Deborah Anderson/Wyatt-McKenzieShe topped the pop charts, toured the world, earned Grammy nominations, starred on Broadway and in movies, jammed with Prince and opened for Michael Jackson. Now, dance-pop queen Taylor Dayne is telling all in her new memoir, Tell It to My Heart. And she pulls no punches, sharing her journey and all the ups and downs that came with it.
“It’s really just to make this bold statement in saying, ‘I’m here…the story ain’t over yet. And I’m very grateful,'” she tells ABC Radio.
In the book, Taylor, born Leslie Wunderman, reveals her serious childhood health issues, her relationship with her abusive dad, her debilitating panic attacks, and the years of hard work before she scored her global 1987 hit, “Tell It to My Heart.”
“The story needed to be as truthful and honest…as it could be,” she explains. “It was important for me to say what needed to be said. There’s the good, the bad and the ugly in there — I mean, it’s very raw.”
We also learn about Taylor’s unconventional personal life: Her romances, her lifelong journey to work through her issues, the ad-hoc family she’s created, and her then-radical decision 17 years ago to become a single mom to twins via surrogate.
“It’s just…unapologetic,” Taylor says of the book. “That’s…what I’ve heard from fans. They feel connected, they feel that they can do anything…because they can see that I’ve definitely not done it [the normal way].”
Taylor, who kicks off a tour on March 16, hopes to turn the book into a musical, a movie, or both.
“The music’s there, the content’s there, the story’s there,” she tells ABC Radio. “The punches were there, the hits were there — literally and figuratively — and yet…love will lead you back!”
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