to Zimbabwe, Summers has escorted and protected some of our biggest stars through testing and hazardous conditions. These are the stories of some of the key events of our time, from the inside out.