What do you think?
Rate this book
Awight Now
Michael Barrymore takes the reader through his rollercoaster life, from his poor London childhood, his work as a Butlin's Redcoat, through to TV and tabloid fame. He reveals the true highs of wealth, fame and adulation as well as the desperate lows of addiction, tragedy and depression.
- GenresAutobiographyBiography
306 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2006
4 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 8, 2025
Micheal! Took me a while to get into the book, however once I got into it i found the life you have lived very interesting
You are one of the people who remind me of my childhood sat with my mum and dad watching your shows and I’ll forever be thankful for the memories
I am so sorry for all you have been through. Living a lie that you were gay but married a woman who was vile and I read the pain in your words
I remember all the publicity about the guy who died in your pool reading the full story from you basically the media was making up stuff so sad to hear
Thank you for sharing your story! And I hope you are doing okay these days xxx
You are one of the people who remind me of my childhood sat with my mum and dad watching your shows and I’ll forever be thankful for the memories
I am so sorry for all you have been through. Living a lie that you were gay but married a woman who was vile and I read the pain in your words
I remember all the publicity about the guy who died in your pool reading the full story from you basically the media was making up stuff so sad to hear
Thank you for sharing your story! And I hope you are doing okay these days xxx
June 27, 2025
There will be no talent like this ever again a must read for all fans
June 7, 2023
I didn’t know a lot about Michael Barrymore before this book but from reading his story I have learnt a lot more about his childhood and adult life. The way he was treated for been gay was disgusting and very disrespectful and his former wife not liking the idea he was guy really upset me as Michael just wanted to be his true self. The accidentally death of the bloke in Michaels pool needs to stop been spoken about as it was found that Michael wasn’t to blame for that tragic accident. I never know Michael had a problem with drink and drugs but am happy he is on the recovery road and he stays on it. This book makes you learn a lot about Michael and his life and relationships and friendships and family life it’s such a inspiration and powerful book. I wish Michael the best for the future xx
February 25, 2023
Wow where do I start with this book. Through the eyes of a genuine celebrity thats really been through the mill and come out the other side. I really enjoyed reading this but it hurt my heart to read some of the terrible things Michael has had to deal with. I have and will always support this amazing man. What a great read!!!
August 1, 2013
I want to like Michael Barrymore. I really do.
Like most my age, he has given me countless belly laughs and hours worth of entertainment. Whether its coaxing an entire armed platoon to jazz step along to you singing at the Royal Variety Performance or making fun of the general public on a comedy format game show, Michael has defined his era in the “business that we call show” and set unending benchmarks and standards when it comes to entertaining a whole nation.
I have no doubt that we would all awknowledge (whatever we think of the man) that there will be nobody else quite like him, which is why that it is such a shame for him to use this opportunity the publisher has quite bravely themselves given him to be such a big whiny bastard.
“The mistake had arrived.”
This was like the third sentence of the first chapter and set the mood for the rest of the book. Michael was a mistake and often told this throughout his childhood. This though he constantly and rather frustratingly brings up in one shape or another throughout the book.
It was like, Yes, I know you are most at home on the stage and the very general public that you pride youself in involving in your “act” are the very kinds of people you most feel comfortable with but you don’t need to tell us every few pages. Likewise with his marriage and he insists that he was always gay, you can’t help but wonder why on earth he felt the need to even get married. The excuse that his industry turned their nose up at homosexuality seems quite far fetched and a poor excuse, in turn.
One of two disgraced TV stars from Bermondsey I have read about (the other being Jade), Phoenix-from-the-ashes, Michael pours his heart and soul to us in this book, but not much else.
Not that the back story is anything not to complain about. He had a violent upbringing. This is documented. From the story of his first sexual experiences with other boys to the priest he befriended forcing himself upon him, you kinda get the sense of a troubled soul and I don’t include the time where he took acid and sat in his friend’s front room for two days motionless, because he thought he was an unripened strawberry. Both his parents were handy with their fists towards one another it seems and perhaps on the young man, who wanted from an early age to entertain. Because if he was entertaining, then people were not arguing, see. Just like in the Big Brother house.
Unfortunately for Michael, there has been one event in recent times that has dominated the consequent headlines over all the other previous ones he has succumbed to, that of a half naked man dying in his pool and as you can expect a large portion of this book is dedicated to. As he casually points out in his subtitle, he is setting the record straight on a few things.
Firstly, as a number of witnesses have testified (including the medic who treated the body at the scene and on the journey to the hospital), the lacerations to the partygoer’s anus (apologies to those reading this on their lunch break) were not evident upon discovery at the defendant’s home. They were discovered by the coroner later on who described them as ‘horrific injuries’ leaving him and then us to only assume that they occured at the hospital.
This would certainly explain why this case has gone on this long. Because even though the theoretical blame finger is pointed firmly in some way at the public service or person(s) who visited in the immediate aftermath, neither of them want that sort of inquiry at their door.
As much as I think that he brings up a good, heartfelt argument, I don’t believe that this sort of attention, calamity and incident happens to an entirely innocent man, as he portrays himself to be. Constantly. You do get he sense that some of these events in his book (many that have made their way into the tabloids with the cruel and efficent derision that I abhor) are being defended just a little too emphatically.
