SELLING Sunset star Mary Fitzgerald will reveal the unheard truth about her “negative” experiences in love and “unhealthy” life in the United Kingdom in her upcoming memoir.
Mary Fitzgerald, 43, has rarely spoken out about her problematic past relationships and years living near the outskirts of London during the 2000s but is set to discuss the trauma she endured.
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Selling Sunset star Mary Fitzgerald is a fan-favorite cast member on the popular seriesCredit: Netflix
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Selling Sunset’s Mary Fitzgerald spoke to The U.S. Sun at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards on June 15, 2024Credit: JDMC
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Romain Bonnet and Mary Fitzgerald are seen on February 13, 2023, in New York CityCredit: Getty
MARY’S MEMOIR
The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal the star of Netflix’s hit real estate reality series, Selling Sunset, “blocked things out” to avoid dealing with pain and heartache in her early adult life.
Mary, the normally happy-go-lucky celebrity realtor, delves into the secret “unhealthy” experiences she’s dealt with in both romance and business in her upcoming autobiography.
Selling Sunshine: Teenage Motherhood, Thriving in Luxury Real Estate, and Finally Finding My Voice is set to be published in September 2024 by Harper Collins.
A key factor in Mary leaving the leafy suburban village of Chislehurst for California was raising her young son, Austin, as a single mother.
Her recollections proved so harrowing she had to engage in therapy sessions, hoping to become resilient enough to face the memories she had otherwise repressed or buried away emotionally head-on.
Speaking exclusively on camera at The Critics Choice Real TV Awards on June 15, Mary confessed to The U.S. Sun that she will give her fans, followers, and Selling Sunset viewers an insight into her “nightmare” past in her upcoming memoir.
“It made me realize… different ways of how far I’ve come, and what that girl went through, and where I am now,” she added, signifying a clear distinction between her past and present selves.
Mary has stayed silent about her first two husbands, the reasons behind her move, and her departure from London’s social scene because, she says, she was “protecting [her] son.”
However, her upcoming memoir changes that, and allows her to finally share her story.
“There’s going to be things I haven’t really touched on that happened there,” she said.
“I love the UK,” she continued, adding, “I would’ve loved to have stayed there, but my son didn’t want to stay there.
“It was an unhealthy time in my life, so I had to move and come back.”
Selling Sunshine, she claimed, “will explain everything – but I never talk down about the UK.
“It was a negative time for me, not the country in general. I liked everybody and the people there,” she revealed.
ON THE FRITZ
Mary added that recalling those “negative times” was what prompted her to have intense therapy sessions.
“It was very emotional. I actually had blocked out a lot of things,” Mary revealed.
Mary says working with a ghostwriter helped draw out her darkest memories.
“I would tell the stories and clarify everything, and she was like, ‘Well, what happened here and there?’” she recalled.
“And I had [developed] coping mechanisms. I had blocked things out, so I had to really go back, look at pictures, and come up with timeframes.”
“So I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I forgot this happened,'” she said.
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Mary Fitzgerald revealed it was difficult working with a ghostwriter to write her memoirCredit: JDMC
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Selling Sunset stars Nicole Young, Mary Fitzgerald, and Romain Bonnet attend a charity event on July 28, 2023, in Bel Air, CaliforniaCredit: Getty
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Selling Sunset’s Mary Fitzgerald got emotional during an interview at the Critics Choice Real TV AwardsCredit: JDMC
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Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet attend Netflix’s Real-Tea FYSEE Event on May 18, 2024, in Los Angeles, CaliforniaCredit: Getty
“There’s been so much that happened in my life, that it’s surprising. It’s pretty impressive actually.
“But there were really, I had to talk to my therapist a couple of times on some of the things because I would just break down,” she said, adding: “And it was very, very hard to go back there.
”You have to relive certain instances and explain it and describe it in detail,” she said, discussing the process she went through while writing her book.
“And it’s like, no one wants to do that,” she added.
“But then there were other things where I would start telling [my ghostwriter] something and I remembered these amazing things that happened,” she explained, saying the emotional process was also a healing one.
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After multiple failed relationships and divorces, Mary Fitzgerald has found her happily ever after with husband Romain BonnetCredit: Instagram
FITZER UPPER
“These [experiences] are things that actually molded me into the person I am,” Mary said.
“And then you just kind of gloss over those most of the time. So it was really cool,” she added, revealing that discussing the bad times in her life also helped her reframe her mindset and focus on the good.
The most emotional aspect of working on her upcoming memoir, she revealed, was writing a “letter to my younger self.”
Mary also revealed that it was her “favorite part” of the process.
“I think everybody should do it. I actually added it in [as] journal pages for people that pre-order it so they can do it too,” she said.
“I was shocked that it had that much [of an] impact on me,” she added.
Before signing on to film Selling Sunset, Mary made a point to producers she would protect her son Austin above anything else.
It’s one of the reasons why, despite teasing aspects of her past, she has never explained her past marital woes in depth on camera.
“I’ve been married twice before,” she revealed in Season 3.
“My first husband passed away and my second husband, it just didn’t work out. It wasn’t the right relationship,” she added, closing the door on the topic at hand.
Mary is now married to Romain Bonnet, a model, project manager, pastry chef, and TV personality.
Mary’s memoir, Selling Sunshine, will delve into her life story, including how she became a mother at 16 and raised her son while pursuing her educational and career goals.
It will also give her fans and followers an inside look at how she overcame adversities in romance and business to become one of Los Angeles’ top luxury realtors – and found her fairytale ending with Romain.
Selling Sunset Cast Members: Past & Present
Netflix’s Selling Sunset premiered on March 21, 2019, and an eighth season is reportedly in the works. Take a look at the show’s past and current cast members, including:
Mary and other Selling Sunset stars attended the Sixth Annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards, where The Traitors won several coveted awards.
The hit reality series took home four awards including Best Competition Series and Best Ensemble Cast in an Unscripted Series, along with Best Show Host and Male Star of the Year for the series’ host, actor Alan Cumming.
Peacock was the most awarded network of the evening, topping four categories.
This year’s show also honored television host John Walsh with the Career Achievement Award, while television personality Tom Bergeron was the first recipient of the Sam Rubin Award.
The Critics Choice Real TV Awards were launched in 2019 as a large-scale awards platform to give the robust unscripted genre critical attention and support.
The awards celebrate programming across platforms and also recognize industry leaders with special awards highlighting career achievements.
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Selling Sunset star Mary Fitzgerald opened up about her life and past traumas in her upcoming memoir, Selling SunshineCredit: Netflix
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Selling Sunset’s Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet pose for an Instagram photoCredit: Instagram
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Mary Fitzgerald is one of the main cast members of Selling Sunset, a Netflix reality TV seriesCredit: Netflix
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Mary Fitzgerald’s memoir comes out in September 2024Credit: JDMC
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Mary Fitzgerald poses for a photo for Selling Sunset
