Kitty Kelley

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For the actress, see Kitty Kelly

Kitty Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American investigative journalist and author of several best-selling biographies of celebrities and politicians. Her works have found her an international reputation—often controversial—as the first lady of the unauthorized biography genre. She is famous for her thorough research, attention to detail, and ability to get sources to reveal information, and her profiles are frequently spiced with unflattering personal anecdotes and details.

Although Kelley has been fiercely criticized by the mainstream media, who dismiss her work as "tabloid journalism", she has never been successfully sued for libel and has never been forced to retract a written statement. (It should be noted that retraction is purely voluntary and that libel suits have a fairly high burden of proof on the plaintiff.) Kelley hires her own teams of fact-checkers and legal advisors to check her texts.

[edit] Biography

Kelley was born and grew up in Spokane, Washington. She obtained a B.A. in English from the University of Washington in 1964. After finishing her studies, she worked for four years as a press assistant to US Senator Eugene McCarthy. From 1969 to 1971, she worked at the Washington Post as an editorial assistant. She published her first book, an expose of the fat farm industry titled "The Glamour Spas" in the early seventies. Since then, Kelley has worked fulltime as a freelance writer. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, People, Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune.

[edit] Books

Kelley's first biography was Jackie Oh! (1978), a life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which was written on the request of Lyle Stuart, an independent publishing maverick who promoted Kelley's 'Washington insider' angle and launched the book into the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for three months in paperback. With the book, Kelley basically invented the modern unauthorized biography genre--with her spicy allegations about J.F.K.'s womanizing, as well as highly personal revelations about Jackie Kennedy's psychological treatment.

This book was followed by Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star (1981), which was also a scandalous New York Times Best Seller in paperback and hardcover, though it received slightly better reviews than Jackie Oh!. Kelley's next book, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986), brought her wider renown, more critical respect and a certain notoriety. Sinatra went to court to try to prevent it from being published, slapping her with a $2 million lawsuit because he believed it painted him in an unattractive light, detailing his tumultuous marriages, affairs, links to the Mob, and obsession with powerful figures. He also accused her of misrepresenting herself as his authorized biographer. He later withdrew his lawsuit amid much publicity and the book went on to become number one on the New York Times best seller list, and was a huge seller not only in the U.S. but also in England, Canada, and Australia.

Kelley followed this success in 1991 with Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography, which became the fastest selling biography in publishing history. The book received huge amounts of publicity because of the allegations that the First Lady had been involved in White House trysts with Frank Sinatra and that she frequently relied on astrology. (See Joan Quigley for information on Nancy Reagan's astrologer.) The biography, which received controversial front-page attention from Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, perched itself at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for weeks and made Kelley nearly ubiquitous: she was thrust onto the front pages of Time ("Is She Really That Bad?"), Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly ("The Kitty and Nancy Show"), and People magazine ("Inside Kitty's Dish") and was spoofed on Saturday Night Live. Partly in response to this book, Kelley was herself the subject of highly critical volume, Poison Pen (1991), by conservative journalist George Carpozi, Jr.

After a failed stab at talk show hosting, in September 1997, Kelley turned her attention to the British Royal Family in The Royals, examining such issues as attempts by the Windsors to obscure their German ancestry as well as more personal matters such as the many scandals surrounding the members of the family. The book was not published in Great Britain due to concerns over libel laws, but, thanks to its publication within a month of Princess Diana's death, it too jumped to the top position of the New York Times best-seller list, becoming the fourth best-selling nonfiction title of the year, according to Publishers Weekly.

Kelley's most recent book, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, appeared on September 14, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. She had announced plans for the book shortly after George W. Bush's election in 2001 and worked on it for four years. "The Family" provoked another firestorm of publicity due to its allegations, supplied by Sharon Bush, that George W. Bush snorted cocaine with his brothers at Camp David during his father's presidency. The book also claimed that First Lady Laura Bush dealt drugs in college. Kelley was widely attacked in the media for the book, with charges of partisanship and challenges to her credibility, although no specific charges against her were substantiated and no retractions were made. The book became her fourth consecutive title in a row to debut at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, and went on to sell over 750,000 copies in hardcover in the United States alone. Kelley is perhaps the only female journalist to have four of her books in a row debut at No. 1 on the Times list. (To place that into perspective, Bob Woodward, perceived as America's pre-eminent journalist, has had seven titles reach No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.)