Comedian Amy Schumer‘s new book, The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, covers a lot of territory with a collection of very personal essays, including stories about her childhood, relationships and the effects of her father’s multiple sclerosis.
Schumer received a reported $8 — 10 million for the book, and the investment is paying off so far for the Simon & Schuster imprint Gallery Books.
As of late Tuesday, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo was No. 2 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list, trailing only Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two.
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In the book, the Inside Amy Schumer star claims that she fell victim to a physically and emotionally abusive boyfriend who would leave her battered and bruised.
She alleges he once shoved her onto the hood of a parked car, causing her to bang her head and elbow.
Schumer reveals that she tried to run away from him twice that evening, but she didn’t escape and his aggression escalated.
“I was screaming for him to stop, when he grabbed a butcher knife from a drawer,” she writes. “And that’s when I was sure he was going to kill me. It may sound cliché, but I saw my life flash before my eyes.”
“It can happen to anyone. You’re not alone if it’s happening to you, and you’re not exempt if it hasn’t happened to you yet.”
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The actress also reveals her devastation when her mother, Sandra, left her dad after falling for Schumer’s best friend’s father.
“One day after school I came home and saw my mother slumped on the couch. She’d been crying hard,” Schumer shares.
Her mother was a teacher at a deaf school, and signed the following message to her 13-year-old daughter:
“I am leaving your father. Lou and I have fallen in love with each other.”
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Schumer’s father Gordon — who the comedian frequently references in her stand-up and movies — is depicted as a sharp-tongued, unsentimental man who loves his daughters and has battled multiple sclerosis for the last 25 years.
“My father was no angel. I know he did dirtbag things behind my mom’s back,” Schumer writes about him liking women and alcohol.
“My dad was as serious an alcoholic as they came… the only thing that slowed down his drinking was multiple sclerosis,” Schumer shares.
Schumer also recalls the tragic shooting last summer in a Louisiana theatre during a screening of her hit comedy Trainwreck.
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The book isn’t all sadness — Schumer also documents plenty of hilarious moments in her life, and shares details on how she met her current boyfriend, Ben Hanisch, online.
“We sent each other very simple hellos and short, funny messages… when we met, we smiled at each other and in that moment, everything felt right,” Schumer wrote.
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The actress also shares lists of things that drive her crazy (couples who work out together is one of them) and things she loves (a new joke, scones and sex “because it’s pretty great and should be mentioned”).
On the first night of her book tour, Schumer had a lot to talk about besides her book, including questions for some of those couples on The Bachelor.
“They spent literally six hours together, and they don’t know anything. They’re like ‘Will you marry me?’ and then on the way out they’re like ‘What, like, what religion are you?'” she joked Tuesday in front of more than 200 fans at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square.
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The Comedy Central star also wondered why so many funny people come from Long Island. “The only way I can describe it is that at one point Long Island tried to secede,” she said.
Long Island, home to Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld (among others), instills a “level of entitlement and overconfidence” that is “perfect for stand-up,” she added.
“It’s amazing I’m allowed in public. I have nothing to teach anybody or tell anybody,” Schumer said. She described herself as more vulnerable than her edgy comedy suggests.
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The HBO star said that the tattoo revealed for all on the book’s back cover was a “good example” of her “trying to be hard.”
Schumer’s book is available for purchase now.
With files from The Associated Press
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