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Traci Lords - Underneath It All
by Traci Elizabeth Lords
St. Martin's Press
ISBN 0-06-050820-5
Published July 2003 - Hardcover - 286 pages - $23.95

As a little girl Traci seemed to always be escaping into her own world in an attempt to eradicate her present situation.  She grew up in an unstable home with an absent father who also beat her mother.  Her mother (and her mother's boyfriend) packed her four daughters up and left their home in Ohio and moved to the Los Angeles area.  Traci left home in her mid-teens after being sexually molested by her mother's boyfriend, and having been raped at aged 10 by a boy, with no idea of how she was going to make it.  Easily falling into the destructive (and escapist) world of drugs, she soon found herself "modelling" and then in porn movies.  With a fake ID and a new name, Traci was living her independence but not without a strong sense of loss.  With her good looks she was a hit but in her head she was a miss.  Losing her identity to that of Porn Queen, insincere boyfriends and the like, and with the help of therapy, she acquired a respectable agent and found herself in decent movies (Cry, Baby with Johnny Depp) and had the courage to leave her sordid life behind.  It didn't happen overnight and neither did she find it easy to be accepted for herself.  This is a poignant story of how one's life can be ruined by horrendous things that happen to innocent children and how you can overcome them.  Well done, Traci.  Your story will help millions of other little girls out there from going down the wrong road.
Conclusion - Heart rending and an incredible story of guts.