Kitty Kelley
| Kitty Kelley | |
|---|---|
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Kelley at Borders Books and Music in Chicago, April 2010
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| Born |
April 4, 1942 Spokane, Washington |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer |
| Notable works |
The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (2004) Oprah: A Biography (2010) |
| Notable awards | PEN Oakland Censorship Award |
Kitty Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and Oprah Winfrey.
Although Kelley has been called "the consummate gossip monger, a vehicle for all the rumor and innuendo surrounding her illustrious subjects" she maintains, "I am an unabashed admirer of transparency and believe in the freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment" and, to that end, her writing is about "moving an icon out of the moonlight and into the sunlight". However, as her work endured more scrutiny, many of the facts she reported did not hold up.
Kelley was raised in Spokane, Washington, the eldest child of Adele and William Vincent Kelley, a lawyer who served as president of the city's bar association. Growing up Kelley helped take care of her five sisters, Mary Cary, Ellen, Margaret, Adele Monica and Madeleine Sophie, as well as her brother, John. The family vacationed in Europe and spent summers at their two lakeside cottages in western Idaho. Kelley graduated from St. Augustine's Elementary School and then attended the private prep school Holy Names Academy. In 1962 Kelley allegedly left the University of Arizona in lieu of criminal charges for suspected theft being filed against her, according to the biography Poison Pen by George Carpozi Jr. Her parents refused to let her live with them and sent her to live in Seattle with her maternal grandparents, the Martins. It was here that Kelley suffered a breakdown and used a wheelchair during some of that time. After this eight-month hiatus, Kelley surfaced at the University of Washington where she received a B.A. in English. She worked at the 1964 New York World's Fair and went on to become a receptionist/press secretary for Senator Eugene McCarthy.
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