By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-02 18:14:57 | Updated at 2025-01-05 01:47:12
2 days ago
A nepo-baby MSNBC star has revealed plans to air dirty laundry about her iconic author mother in an upcoming book.
Molly Jong-Fast, 46, has begun promoting How To Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir, on social media app Bluesky.
Jong-Fast, whose mother is iconic feminist writer Erica Jong, also shared a summary of the tome, stating: 'Erica Jong's daughter's delicious and despairing memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and how that can really mess you up.'
The liberal MSNBC host, a vocal anti-Trumper, has long been accused of using her mother's fame and reputation to launch her media career.
Erica Jong is best known for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying, a semi-autobiographical work surrounding subjects such as sex, fantasy and desire - all from a woman's point of view.
Figures like John Updike and Henry Miller have praised the book, with the latter calling it a female version of 'Tropic of Cancer.'
Despite spurring some controversy for its frank, sex-laden talk, it launched Jong's career. The work paved the way for a litany of books eventually acquired by Columbia University and praised by Bob Dylan.
First, though, she wed Jong-Fast's father, fellow novelist Jonathan Fast, in 1977. The following year, they gave birth to their daughter, who is now set to spill secrets about her hyper-privileged upbringing on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Jong-Fast previously milked her mom's success for an earlier memoir published in 2005 subtitled: 'True Stories from a Semi-Celebrity Childhood.'
Since then, the fine arts graduate became involved in politics, starting in 2016. She's held positions at Playboy, Glamour, Vogue, The Daily Beast and Vanity Fair, before signing with MSNBC.
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MSNBC Political Analyst Molly Jong-Fast, 46, advertised a new memoir on both X and Bluesky Sunday, nine years after embarking on a career as a political writer. She is seen here bashing Donald Trump to coworker Jen Psaki on the air a few days earlier
Before pursuing a career as a political writer, Jong-Fast was raised by author Erica Jong, who is 82 and is diagnosed with dementia. The book paints their relationship as 'complicated', and one that 'can really mess you up'
Posting on Bluesky - a liberal-leaning alternative to Elon Musk's X - she confirmed the work will be released in both the US and the UK, after her first foray into biographical work failed to make any bestseller lists.
Both posts pointed to a cryptic blub about the soon-to-come tome, - presenting it as a 'compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship.'
Said to have been penned in 2023 after Jong was diagnosed with dementia and Jong-Fast's husband, New York-based college English professor Matthew Greenfield, was found to have cancer.
'[It surrounds] a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood,' the synopsis stated further.
'A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life.
'This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre,' it eventually concluded.
This week, she hinted at what's to come in her memoir, in posts to both Bluesky and X, where she has a prominent following thanks to posts disparaging conservatives and propping up progressive ideals
Jong-Fast is seen here signing copies of her first book 'Normal Girl' in 2000, when she was 22. The book was a novel, and was followed by another memoir about he childhood released in 2005
Five years before giving birth to her only daughter, Jong - seen with Jong-fast here at the same book signing - penned 1973's Fear of Flying, a semi-autobiographical work surrounding subjects such as sex, fantasy and desire that received praise and topped bestseller lists
No other details were provided, as Jong-Fast continues to appear on MSNBC and post scathing critiques of figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk on social media.
She told colleague Jen Psaki on Monday of how she believed Trump took the Oval Office from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris: 'One of the things [Trump] did that was really smart was he went to these websites, he went to these podcasts.
'He met people where they were… Joe Rogan. He endorsed Bernie Sanders. If Democrats want to win those voters, they must go to those spaces,' she continued, as she spoke on behalf of female voters.
'A lot of us thought Trump being a felon, would have been disqualifying,' the political pundit with nine years' experience went on, smirking at this point.
'Or January 6... or any number of things that he did. And for a large chunk of the American voting public, they were not disqualified.'
'Like what are we doing here?' the blue-blooded author posted last week, in response to Trump's remarks about asserting control over Denmark-controlled Greenland.
A day before, she griped about Musk's previous championing of disgraced almost-AG Matt Gaetz, who the billionaire only a few weeks ago heralded as a Hammer of Justice.'
'Trump nominated this person to be attorney General,' she added, sharing the damning ethics committee report on the former congressman's misdoings, which she called 'infuriating.'
he work paved the way for a litany of books eventually acquired by Columbia University and praised by Bob Dylan
Jong-Fast's new book - her fourth - surrounds 'a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood,' she writes. Jong-Fast is seen speaking a t a variety show in New York City last year
She's seen again here with fellow author Sharon Coplan Hurowitz and Isaac Mizrahi, following the release of her second novel, The Social Climber's Handbook, in 2011
Unlike those of her mom, none of Jong-Fast's works have made any bestsellers lists, with this being the first since her foray into politics. It's set to release in June, she said - linking to sites to preorder. She is seen here in 2015, just before the start of her career in political pundancy
Such critiques have become commonplace from the journalist in recent years, after she became one of several to seize on the post-2015 political surge.
Trump's successful, first campaign started the commentary, which became increasingly opinionated as the decade continued.
This paved the way for success for figures like Jong-Fast, who used the writing background inherited from her mother and father - who himself was the son of a successful novelist Howard Fast - to wax poetic about politics.
Prior to that, she released three books including her 2005 memoir, which she advertised as a true story of growing up amongst New York's wealthy and famous, and a revolving door of nannies, secretaries, and potential stepdads.
'I thought … this is the time to write about these people because they are so nuts," the young author - who now has three kids - told the Arizona Daily Sun at the time.
This time around, the narrative may be less kind to her dementia-stricken mom - with the writer telling prospective readers that such a relationship 'can really mess you up.'
Another description bills Jong-Fast as 'the only child of a famous woman', and her book being about 'her elusive mother's encroaching dementia and... her complicated childhood.'
Already available for preorder, the book will be released on June 3.
