A Shmooz With Jillian Lauren About What's Inside Her Memoir SOME GIRLS: MY LIFE IN A HAREM

When I sat down to read this book, I had no idea how a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey ended up in a Harem. SOME GIRLS traces Lauren’s life from growing up in a Jewish family in suburban New Jersey, to living with artist friends in a gritty East Village apartment, to her arrival in an art filled, gilded palace in Borneo. After dropping out of NYU theater school, Lauren follows a tip about upcoming audition, where a “casting director” promises a rich businessman in Singapore will pay American girls $20,000 to stay for two weeks and spice up his parties. Soon, it is revealed that Lauren, and a host of other international beauties, will spend time entertaining the charming, yet taciturn, Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei and his entourage. It’s been eighteen years since Lauren embarked on her exotic search for identity and acceptance in Brunei. With SOME GIRLS, she portrays the complexity of the experience and presents readers with more than just a salacious page-turner, but a story of resilience, redemption and forgiveness. She poignantly traces how a struggling teenager learned to believe in herself, find the courage to meet her birth mother, and eventually adopt a baby boy. Jillian Lauren was on ABC’s “THE VIEW” on May 3rd. Lauren currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Weezer bassist, Scott Shriner and their son Tariku.