Photo:Peggy Sirota via Getty; Grand Central Publishing
Peggy Sirota via Getty; Grand Central Publishing
Leslie Jonescan’t help but be brutally honest.
Ask the hit comic andSaturday Night Livealum, 56, why she decided to write her life story now, and she’ll keep it all the way real. “My agents called me up and said ‘Hey, want to write a book?’ And I was like ‘Yea. Why not? F— it’,” she tells PEOPLE. “I knew that I would maybe write a book one day, like when I retired or something, but I’m kind of glad I did it now so I can remember some of it.”
InLeslie F*cking Jones, available now, Jones remembers quite a lot. Some stories areheartbreaking, many arefunnyand most areinspiring. From overcomingchildhood traumaand painful loss to her difficult journey to fame and recent health battles, Jones doesn’t hold back. Most importantly, she couldn’t be more proud of her journey.
“I proved myself right,” says the star. “I’m actually funny and therewassomething about me. I’m Leslie F—ing Jones!”
Here are some of the biggest revelations from the star’s new book.
Jones experienced painful trauma as a very young child.
Leslie Jones.Leslie Jones/ Twitter
Leslie Jones/ Twitter
The star writes that looking back at pictures now, she’s noticed the light in her smile dimmed around that age. She is unsure if her late parents, Army veteran Willie Jones, Jr. and Sundra Diane Jones, were aware of what happened. But she says they are the ones responsible for instilling confidence in her as a child. Her mom would put her in after school programs and connect her with mentors while her dad would fill her with positive affirmations.
“My dad would always say to me, ‘I don’t care what they tell you, you can do whatever you want to do as long as you work hard,'” Jones tells PEOPLE. “‘They’re going to tell you you’re Black, they’re going to tell you you’re a female,’ he’d say, ‘but none of that matters.'”
Jones and her younger brother struggled to find their way as teens.
Leslie Jones with her mother Diane and brother Keith.Leslie Jones/ Facebook
Leslie Jones/ Facebook
In the ’80s, Jones’s family relocated from Memphis, Tenn. to South Los Angeles after her father landed a job at Stevie Wonder’s radio station. Initially it was a tough transition for Jones who writes that she struggled early on with finding her social footing in a new high school before making a name for herself as a class clown and 6ft tall star basketball player.
But her younger brother Keith went through the most troubling transition, getting swept up in the gang violence that was prevalent in the area at the time. Jones writes that she wishes she could have intervened but the peer pressure he was under was too strong and from there his life went down a dangerous path.
Jones would have terrible fights with her father, who battled addiction.
Leslie Jones’s father, Willie Jones, Jr.Leslie Jones/ Facebook
Though she and her dad were incredibly close throughout her life, Jones shares that he descended into alcohol addiction after a series of unfortunate events, including losing his job and her mother suffering a debilitating stroke. When Jones was in college their relationship strained and at times he became physically abusive.
In one instance Jones writes that he struck her in the face, causing her to leave home and seek refuge with her boyfriend at the time. Both of Jones’s parents died of heart-related illnesses in the early 2000s. Retelling painful moments, like those with her dad, while recording the audiobook for her memoir, “was very emotional, very hard,” Jones tells PEOPLE. “I think I cried for the reason of, I made it through that s—.”
After bombing in front of Jamie Foxx, Jones quit comedy for six years.
Leslie Jones.Leslie Jones/ Instagram
Leslie Jones/ Instagram
The star writes that she won her college comedy competition and set out to be a comedian in her late teens. One night she gave a particularly bad performance ahead of a then largely unknown young comedian named Jamie Foxx. She says he stuck up for her in front of the audience but later told her she needed to live more life and build more material before she could make it in standup.
Jones says she took his advice and walked away from comedy for six years. In that time she worked numerous odd jobs, from waitressing to marrying people to selling perfume. “If you want to be a good comic you’re going to get taken through the wringer,” Jones tells PEOPLE. “And no one is funny until after 10 years.”
Jones made the choice not to have children early on.
Leslie Jones.
