Don Lemon’s new memoir has finally arrived, and he’s excited to share it with the world.
“I’m excited to announce my new book, “I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America,” has officially been released,” he captioned an Instagram post that included a video montage of Lemon gleefully reading his book throughout New York City as the theme song for “Sex and the City” plays in the background.
“I Once Was Lost,” out today by Little, Brown and Company, chronicles Lemon’s religious upbringing in the Deep South and his rise in television journalism. The book covers controversies Lemon has endured, including his February 2023 comments about Nikki Haley not being “in her prime,” the backlash they garnered, and his eventual firing from CNN in April 2023 after an investigation into potential misogynistic misconduct.
When the title was first announced in June, he characterized it as “a deeply personal endeavor” that began as “a journalistic examination of religion in America.”
“But after I left CNN, it ultimately transformed into something much more profound and relatable to anyone who has suffered loss, grief and doubt,” he continued. “I am so excited to share my journey with all of you. I’m confident it will help you no matter where you are on your own life’s path.”
His journey has included managing his mental health in the aftermath of leaving CNN, adjusting to his new normal, marrying partner Tim Malone, and pivoting his story.
While the 58-year-old television journalist hopes everyone can appreciate his brand-new memoir, he is particularly concerned about the opinions of women — most especially the ones he’s related to.
“I love my mom, my sister, and my family,” he said in an interview with People magazine. “I hope they’re proud when they read it because they are featured throughout the book. They are central characters.”
Lemon told the publication women were at the “forefront” of his mind the entire time while writing.
“All of these women who have held me in their bosom and comforted me and have always had my back … I wanted to make sure that they understood that I love them and that all the stuff that they were reading about me was not true. I wasn’t some anti-woman thing. The exact opposite, as a matter of fact,” he said.
“I wanted to make sure that the people who had supported me the most — which is women, especially Black women — knew that I had their backs,” he says.
While speaking to the New York Times about his book, he said, “I know it sounds cliché, but my best friends are women.”
“I Once Was Lost” follows Lemon’s first book, “This Is the Fire,” which examines the history of racism in the U.S. as reflected through his own experience as a Black queer man. In “I Once Was Lost,” Lemon gets even more personal as he focuses on how faith has shaped his life and the current state of affairs in the country.
“I wrote this book because my love for this country, my love of God and my faith in God,” he told People, adding that, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, “It really propelled me to becoming the person that I am. I also wanted to fight back against the voices in the evangelical religious doctrines that sought to marginalize me and to marginalize people like me.”