For a while, Joey disappeared from the spotlight and just wrote.
The public couldn't get enough of her myth: the insane rise, the messy past, the questions, the rumors. They were obsessed with how she'd gone from train-wreck teen to the woman who just conquered the Oscars. But what they really wanted to dig into was all the dirt.
That's human nature, right? We love a fairy tale, but we love watching someone crawl through the mud even more.
So Joey gave them what they wanted. Most of her old scandals were already public anyway. Yeah, the partying, the DUIs, the endless nights out; everyone knew. The only thing she'd kept locked up tight was the drugs.
In the book, she came clean about that too. She didn't linger on it—just a couple of honest, no-BS paragraphs.
"I deeply regret the reckless years. I drank too much, I drove when I shouldn't have, I lived for parties, and yes, I tried drugs.
But that girl is gone. The woman writing this is brand-new."
She opened up about her childhood too. "I'm grateful to my adoptive parents even though they died when I was little. After that I got bounced around relatives—six months here, six months there—until my aunt and uncle finally took me in. Most years I only saw them at Christmas. The rest of the time it was just me and the nanny."
About Hughes she kept it short and classy: "We met at a producers' party. I barely noticed him. After everyone left, he stopped me at the door and said he wanted to know me.
Marriage turned out to involve a lot of people who had nothing to do with love.
Today, Hughes is my closest collaborator. We're good."
She shouted out the people who actually mattered: "My agent Katherine is basically my lifeline (lol). Having her in my corner makes everything possible."
"Tom (Cruise) is a close friend; we geek out about movies for hours. He's one of the most creative actors I've ever met. Off-topic, but he's my favorite working actor. (Second place goes to Clark Gable, fight me.)"
Then she walked through every film since her comeback, super humble:
Juno was my way of working through family stuff I never had.
Source Code was me swinging for a big commercial hit.
Twilight was pure dumb luck.
La La Land—the script was already brilliant; I just tried not to screw it up.
The Blind Side was tailor-made for Will (Smith).
She ended with why she even wrote the book:
"Everyone keeps calling me a miracle. I'd rather you just watched my movies.
When I realized that wasn't gonna happen, I wrote this instead.
Here's everything you want to know—so at least you'll know the real me (lol)."
And yeah, she addressed the love-life obsession: "I've only ever been in one real relationship. First kiss, first night, all of it. Despite the rumors, that's the truth.
I still believe in love. I'm still waiting for the right person.
There is someone I like. The future's unwritten."
The manuscript (titled Everything About Joey Grant) landed at Wisdom House Publishing, and the editors stayed up all night reading it.
Their first reaction: holy crap, respect.
Most celebrity memoirs are 300 pages of "look how perfect I am." This was the first one they'd ever seen where the star laid every dark, ugly corner bare—and somehow made it inspiring as hell.
Any other celebrity admits to drugs and people clutch pearls. Joey admits it and you close the book wanting to run through a wall. Because she's already on top of the world. If she can climb out of that hole, literally anyone can.
Dreams don't die. Get up, dust off, try again.
Because of who she was right now (the hottest director on the planet, fresh off an Oscar coronation), the publishing house fast-tracked the whole thing. Editing, approvals, straight to the printer.
They begged her for a launch event and signing tour. She said no thanks.
So they went hard on marketing instead. This wasn't just a memoir; it was the origin story of America's new living legend, written while the legend was still on fire.
Pre-orders exploded. The internet was counting down the days.
"Hold up—she's actually gonna spill the real dirt herself??"
"No way anyone's that fearless."
"I just wanna know what flipped the switch. How does someone go from hot mess to unstoppable genius literally overnight?"
"Same. I need the full redemption arc."
"Okay but her love life—come on, there's gotta be someone."
"Seven years with no sex? I'm calling BS."
"Bet she names names on who tried the casting couch with her."
"Honestly? Most of the old rumors are probably true. We've all been idiots at 20."
The hype kept building and building.
Everyone wanted to see behind the myth: the real, flawed, messy, human Joey Grant. Someone who'd screwed up just as bad as they had—and still made it to the top.
She was about to give them exactly what they wanted.
Question was: would it be enough to shut them up for good?