“No one ever fully recovers from their past. There is no cure for it. You just learn to manage and prioritize it. I believe the second you feel you have triumphed or overcome something…you have merely decided to stop being vigilant and embraced denial as your modus operandi. And that is what this book is about, and for: to remind you not to buy in to the Hollywood ending.”

If anyone is living a dream life (on the surface), it’s Alan Cumming, the Tony/Emmy/BAFTA/Olivier Award-winning star of stage and screens both big and small. In BAGGAGE, his follow-up memoir to 2014’s I AM NOT MY FATHER’S SON, he discusses all the ways that his childhood trauma has raised its dirty visage into an adult’s life that has seen great success and failure in equal measure.

"As a memoirist, Cumming is delightful, as we would expect from his impish charm while performing and on the talk show circuit. But the book certainly holds important warnings and lessons for all of us, especially if you are a creative person."

Above all else, Cumming is an activist. In his life and work as a bisexual member of the queer community, he has been recognized for the positive representation he has brought to his various roles in the entertainment industry and in real life. A recipient of the O.B.E. by the Queen of England in 2009 as part of the Honours List, he was chosen for his “activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community.” He received this distinguished award as both a Scotsman and a British citizen, saying that “[t]he fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen.”

Cumming celebrates the work that he has done in this regard and calls out the US government for its inability to provide basic civil rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community. He is an outspoken, intelligent and insightful artist who uses his platform for good in any way he can. And so he has written BAGGAGE to continue his story.

The abuse at the hands of his father seemed to interfere the most with his personal life, the effects of which caused irrevocable damage in his first marriage to his wife. It was a long and winding road, but he was finally able to land in a happy second marriage with his present husband.

It is very engaging to listen to Cumming weave his tales of crazy times in Hollywood (accompanied by Dame Judi Dench, Liza Minnelli, Stanley Kubrick and a host of other major stars new and old) with the personal ones, in which he is forthright and honest about the struggles that his past continues to bring into his life. As a memoirist, Cumming is delightful, as we would expect from his impish charm while performing and on the talk show circuit. But the book certainly holds important warnings and lessons for all of us, especially if you are a creative person. There is no hiding from trauma, but it can become a constant reminder that one is part of the human race. You must find a way to accept and embrace these struggles, especially if you want to feel grounded in your own reality.

BAGGAGE isn’t meant to be a how-to book, but sometimes it can read like one. Cumming’s talent and creative spark have been alternately enhanced and hampered by his psychological hardships. He even talks about how these experiences helped him put his indelible mark on the CBS drama “The Good Wife.” His character was always the subject of fierce water cooler discussions during its long run.

I remember seeing Cumming in the play “The Threepenny Opera.” His performance was both terrifying and hilarious, and how it went from one to the other spoke firmly of his incredible talent. He is also a fixture at his own club, as a DJ, and speaks glowingly about the way he was bewitched by both New York City and acting. His is a career without match, but his life is so very much like the existence of any human --- full of joy and laughter, fear and sadness, yet also filled with hope and a constant movement towards a future that can be happier than perhaps any of us could have imagined.