Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work—first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn’t enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television showsAlly McBealandArrested Development,Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.

Nick Nolan:Black as Snowis a deconstruction of Snow White--only it isn’t for kids;Black as Snowis violent and sexy and dark and funny…and it’s sure to stir some controversy--especially where I mash up sex with religion in one unforgettable scene.

Jaime Flores:That scene’s going to raise some hackles.

Nick Nolan:Yep.

Jaime Flores:Which elements from Snow White did you include?

Nick Nolan:Just about all, but only after standing them on their heads: Sebastian Black--he plays Snow White--is the messianic figurehead of a new "green" religion that celebrates evolution and the coming of the next species of Man; the dwarfs are people who’ve been marginalized by our society but who teach Sebastian what really matters; Sebastian’s "evil" mother is a religious prophet... although I’ve also sketched her with humor and pathos; there’s a love story and some straight sex and gay sex and Christian militants and drug addiction and tragedy. And there are scenes where you’ll laugh.

Jaime Flores:What about the poisoned apple?

Nick Nolan:Let’s just say there’s a poisoned Apple in the story.

Jaime Flores:So Sebastian’s supposed to be the "next species of Man?" Can you elaborate?

Nick Nolan:I think the emergence of the next human species is inevitable--if we don’t destroy the earth in the meantime. So I imagined what this evolved species might be like and created Sebastian as clairvoyant--in specific circumstances--and gave him enviable physical attributes... in other words, he’s clever and hot and gorgeous. But what I love about "perfect" Sebastian ishow imperfect he really is: he’s arrogant and tender and selfish and vulnerable... just like we all are.

Jaime Flores:Why did you choose a religious movement as the backdrop for your story?

Nick Nolan:I think most of us are looking for spirituality that feels authentic. But I loathe those who prey upon people’s spiritual yearnings for their own benefit, and I show the explosive consequences that come from pig-headed, extremist views. ButBlack as Snowis not a book about religion, just as it’s not a book about what it’s like to be famous and beautiful…it’s really a story about love, and celebrating the golden magic of each day—even the boring, frustrating days.

Jaime Flores:So what’s the one thing you’d like readers to come away with after readingBlack as Snow?

Nick Nolan:Mostly, I’d like my readers to have been entertained. But I’d also like people to read Tess’s words in the final scene and to consider their own sweet ghosts--those beloved people whom they’ve lost to fate and eternity... and then perhaps they might even look at their own spouses and partners and friends with "new eyes." And although I’ve writtenBlack as Snowas a page-turner, it’s basically the story of how love thrills, transforms, and comforts--and ultimately unites us all.

Nick Nolan and Jaime Flores have been together since 1987. They live in Los Angeles with their two retrievers.