Jones tells PEOPLE her fear of childbirth started after watching a video in her ninth grade health class. “I remember running all the way home and I looked right at my mom and said, ‘I will never do that!'” To this day she says she doesn’t see motherhood in her future. “I didn’t get married and have kids,” she says, “but I don’t know if that’s what I wanted,” adding, “I’ve always wanted to take care of myself.”
Jones’s brother Keith died in 2009 and the loss gutted her.
The star writes that her brother’s story is one of “sadness.” He never fully found his way and struggled with homelessness and substance abuse before being found unconscious in a park in Santa Barbara. He died shortly after.
“When my brother died, I laid on the floor for two days,” she tells PEOPLE. Then, “it was literally my right mind that said, ‘Hey dude, we’ve got to pay rent. I know you feel bad, but what are you going to do?'” Jones says that the loss sent her into a deep depression but also caused her to lose all inhibitions about her career and go full throttle into pursuing comedy.
At ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Jones once told Melissa McCarthy she wanted to fight her for rejecting her skit.
Leslie Jones and Colin Jost.Will Heath/NBC
After longtime palChris Rockhelped her land anSNLaudition, Jones joined the show’s writing team in 2014. But early on she struggled to find her footing. In one instance she wrote a pitch for hostMelissa McCarthythat didn’t go over well.
“For the sketch,” she writes, “Melissa and I would be talking to some guy in the club: ‘You’re out there in this club trying to get these skinny pretty b—-es? You know, when you go to her house, she ain’t going to have no food in her refrigerator, right? Me, I got a whole meatloaf and some mashed potatoes, some biscuits and string beans!'”
McCarthy wasn’t feeling it and later told Jones she hoped the rejection didn’t hurt her feelings. Writes Jones, “‘You didn’t hurt my feelings,’ I said, ‘but I did want to fight you, though.’ Thank God she laughed at that, because I just wanted to make her laugh.”
Jones went on to make a name for herself, eventually becoming a full-fledged cast member known for her standout performances on the sketch show’s popular ‘Weekend Update’ segment. She also writes that at times she had to fight stereotypes and push for diversity as one of few Black cast members on the show. She leftSNLin 2019 and tells PEOPLE, “It’s like a bittersweet thing. I realized I can only do so much in this machine.”
Jones believes ‘Ghostbusters’ flopped because of poor editing.
The comedian doesn’t split hairs when talking about her tough experience filming Paul Feig’s all-femaleGhostbustersremakealongside Melissa McCarthy,Kristen WiigandKate McKinnon. In her memoir she writes about everything from the viciousracist backlashshe faced from online trolls when she was cast, to feeling like she wasn’t valued on set. “Sometimes I was made to feel like I was just lucky to be there,” she tells PEOPLE. “I was like, ‘No, y’all lucky to have me!'”
While she enjoyed her time working with the director and actors, she says the producers made poor choices she feels caused the 2016 film to disappoint at the box office. Jones believes over-editing was to blame, with many of the best scenes ending up on the cutting room floor. “I feel bad for the movie that you guys got to see,” she says, “because the movie that was made was freaking incredible.”
In 2020 Jones underwent hemorrhoid surgery that left her bedridden for months.
Leslie Jones.getty images
The star reveals that she suffered from painful hemorrhoids for years before finally getting them removed just before the pandemic hit in 2020. “Let me tell you,” she writes, “of all the funny things in this book, hemorrhoids are no joke.” The recovery left Jones in excruciating pain from recurring anal spasms. She writes that this was actually the toughest time in her life and she fell into a depression.
The star creditsDJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantinesessions held on Instagram during the pandemic with helping her feel joy again amid her pain and the global health crisis.
After seeking therapy she is at peace with her past and excited for her future.
Leslie Jones.Peggy Sirota via Getty
Peggy Sirota via Getty
Jones, who writes in gripping detail about her many experiences with loss and trauma, says she’s finally had the time and resources to do the work to make peace with it all. “I’ve been through therapy, everything that I need to get myself into a state of contentment with my mental,” she tells PEOPLE. “When I was reading these stories now, I was able to take the time to go, ‘f—, man, that s— was hard when I was going through it.”
source: people.com
