Geri Jewell Comes Out In New Memoir

By Tracie Egan Morrissey | January 27, 2011 | 5:03pm

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Geri Jewell—The Facts of Life‘s “Cousin Geri”—has a memoir hitting shelves this spring. The title, I’m Walking as Straight as I Can, refers to both her cerebral palsy and the fear of revealing her “true sexual identity.”

Jewell made history as the first person with a disability to appear in a recurring role on prime-time TV with her part as Blair’s cousin on The Facts of Life. Her memoir, out April 1, 2011, will cover her rise to fame, her struggles with cerebral palsy, the discrimination she experienced in Hollywood because of it, as well as her downward spiral into tax problems, having her money embezzled by her manager, a broken marriage and battling addiction. Additionally, the book will mark Jewell’s official coming out regarding her sexuality.