Kitty Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American investigative journalist and author of several best-selling biographies of celebrities and politicians. Her works have found her an international reputation—often controversial—as the first lady of the unauthorized biography genre. She is famous for her thorough research, attention to detail, and ability to get sources to reveal information, and her profiles are frequently spiced with unflattering personal anecdotes and details. TIME reported that most journalists believe Kelley "too frequently fails to bring perspective or analysis to the fruits of her reporting and at times lards her work with dollops of questionable inferences and innuendos."[1] In addition, Kelley has been described by Joe Klein as a "professional sensationalist".[2]
Although Kelley has been fiercely criticized by the mainstream media, who dismiss her work as "tabloid journalism", she has never been successfully sued for libel and has never been forced to retract a written statement. (It should be noted that retraction is purely voluntary and that American libel suits have a very high burden of proof on the plaintiff: Ms Kelley has withheld books from publication in the United Kingdom rather than face the threat of libel action there.) Kelley hires her own teams of fact-checkers and legal advisors to check her texts.
Kelley's first biography was Jackie Oh! (1978), a life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which was written on the request of Lyle Stuart, an independent publishing maverick who promoted Kelley's 'Washington insider' angle and launched the book into the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for three months in paperback. With the book, Kelley basically invented the modern unauthorized biography genre--with her spicy allegations about J.F.K.'s womanizing, as well as highly personal revelations about Jackie Kennedy's psychological treatment.
This book was followed by Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star (1981), which was also a scandalous New York Times Best Seller in paperback and hardcover, though it received slightly better reviews than Jackie Oh!. Kelley's next book, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986), brought her wider renown, more critical respect and a certain notoriety. Sinatra went to court to try to prevent it from being published, slapping her with a $2 million lawsuit because he believed it painted him in an unattractive light, detailing his tumultuous marriages, affairs, links to the Mob, and obsession with powerful figures. He also accused her of misrepresenting herself as his authorized biographer. He later withdrew his lawsuit amid much publicity and the book went on to become number one on the New York Times best seller list, and was a huge seller not only in the U.S. but also in England, Canada, and Australia.
Kelley followed this success in 1991 with Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography, which became the fastest selling biography in publishing history. The book received huge amounts of publicity because of the allegations that the First Lady had been involved in White House trysts with Frank Sinatra and that she frequently relied on astrology. (See Joan Quigley for information on Nancy Reagan's astrologer.) The biography, which received controversial front-page attention from Maureen Dowd of the New York Times (it was called "encyclopedically vicious" by New York Times reviewer Joe Queenan) perched itself at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for weeks and made Kelley nearly ubiquitous: she was thrust onto the front pages of Time ("Is She Really That Bad?"), Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly ("The Kitty and Nancy Show"), and People magazine ("Inside Kitty's Dish") and was spoofed on Saturday Night Live. Partly in response to this book, Kelley was herself the subject of highly critical volume, Poison Pen (1991), by conservative journalist George Carpozi, Jr.
After a failed stab at talk show hosting, in September 1997, Kelley turned her attention to the British Royal Family in The Royals, examining such issues as attempts by the Windsors to obscure their German ancestry as well as more personal matters such as the many scandals surrounding the members of the family. The book was not published in Great Britain due to concerns over libel laws, but, thanks to its publication within a month of Princess Diana's death, it too jumped to the top position of the New York Times best-seller list, becoming the fourth best-selling nonfiction title of the year, according to Publishers Weekly.
Kelley's most recent book, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, appeared on September 14, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. She had announced plans for the book shortly after George W. Bush's election in 2001 and worked on it for four years. "The Family" provoked another firestorm of publicity due to its allegations, allegedly supplied by Sharon Bush (although Mrs. Bush denied making the allegation, [4]), that George W. Bush snorted cocaine with his brothers at Camp David during his father's presidency. The book also claimed that First LadyLaura Bush dealt drugs in college. Kelley was widely attacked in the media for the book, with charges of partisanship and challenges to her credibility. The book became her fourth consecutive title in a row to debut at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, and went on to sell over 750,000 copies in hardcover in the United States alone.
On March 19, 2007The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed by Kelley. In it she wrote that President George H.W. Bush "enlisted at 18 to fly torpedo bombers. He flew 58 missions in two years and returned home a war hero. Since then, no one in his large family has seen fit to follow his sterling example of service and patriotism."[5] However two days later the elder President Bush's grandson George P. Bush announced he had joined the Navy Reserve primarily because, as he said, "My grandfather's my hero, and what really sold me on the ultimate decision was having the chance to see the CVN-77 be commissioned under his name"[6]
On December 13, 2006, Crown announced that they will publish a biography of Oprah Winfrey, written by Kitty Kelley. The book will follow the Kitty Kelley trademark and will be unauthorized.
