In 2008, it hit Mary Beth Ditto that she was now a celebrity (she was 27 years young); it took her raunchy photo gracing the cover of the NME magazine to realise this. Yet it was only after people told her she is a celebrity that she finally believed it. After walks up the red carpet, her first fashion week, buying her first home, going to Cannes festival, playing at Coachella and meeting idol John Waters, it finally sunk in – I’m a celebrity. This gives you an honest interpretation of a young lady who hasn’t let ego go to her head, a lady who has remained grounded and someone who still has her teenage best friends as best friends.
Life wasn’t always a box of tim tams for Mary Beth Ditto, struggling through her younger years after leaving home due to a violent step-father. She took cover at her Aunt Jannie’s home for a lot of her teenage years. She survived through molestation, jibes about her weight and various other circumstances. Aunt Jannie was, to her, her lion and her den, her rock yet not always fair with other related children that came to live with Aunt Jannie. Her Aunty provided a secure world rather than living with her mother who after a divorce moved onto many other men and who often worked long hours. Because of this the kids were often left to fend for themselves, which often meant going without food and without milk for her mother’s babies. In saying all of this, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for her mother who was raped by her father as a young girl.
The book doesn’t paint a pretty childhood whatsoever, but Beth is a girl who seemed to always see the bright in the dark, who would walk into a room and pick on her weight first (that way, she couldn’t be picked on by others). She is someone who makes people laugh. She never has a problem with her weight, it is others that do. She is a girl who is into star signs, who is afraid of the dark and she’s a girl who grew up in a town where dancing was forbidden (Judsonia, Arkansas).
When reading this book, I often felt like I was present, witnessing her life but I didn’t find myself feeling sorry for her, she didn’t let me. As I mentioned, she doesn’t have a great childhood and it’s in adolescent that the walls came down and the breakdown and depression hit her (but you’ll need to read the book to find about this chapter!).
The sad piece about her life is that she was so used to the abuse around her, she stopped seeing it as abuse. A few of her young relations were raped and this was apparently all part of living in Arkansas in those days. Rather awful to read about and as Beth states, none of these now grown up kids have mimicked the patterns of their peers. Beth had boyfriends but finally admitted to others her sexuality and realised having a baby wouldn’t change her sexuality.
There are no photos in the book, just the snazzy front cover shot which is fabulous. I would have liked to have seen younger photos of her days with the Kool Aid hair colours. She says she is excellent with hair styles and colour and this may have been her path if she hadn’t found her delightful friends Nathan and Kathy in Judsonia where they all eventually moved the hell away into Olympia (Washington) where punk was on every corner. Here she discovered bagels and a better music scene!
It was these friends who, all those years ago, told her to come and sing whilst they were jamming one day in a basement in Judsonia, bored with nothing else to do. They all knew Beth could sing, she had kept her true voice hidden as she thought her singing voice should be different to what it is. It took her a while to reach her vocal potential and realise her voice is unusual and unique and actual pretty awesome.
Once Gossip supported Sleater-Kinney on their tour, word got out about this band and they recorded an EP at the K records studio in Portland (the next move) and eventually recorded an album with Kill Rock Stars studio. From here the band gained recognition in the UK and became bigger over there than their home town where they were ignored by the media. It was around this time that Beth had a some personal pre existing difficulties but she pulled through (again, you’ll need to read the book). Kathy, the drummer, left due to the instability of the band which left a spot for Hannah Billie and from here they signed with Sony Music where their budgets grew and another album was made with longer studio time – it was here the big album, Music For Men, was created and their worldwide fame was recognised.
She has learnt to be her self and that is as important as music. Her musical inspirations are Miss Piggy, Divine, Mama Cass and Leigh Bowery.
Beth always goes home to Judsonia where she is very welcomed, she says she is one of a few that got out of that town! Beth says, you don’t need to change anything but the world, so get to it.
