All That Glitters: Megan Fox's Book of Poems Will Make You Wonder Who They're About—and That's the Problem

The starlet's first book, Pretty Boys are Poisonous, is both girlish and full of a grown woman's rage, but it holds the most power for its writer, not for readers.

Photo illustration by Caitlin Cowan

I desperately wanted Pretty Boys Are Poisonous—Megan Fox’s first book of poetry—to disarm me, to flatten me with an unexpectedly assured voice that could speak from the other side of beauty and celebrity and Hollywood to show me something new. And while Fox does write about what’s behind her glittering facade, what’s there is sadly quotidian in both its subject matter and its language.

As is the case with books by Amber Tamblyn, Suzanne Somers, and Jewel, books by women celebrities are often quickly dismissed. Sometimes this dismissal is a product of its time—an outgrowth of misogyny, ageism, or the (healthy?) skepticism of the rich and famous—and at other times the dismissal is earned. This is the latter case, but it’s still a difficult one.

The thing is, Pretty Boys are Poisonous makes you want to know who the poems are “about.” This is always a charge that (semi-)autobiographical, confessional, and writing by celebrities is always subject to, but it’s amplified here because the main subject is