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Primetime TV Book Review
Forgiving Troy: A True Story of Murder, Mental Illness and
Recovery
by
Thom Bierdz
This is not a new book, but I just read it,
so I wanted to review it. Thom Bierdz starred in "The Young
and the Restless" in the 80's as Phillip Chancellor III. He
was not the best actor, but he was gorgeous, and he brought
a sincerity and innocence to the screen that worked for that
character. Phillip was in a quadrangle with Danny, Cricket
and Nina. He loved Cricket but ended up in bed with Nina,
and she got pregnant, so he married her. Unhappy, he started
drinking, and he ended up crashing his sports car and was
killed. Years later, they decided that Phillip had
faked his death, because he couldn't face telling everyone
that he was gay. This made no sense to those of us who had
watched his character back in the 80's, but Thom himself is
gay, and it was good to have him back on the show for a
while. Plus he did learn to act a lot better by then.
This book, however, is not at all about his
time on Y&R. It's about his life and the tragedy in his
family. In fact, it skips right over the 80's, which
is a shame for those of us who might have wanted to hear
about his time on Y&R. It starts with his growing up and
the problems in his family, and how he struggled to hide
being gay.
Then some really horrible things happen, and
the rest of the book is about how Thom deals with the
events and his family. I don't want to spoil it for you,
because it's a really good story and interesting reading.
Thom does a great job of sharing his life with us.
There are many photos in the book of Thom,
his family, and his artwork. I enjoy seeing photos in a
book, particularly a biography. The only photos I felt that
were missing were of his sister (I guess she didn't want
it); plus I would have liked to have seen photos of Thom
from the late 70's when he was working in the gay disco!
You should definitely read the book, whether
you are a Y&R fan or not. It is a good story, with some
twists and turns. Almost like a soap opera! No one
should live a soap opera type of life, though, because soap
operas have a lot of tragedy and pain.
Thom is now on Facebook and chats daily with
his fans. He lives in a cabin in the mountains with his dog.
He has a handsome boyfriend and spends most of his time
painting. He seems at peace with his life and is a very
generous and interesting person.
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Page updated 4/21/13
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