Peggy Lipton's overnight success as Julie Barnes on television's hit The Mod Squad made her an instant fashion icon and the "it" girl everyone-from Elvis to Paul McCartney-wanted to date. She was the original and ultimate California girl of the early seventies, complete with stick-straight hair, a laid-back style, and a red convertible. But Lipton was much more: smart and determined to not be just another leggy blonde, she struggled for a way to stay connected to her childhood roots, though her coming of age had not been an easy one. And when she fell in love with Quincy Jones, that wasn't easy, either: their biracial marriage made headlines and changed her life. Lipton's passionate and complicated seventeen-year marriage to Jones plunged her into motherhood and also into periods of confusion and difficulty. Her struggle to keep moving forward in the world while maintaining a rich inner life informed many of her decisions as an adult. When Lipton's marriage to Jones ended, she returned to television, appearing in David Lynch's Twin Peaks as well as in The Vagina Monologues and other stage productions. But her most recent triumph has been her overcoming a surprising diagnosis of colon cancer in 2003. Breathing Out is full of fresh stories of life with the pop culture icons of our times, but is also a much more thoughtful book about life in the limelight, work, motherhood, and marriage. It's a refreshing and real look at the life of an actress who became, in many senses, a woman of her times. "...fascinating and passionate" - Kirkus Reviews "In this surprisingly readable memoir, [Lipton] and her cowriters have managed to make her various encounters into more than mere name-dropping, with each short chapter becoming a small slice of life...Her story holds out attention both for the life it chronicles and changing times it encompasses." -- Booklist "full of hard-won wisdom, self-deprecating humor and tales of mingling with the famous...Lipton reveals vulnerabiltiy and awkwardness [and] conveys poignant fragility throughout." Los Angeles Times. [Breathing Out] is like being introduced to someone at a cocktail party who charms you with stories that aren't really confidences but still are franker than you'd expect from a new acquaintance." - The New York Times Book Review "(a) no-holds-barred blockbuster book…"-- Globe PEGGY LIPTON's overnight success on "The Mod Squad" made her an instant fashion icon and the "it" girl everyone--from Elvis to Paul McCartney--wanted to date. She was the original and ultimate California girl of the early seventies, dashing through the Hollywood Hills in her red convertible and plunging headlong into both a very active career--when the cameras weren't rolling--and a fast-paced social life.. PEGGY LIPTON's passionate and complicated fourteen-year bi-racial marriage to music impresario Quincy Jones made headlines and changed her life, plunging her into confusion and later, depression. When her marriage ended, she returned to television, playing Norma in David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." PEGGY LIPTON's life is full of stories of the pop culture icons of our times, but she is also a thoughtful writer about life in limelight, work, motherhood, and marriage. Her takes on everything from acting to a recent triumph over colon cancer are refreshing and unexpected. Peggy Lipton has most recently appeared onstage in The Guys and The Vagina Monologues and on television in Alias and the WB's Popular . She lives in New York and Los Angeles. This is her first book. David Dalton has written a number of books, including Piece of My Heart: A Portrait of Janis Joplin and Faithfull: An Autobiography . Coco Pekelis Dalton is the author of Everything I Know I Learned on Acid. The Daltons live in upstate New York. Breathing Out Childhood1.Changeling In folklore, a child who is secretly substituted for another by fairies. As a child I would often make myself lie absolutely still before falling asleep. Once there, fantasy would overtake me. It was a world that I alone owned, a place I had dominion over. I chose the thoughts and the desires. I played my own game and always came out the winner. No one and nothing could rein me in.In the way that changelings know, I always sensed I didn't quite belong. I knew I had to find others like me--the magical helpers who would show me how to get to the other side, although I didn't know exactly what it was or how to get there. The burning desire to be free of the small-town life never left me for long, and I stoked its fire by reading poetry and tawdry novels, going to movies and Broadway plays, and listening to all kinds of music. These were my doors to the other side. But I was stuckon the wrong side of the looking glass, waiting for that Alice in Wonderland hatch to suddenly appear. One tumble could, and would, send me into the netherworld of my dreams.In that enchanted space before falling asleep, I sometimes saw myself as