When Andrew McCarthy showed up as millionaire Joe Bennett on NBCs Lipstick Jungle, I nearly squealed. Here was Blaine of my teenage dreams all grown up as a moody mogul, with the same vulnerability but now with lifes disappointments squarely sitting on his shoulders. That, and Andrew McCarthy seemed to have dropped off the radar since the heady days of the 80s. Where had he been?
A friend of mine emailed me just before Christmas if I had seen Andrew McCarthys new book. (No.) She had seen on CNN he was a travel writer now (really?) and had written a bestseller about his journey to the altar with his long time fiance D (rats!) Turns out The Longest Way Home is an unflinchingly honest book. Sometimes uncomfortably so. Its almost a confessional about his relationship with his early success and the isolation he feels and has always felt in this world. The moment he decides to get married with D he books months of writing assignments, prompting her to comment I guess Ill see you at the altar. Now this is a man with some serious commitment issues. He travels. He travels a lot. And most times alone.
He fights old demons on Camino Del Santiago in Spain. He battles his loner tendencies on a river boat in the Amazon. He struggles with family ties in Vienna and makes a revelation on top of Kilimanjaro. All written in the manner of a personal diary, with no glossing over, no easy shortcuts, just the unforgiving truth. I admire that. Its a rare celebrity that paints himself in the sometimes not so favourable light.
So what did happen to Andrew McCarthy after the 80s? Drinking, and lots of it. (He describes this period in his life as black out travel, going to bed in Berlin and waking up in Amsterdam with no idea how he got there.) Some steady TV work, first marriage, divorce and the realisation he could write. He is now an editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveller and a contributing writer for The Wall Street Journal and Bon Appetit amongst others. He has not given up acting though, he is currently filming a movie and also works as a film and TV director.
I have to warn you though, this book does end up in a wedding. I am not going to give away the details, but it is a wedding straight out of the movies, and had me in tears in the middle of a busy Monday morning commute. I loved the book and told Andrew so. And he tweeted me back with a simple thank you message, fulfilling a few teenage dreams of my own.
