An Example of
Whether you “know” her from CNN or just meet her for the first time, you are impressed with her confidence, composure, eloquence and yes, her great haircut. Alisyn Camerota has been on tv screens across the world helping us make sense of the most pressing issues our country has faced in current times. In her new memoir, Combat Love, she candidly shares her sometimes typical and other times disruptive and unconventional childhood, her love of a punk rock New Jersey band called Shrapnel, her dedication to friends and their struggles with addiction, her complicated relationships with her parents, and her teenage boy obsession, along with mental health challenges she faced, a sexual assault, an unsupervised environment that included drugs and alcohol…Alisyn has been through it. Her thoughtful telling of the difficult circumstances of her youth and the search for love, while reaching for her goals in Combat Love was a real treat.
We all want to find that place where we feel comfortable in our own skin, accepting of our attributes and deficits, free of shame and regret. Our life experiences and the wounds we suffer shape us, and Alisyn sums it up in the last sentence of Combat Love: “It’s strange how many years after an explosion, we still carry pieces of shrapnel under our skin.”
Book Nation Welcomed Alisyn
I always feel excited with a touch of healthy nerves when I am preparing to interview an author and this time I was feeling a little extra! Welcoming Alisyn to Book Nation Book Club was an honor and I tried to forget that I would be conducting an interview with a professional interviewer who has spoken with presidents, criminals, actors and musicians. As it turns out, in the Book Nation Book Club Zoom green room she shared with me how she prepares, and my amateur tendencies that include lots of research and notes seem to line up with her experienced habits so I am feeling more confident with my intuitive process.
Please check out the video of our zoom conversation below…
Q & A With Alisyn Camerota
Q: As a journalist you prepare to deliver the news, you have written Amanda Wakes Up which is fiction, and now Combat Love, a memoir. How are the three different and which do you prefer?
A: Whether I’m writing a script for my day job as a broadcast journalist, or a memoir, or a thinly-veiled roman a clef like Amanda Wakes up, I use the same technique: I putt the info through my own filter to figure out which questions the average reader or viewer would ask, which parts are relateable and/or compelling, and how to best illuminate the story. So really it’s all based on my own lens and perspective. My hat is off to people who can make up stories out of whole cloth from things they’ve never experienced.
Q: Writing this memoir must have forced you to face your past and all the emotions and memories, good and bad. How has this project changed/impacted you?
A: It’s allowed me to finally put the past to rest. For so many decades, I felt a lot of this unfinished business following me around, begging to be put in its place, and into a manageable chronology. Doing the work of finding the missing puzzle pieces has been incredibly liberating. It’s freed me to have more mental bandwidth for everything else in life.
Q: How long did it take you to write Combat Love and why share your struggles with an audience now or ever?
A: It took ten years. Some of that time was writing, some was research, the majority was revising. I shared it because I ultimately thought I had an interesting story to tell and one that other people – particularly anyone who has ever had a teenager or been a teenager – could relate to. In other words, almost the entire human race. i think the story of searching for home is a universal one that can connect us.
Q: What was your research process, did you have diaries or notes from the past and who did you interview to prepare?
A: I have diaries, and letters, and love letters, and old calendars that helped me cross reference my version of events. I also went back and interviewed every major person in the book to help confirm or supplement my memory.
Q: Home is usually where family is but in your case that wasn’t always true and Shrapnel and Rock and Roll High took center stage. If you had more stability at home, how do you think your relationships with friends and boys would have been different?
A: Impossible to know. I think I grew up in a decade (the 80s) when having a boyfriend was an important status symbol and developmental step for most everyone I knew – even all the kids from more traditional families. So I’m not sure anything would have changed in terms of my love life. It’s possible that had I had a more grounded family life and sibilings, I wouldn’t have become so attached to my friends – but I’m very grateful to have such strong and enduring attachment to friends, so I wouldn’t change that even if I could.
Q: What part did music play in your early life? How influential is it in your life today?
A: Music is a huge part of my life. I’ve sought solace and enlightenment and excitment and guidance from song lyrics virtually my whole life. And live music is a religious experience.
