Miranda added that Jennette was good at keeping up appearances, saying, “You don’t expect things like that from the person in the room who’s making everyone laugh.”
Jennette relies on humor for her coping mechanisms. She gave her memoir the shocking title to avoid causing trouble in her family. Jennette’s brother Marcusshared: “Our grandmother is upset about this title.”
Marcus, who has witnessed firsthand his mother’s instability, is more understanding. “You were always walking on eggshells—is it going to be nice mom or crazy mom today?” He told The NYT. One day she would seem fine and the next she would start shouting at everyone. Holidays were always overdramatic. “If something wasn’t perfect she would lose it all.”
Marcus can accept Jennette’s jokes as healing. “You can either be like, ‘Woe is me, my life is horrible,'” he said. Or you can look for the humor in things that really are tragic.”