Book Review: "Manic: A Memoir" by Terri Cheney

Mental health and the stigma surrounding mental illness have come a long way since the 1990s, when Terri Cheney was just starting out working at a high-profile law firm in Los Angeles. Manic is the memoir of a successful, young, and attractive entertainment lawyer who not only is battling manic depression but fighting to hide her disease from the world as well.

Cheney represented celebrities from Micheal Jackson to production studios such as Universal and Colombia. On the surface, she looked as if she was on the fast-track to a successful career, but underneath the makeup and pill bottles was a woman who, on most days, struggled to perform the most basic of tasks.

The first chapter opens in the midst of one of Cheney’s manic episodes, where she had driven herself to Santa Fe and planned to commit suicide. It was Christmas Eve. Each chapter is centered around a mood or episode she experienced. Instead of telling her story chronologically, Cheney choses to tell her truth as she remembers and experienced it, based on what pills she was taking and where each manic episode sent her. 

Cheney’s illness at times outshines her demanding career. She reflects on the purse-load of pills she would take just to make it through the day and how, if the partners at her firm had known, her track to success may have looked very different. Cheney depicts her own lifestyle in the world of entertainment law as one that would even push the most level-headed, healthy individuals to their limits. 

This memoir illustrates the day-to-day emotional battles Cheney fought alone, behind closed doors. From a severe eating disorder to flirtatious escapades with strange men, multiple suicide attempts, and electroconvulsive therapy treatments, Cheney endured her illness as best she could with no one by her side. When one relationship began to look promising, she says her illness was always there to remind her it wouldn’t last long. Cheney remembers one long-time boyfriend even expressing to her, “I would marry you in a minute, if it wasn’t for the manic depression.” 

Manic illustrates the raw, dark truth of mental illness and the pressures of success. Cheney has since taken a step back from entertainment law to become a mental health advocate. Manic was a 2019 New York Times bestseller.