Whilst doing TV promotion for the book, Sharon Osbourne’s dog bit Michael on her show and the father of the deceased publicly berated him at his book signing on Oxford Street.
The hope of TV work when we all saw the emphatic public warmth of support from people when Michael left the house (after coming second to Chantelle) didn’t emerge at all when cautious TV executives didn’t bother to use his services. It then seemed that Michael had taken the hint and gone back to his hideaway in New Zealand until we heard further reports in the papers that he had had to be restrained in a South London gay club after he was seen trying to force an Ecstasy tablet down the mouth of a young 17-year-old gay man who had only recently 'come out'. He was described as 'like a man possessed'.
Shame, I really thought that the TV could do with a few more hot spots.
I really got bored with this the last couple of chapters when he goes into intense legal detail about his case and the tense relationship between him and the father of the man who died at his house. I found myself skipping what seemed like important documented facts that seemed repeated. A lot of the arguments are repeated over and over in this book and it gets quite tiresome. Oh well, at least he had a go at the writing himself.
Like most my age, he has given me countless belly laughs and hours worth of entertainment. Whether its coaxing an entire armed platoon to jazz step along to you singing at the Royal Variety Performance or making fun of the general public on a comedy format game show, Michael has defined his era in the “business that we call show” and set unending benchmarks and standards when it comes to entertaining a whole nation.
I have no doubt that we would all awknowledge (whatever we think of the man) that there will be nobody else quite like him, which is why that it is such a shame for him to use this opportunity the publisher has quite bravely themselves given him to be such a big whiny bastard.
“The mistake had arrived.”
This was like the third sentence of the first chapter and set the mood for the rest of the book. Michael was a mistake and often told this throughout his childhood. This though he constantly and rather frustratingly brings up in one shape or another throughout the book.
It was like, Yes, I know you are most at home on the stage and the very general public that you pride youself in involving in your “act” are the very kinds of people you most feel comfortable with but you don’t need to tell us every few pages. Likewise with his marriage and he insists that he was always gay, you can’t help but wonder why on earth he felt the need to even get married. The excuse that his industry turned their nose up at homosexuality seems quite far fetched and a poor excuse, in turn.
One of two disgraced TV stars from Bermondsey I have read about (the other being Jade), Phoenix-from-the-ashes, Michael pours his heart and soul to us in this book, but not much else.
Not that the back story is anything not to complain about. He had a violent upbringing. This is documented. From the story of his first sexual experiences with other boys to the priest he befriended forcing himself upon him, you kinda get the sense of a troubled soul and I don’t include the time where he took acid and sat in his friend’s front room for two days motionless, because he thought he was an unripened strawberry. Both his parents were handy with their fists towards one another it seems and perhaps on the young man, who wanted from an early age to entertain. Because if he was entertaining, then people were not arguing, see. Just like in the Big Brother house.
Unfortunately for Michael, there has been one event in recent times that has dominated the consequent headlines over all the other previous ones he has succumbed to, that of a half naked man dying in his pool and as you can expect a large portion of this book is dedicated to. As he casually points out in his subtitle, he is setting the record straight on a few things.
Firstly, as a number of witnesses have testified (including the medic who treated the body at the scene and on the journey to the hospital), the lacerations to the partygoer’s anus (apologies to those reading this on their lunch break) were not evident upon discovery at the defendant’s home. They were discovered by the coroner later on who described them as ‘horrific injuries’ leaving him and then us to only assume that they occured at the hospital.
This would certainly explain why this case has gone on this long. Because even though the theoretical blame finger is pointed firmly in some way at the public service or person(s) who visited in the immediate aftermath, neither of them want that sort of inquiry at their door.
As much as I think that he brings up a good, heartfelt argument, I don’t believe that this sort of attention, calamity and incident happens to an entirely innocent man, as he portrays himself to be. Constantly. You do get he sense that some of these events in his book (many that have made their way into the tabloids with the cruel and efficent derision that I abhor) are being defended just a little too emphatically.
Whilst doing TV promotion for the book, Sharon Osbourne’s dog bit Michael on her show and the father of the deceased publicly berated him at his book signing on Oxford Street.
The hope of TV work when we all saw the emphatic public warmth of support from people when Michael left the house (after coming second to Chantelle) didn’t emerge at all when cautious TV executives didn’t bother to use his services. It then seemed that Michael had taken the hint and gone back to his hideaway in New Zealand until we heard further reports in the papers that he had had to be restrained in a South London gay club after he was seen trying to force an Ecstasy tablet down the mouth of a young 17-year-old gay man who had only recently 'come out'. He was described as 'like a man possessed'.
Shame, I really thought that the TV could do with a few more hot spots.
I really got bored with this the last couple of chapters when he goes into intense legal detail about his case and the tense relationship between him and the father of the man who died at his house. I found myself skipping what seemed like important documented facts that seemed repeated. A lot of the arguments are repeated over and over in this book and it gets quite tiresome. Oh well, at least he had a go at the writing himself.
July 2, 2011
not sure what to think, love the entertainer but not sure I like the person :0(
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews