|
Blessed Life
by Kim Fields with Todd Gold
c.2017, Faith Words
$22.00 / $26.50 Canada
215 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
You have much to be thankful for this year.
There’s a roof over your head, for beginners. You know where
your next meal will come from. You can read, obviously.
Running water, electricity, friends, and family, the list
goes on. Author Kim Fields (with Todd Gold)
counts those happy things, too, and in her new book
Blessed Life, she knows who gets credit.
Born in Harlem with a pedigree in performing – her
grandmother was a dancer; her mother, an actress - Kim
Fields recalls how much she loved Harlem, but she says she
“would not trade growing up in Hollywood,” which is where
she moved with her mother when Fields was six.
|
 |
|
At age eight, as her mother’s L.A. star was on the rise,
Fields tried out for her first role in a TV ad, later
appearing in other commercials. She met Janet Jackson and
they often played together, a friendship that led Fields to
an appearance on Good Times, as a friend of Jackson’s
character.
Shortly after that first quick appearance, Fields was hired
for a new spin-off television show, in part because she
could roller skate. The show wasn’t a hit with audiences at
first, but NBC had faith in The Facts of Life.
“Going through puberty on television was not fun,” says
Fields but she “handled” things. It helped that her mother
kept her grounded; finding a church and connecting with God
at age fourteen also made a difference.
Those things helped Fields during her trials and lifted her
higher when things were good. Friends helped her search for
love, introducing her to men and offering support when love
went wrong. Professionally, work came and went in large
roles and small projects. Fields went to college, worked
behind-the-scenes in the film industry, fell in love, and
got married. When that relationship fell apart, she became
depressed and stayed in bed for weeks, asking God if he “still
got a plan, right?”
He did. It involved a new love, a family, more work, new
focus, and maturity.
“What I’ve come to terms with,” says Fields, “is that as
long as I’m moving forward…. I’m winning at least half the
battle.”
“Blessed Life” is a bit of fresh air in the star-biography
genre.
While so many H’wood memoirs get oversaturated with chummy
shouts of Look-Who-I-Know, author Kim Fields’ ubiquitous (in
star bios) name-dropping feels incidental and totally
natural here. Fields (with Todd Gold) doesn’t seem to be
reaching to impress anyone; rather, her anecdotes are breezy
and fun and pretty matter-of-fact, but she’s also open to
laying out the ups and downs of being a child-star, grown
up. Even that is told simply, but with just a little
embellishment and a lot of gratitude.
Overall, we take the good, we take the bad, and we get a
sense that the best aspects of Fields’ TV characters
reflected the best of her, too. Most happily, this peek at
stardom isn’t heavy on the drama and for that, reading
Blessed Life is something to be thankful for. |
