BAGGAGE

The acclaimed actor reflects on overcoming a painful past to make room for a fruitful future.

In his moving debut memoir, Not My Father’s Son (2014), Scottish actor and activist Cumming (b. 1965) urgently confessed to growing up in a sadistically abusive family and how that experience hobbled his adult life, suppressing his emotional maturity and limiting his capacity for happiness. In this wise, pensive, sometimes chatty book, the author examines how he has been able to embrace the painful memories embedded in his “splintered psyche” in order to move forward and face further challenges along the way. He shares stories of his strained eight-year heterosexual marriage and his deep dive into early theater roles to fill the void. From there, Cumming nonchronologically glances further back into his childhood and his burgeoning love of performance and drama school. In the 1990s, British theater gave way to glittery feature film junkets and side character roles in Hollywood; he includes an expanded memory about his work with Stanley Kubrick and Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut. Cumming came out in the late 1990s after a momentous Tony Award–winning performance in Cabaret and a greatly anticipated relocation to New York City. The book’s midsection is aflutter with Hollywood anecdotes of stars, dalliances, and heartbreaks over men as well as the breathless first encounter with his husband, Grant. Thoughtful, candid revelations join with intimate confessions while Cumming’s witty repartee never falters. Regardless of his traumatic past, the memoir lifts the veil on a happier man who has “transcended and bloomed.” With heartfelt anecdotes and an honest perspective, Cumming shares the struggles and joys of a fulfilling life while making peace with the baggage of a troubled past.

Cathartic and revelatory, Cumming’s memoir will fascinate fans and those who relate to his internal struggle.