Q: What was the first concert you attended, the best concert, and who have you seen most recently? Which musician have you interviewed that was most exciting? Which musician would you want to meet now?
A: My first concert was Aerosmith, when I was 12 years old. It was a memorable and terrifying night. I think my most recent concert was the Revivalists, probably eight months. I’ve loved having the opportunity to interview the rock idols of my childhood: KISS, David Cassidy, Pat Benetar. It makes me so happy to be in the same room with the people who were on my walls as a kid.
Q: You made the playlist of your life into a soundtrack that goes with the book. Where can we find it?
A: On Spotify
Q: What was it about the band that made you a fan?
A: It was a combination of the fact that we knew the band members (they were the older brothers of my friends) and that they were so wildly charismatic and electrifying. Obviously this was in the era before Spotify and YouTube and the Internet, so the only way to hear them was to see them live. And live music can be a religious experience.
Q: How did you come up with the name Combat Love for the book?
A: For a long time it was called “Shrapnel.” Agents and publishers loved that title and all its various connotations. It was only at the 11th hour, after the book was copyedited and almost ready for printing, that my best childhood friend, the “Sydney” in the book said, “I don’t think you should call it Shrapnel.” And she suggested Combat Love, based on Shrapnel’s first single, Combat Love.
Q: As a teen you lived on the edge and got yourself in sticky and often dangerous situations. Why do you think ultimately you were able to achieve all that you have and what stopped you from traveling down the wrong path?
A: Well, a lot of it was luck, of course. I don’t have the addiction predisposition or addiction gene that so many of my friends were cursed with. So drugs and alcohol never lit up that parts of my brain the way they did for them. But a huge part of it was my innate ambition. Starting when I was fifteen, I wanted to be a TV reporter and keeping my eye on that North Star was tremendously helpful during times when I was adrift. I couldn’t go that far off course. I also knew that I only had myself to rely on, and here again, that kept me anchored to my own ambition.
Q: You and your mom had a difficult relationship and as adults you have established a new understanding. Did the writing of this book bring up any uncomfortable conversations as you discussed the past?
A: Absolutely. The book forced many challenging conversations for us. The process didn’t reveal new information to me, so much as it granted me new understanding of my mother’s motivations. Now as an adult woman, I see her struggle more clearly and with more compassion.
Q: How did your relationships with your parents influence your parenting style?
A: I liked how my parents always spoke to me as an adult, rather than as a child. And treated me as a mature, capable human. So I’ve tried to adopt that for my own children. I also try to be a little more hands-off with my kids than our current helicopter-era usually dictates because I think they have to learn the skills to fend for themselves, rather than my husband and me managing all their issues and logistics.
Q: You bravely shared your struggles with mental health – depression, medication, hospitalization. You also spoke about a sexual assault. Why did you choose to reveal these sensitive issues in your book and did your experience reporting during the #metoo movement have any influence on that decision to be open about it?
A: ABSOLUTELY! I wanted to put a different narrative out there, rather than the one that I feel we’ve inadvertantly fallen into since the #metoo movement. I think we’ve made huge strides as a society in talking about the sexual assault and harrassment that so many young women face. But I don’t think we need to frame it in a victimhood paradigm. I never felt like “a victim” just because some gross guy didn’t have any impulse control. I think sexual assualt is about the depravity of the perpetrator, rather than any failing of the victim.
As for including the topics of depression and despair and how to treat them, I felt like I would not be honest with the readers if I didn’t include those. There is a cost to feelings of abandonment – and those were the ways they manifested for me. But I’m also living proof that you can come out on the other side of despair and suicidal ideation – with support, and therapy, and medication. I think that’s an important message.
Q: You seemed to know at a very young age that you wanted to be a journalist and even spoke about an imaginary cameraman that followed you around. In addition, as a young girl you were looking to be seen and for validation. How did you know this would be a good path for you and against all odds, why do you think you were able to accomplish your dream? Is it still your dream job today?
A: I don’t think it was that hard to see, even at fifteen, that people on television are, by definition, “seen and heard.” They have fame and fortune that was apparent to me even from where i sat on my sofa. And i wanted those things desperately as a teenager. I think I was able to accomplish it because i never took “no” as a final answer. I would say that was my unstated credo. I was very tenacious.
Q: You mention taking notes about Roger Ailes during the time you were trying to quit Fox. Do you plan on using them for anything in the future?
A: I used many of the notes from that time in my roman a clef Amanda Wakes Up, as well as in this Vanity Fair article
“First, You Have to Do These Things I Say”: Inside Roger Ailes’ Twisted Game of Mind Control During my time at Fox News, Ailes bent reality to fit his own needs. But his racist rants and warped demands—“all you have to do is kill Gretchen”—ultimately allowed the women of Fox to bring him down.www.vanityfair.com
Q: I have heard you mentioned enjoying your job interviewing criminals at America’s Most Wanted and being a part of solving crimes. Would you ever go back to something like that?
A: Absolutely. I’ve always loved crime reporting and helping to capture criminals.
Q: What has been the biggest highlight of your career and what are you mot proud of?
A: I think being able to have a successful marriage, parent three kids, and work at a demanding job are all things I’m wildly proud of. As far as career, I’m very proud to have been the longest running CNN morning show anchor, who helmed the desk at a time of great viewers interest, ratings and relevance.
Q: You mentioned in the book a friend became an expert on all things including infertility, and although you did not share that personal journey in the book, you have been open about it. Can you tell us a bit about what you faced? Do you think your challenging childhood and the learned and practiced ability to overcome obstacles helped you deal with this struggle?
A: My husband and I struggled with infertility for three years. It was an emotionally devastating rollercoaster of treatments, false starts, and disappointments. To the contrary, I feel that my challenging teenagehood probably compounded my pain during that time. I don’t think I was capable of true resiliency until after having children and being granted a long stretch of stability in my home life. I certainly did not feel resilient during infertility.
Q: You visited a psychic who predicted the job in Boston. Have you gone back to a psychic since then?
A: It’s funny. After the psychic so acurately predicted my Boston chapter, I never felt I needed to see a psychic again. That experience taught me that there is a grand plan (as well as free will, I believe) and you just have to trust that the plan will find you.
Q: In Combat Love you mentioned you were in a book club. Are you still and what have you read lately that you recommend?
A: I’m not. It was too hard to keep up with monthly reading while writing a book. But I would like to be. Can I be in yours?
Q: Where is the best place to keep up with you and all you do?
A: Instagram. @alisyncamerota
About the Author:
Alisyn Camerota is a journalist, author and anchor/correspondent on CNN in NYC. In her three decades in journalism, Camerota has covered stories nationally and internationally, earning two Emmy Awards for her breaking news coverage of the death of George Floyd and arrest of Roger Stone, as well as the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for her breaking news coverage of Hurricane Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico.
After joining CNN in 2014, Alisyn spent more than six years as co-anchor of CNN’s morning show “New Day” and was at the forefront of the day’s most pressing news events, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 election and Trump presidency, the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, the Paris and Brussels terror attacks, and the Parkland, FL school shooting. Her interviews with the Parkland student survivors in the hours after the massacre, as well as with the NRA, became integral parts of the national conversation on gun safety. In covering the 2016 and 2020 president elections, Alisyn’s Voter Panels were must-see viral moments. As a leading voice of the #MeToo movement, Alisyn helped to provide the #SilenceBreakers with a platform to tell their stories.
Camerota has also anchored a number of primetime specials, including “Tipping Point: Sexual Harassment in America”, “The Hunting Ground: Sexual Assault on Campus”, “TOXIC: Britney Spears’ Battle for Freedom”, and “The Baby Business”. She is on the national advisory council of The News Literacy Project, which works to teach kids how to spot misinformation and fake news. She’s also an Advisory Member of Press Forward, working to combat sexual harassment in newsrooms.
Alisyn attended American University on a Presidential scholarship, graduating cum laude in Broadcast Journalism. Alisyn’s debut novel, Amanda Wakes Up, was selected by National Public Radio as one of the best books of the year, and by Oprah Magazine as “a must read.”
