"Like hanging with your funniest, sunniest, most sound, wise friend." – Marian Keyes
Everything good, bad and downright mad that has shaped Vogue’s life and career is laid bare in Big Mouth.
So get ready for sharply observed, hilarious and very personal insights into divorce, anxiety, family life, and showbiz, alongside important life lessons, such as how to sellotape a bottle of vodka to your inner thigh on a night out and why you should never be friends with a celebrity.
Growing up in her beloved Howth, a seaside town in Co Dublin, Vogue’s life had its ups and downs. Her parents separated when she was five, a time in Ireland when priests were still ranting against broken marriages from the pulpit. Bouncing between the routine of her mum Sandra’s house and the pub for a few years (her dad, Freddie, was ‘fond of the drink’), everything changed overnight when Sandra (a complete ride) met Scottish businessman Neil and they moved to the big house on the cliff.
In the school halls of Santa Sabina, Vogue made friends for life and spent her teenage years hanging out around off-licences, playing Beat the Slapper and getting kicked out of home. After school, she was packed off to Aberdeen by Neil to begin her short career as a builder but soon jacked it in when she was cast in reality TV show Fade Street.
What follows is a behind-the-scenes peek at a rollercoaster life full of highs, lows, marriages, mistakes, misdemeanors and triumphs. Loudly, Vogue tells her whole story, moles and all, for the first time in this candid and funny dive into her hyperactive life.
Listen, I love Vogue Williams, I really do, but this book was so boring! Anything she wrote about she had already talked about on one of her Podcasts or on her social media. After the first few chapters there was no new information. I wasn't expecting a big, reveal all, scandalous memoir but some deep dive into one or two scandals would have made this more interesting. Also, she needs to get a thesaurus. The amount of times she used love and ride could have taken up half of the 80k word count. She is still great but just the book isn't it.
I love Vogue and will forever listen to all her podcasts etc but I just found this a bit boring and childish. It was like something I'd write in later years to give to my family when I pass as a gift so they've a basic life story of mine with some stories/memories and some nice thoughts on my friends and family members.. a lovely thing to leave for someone you love but not that you publish😅
Painfully boring and really hard to listen to the audiobook which was a disappointment as was excited for it. Why the weird inflictions every second word 😭 Gave up.
I’m a massive fan of vogue but this book was mediocre. It got off to a great start but the last few chapters absolute snooze fest. Filler pages. It’s not a tell all book. Statements like her sister has big boobs etc. it’s disappointing as vogue had an intresting childhood and her job is interesting but this book is not interesting, bar the first few chapters.
First half interesting, second half not so much and maybe a little self indulgent. Not much I didn’t already know from the pod. Harmless enough though and still love vogue
I really love Vogue and Joanne’s podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me — it’s sharp, funny and always entertaining — so I honestly thought I’d love this too. But I was so disappointed. I don’t like casting shade, but the truth is the book was terrible. The narration was grating — over-exaggerated, sing-song, and unnatural, more like a children’s story than a memoir — which made it very difficult to listen to.
Almost everything in here was recycled from her podcast or social media. The only three things I actually learned that were new were:
1. A drunken argument with Brian McFadden a couple of nights before their wedding, when she threw her shoes at him and he threw them into the river.
2. Later that same night, she slipped back at the hotel because she was drunk, bruised her face, and had to get her best friend and makeup artist to check the damage the next day — who reassured her it could be covered with tattoo makeup.
3. When she and Brian were moving in together in London, he asked someone who had been living rent-free in his flat to move out — and they boiled poo in saucepans before leaving.
Beyond those three stories, the rest was shallow, repetitive, and nowhere near the brutal honesty of Lily Allen’s My Thoughts Exactly. I pushed through to the end, but I really wish I hadn’t. Two stars.
I hate to be massively critical but I didn't really enjoy this book. I do normally like autobiographies, especially when they are ready by the author, but I don't think enough has happened in Vogue's life to make this anyway interesting, intriguing or exciting. She probably should have waited much later in her career before attempting an autobiography.
I also think her writing is very poor. It isn't exciting and at times it was very cringy. I found that many of the things she spoke about were at times inappropriate or slightly contraversal, even if she didn't mean for it to be. All I have learned is that Vogue has spend a huge amount of her life drunk or hungover, because that seemed to be one of the main discussion points of the book.
I like Vogue from My Therapist Ghosted Me, but what I have learned from their podcast tour and from this book is that Vogue isn't very good or entertaining without Joanne. I think I would enjoy a stand up show of Joanne's on her own, but I don't find Vogue particularly interesting or relatable. I'll probably still continue to listen to the podcast, but for Joanne more so than Vogue.
As a longtime fan of Vogue Williams and an avid listener of her three podcasts, I was genuinely excited to dive into Big Mouth—and it did not disappoint. This book offers an even deeper glimpse into the stories Vogue shares so candidly on her platforms, enriching them with more context, emotion, and a clear narrative arc that follows the liberal and chronological progression of her life.
What makes Big Mouth so special is how it strikes a perfect balance between heartwarming, humorous, and honest. Vogue doesn’t shy away from parts of her journey that she’s previously kept more private—like her first marriage—and the vulnerability she brings to these chapters adds real depth to her signature wit and charm.
Reading it felt like sitting down with an old friend for a long, lively catch-up. It’s a sweet, upbeat collection of life stories—funny, sincere, and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Whether you’re already a fan or just discovering Vogue for the first time, I’d highly recommend Big Mouth.
As a longtime fan of Vogue Williams’ My Therapist Ghosted Me podcast, I wasn’t disappointed to find the same unfiltered charm in Big Mouth. I listened to the audiobook, which felt like an extended, more personal episode of the show. Vogue’s trademark oversharing (in the best possible way) shines through, making the memoir feel refreshingly real and relatable.
She opens up about everything from motherhood and marriage to body image, career highs and lows, and, unexpectedly, her struggles with anxiety. The tone is breezy but sincere, and it’s like catching up with a friend who doesn’t hold back.
Vogue Williams recently had a podcast gig in Vicar St and my introverted rationalisation was to buy this instead! This was the perfect holiday read/listen and I was laughing to myself when the person beside me on the plane was reading it as well!
At points, I did feel she was full podcast mode and was waiting for someone to riff with and she was performing for her listeners, so I’m not sure if it’s the same if you’re reading it.
I would assume if you do listen to her podcasts and keep up to date with her, there probably wasn’t a lot of new information, especially as she doesn’t go full tell all mode. We do learn that she isn’t really from Howth or that her surname isn’t Williams. We get a glimpse at her modelling, the Fade street gang, how she ended up studying construction and quantity surveying and how her father’s death affected her. I know I would have loved to hear more about her Brian McFadden era but that just wasn’t the route she was going and that’s fair.
As she says she has the self awareness to know the world is getting a bit sick of her, so if you aren’t give it a read/listen, but be warned.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I am a massive fan of Vogue and her podcasts and this had such potential, the childhood adventures and openness with food struggles, were really inspired but the second half became vapid. It was sadly like when people post cryptic messages on social media - either go all in and share or don’t mention things at all, as hearing ‘one person did this and one brand does this’ is very difficult to follow or feign interest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Like others have said in reviews, I love Vogue but this book just isn’t great. She talked about almost everything before in the podcasts already. I felt like all she talked about was getting drunk as a teenager and then her kids. Thinks I wanted her to delve deeper into she breezed passed, e.g. how MTGM started. If you do really want to read it I’d recommend listening to it via audiobook to treat it as a podcast because you would be bored stiff reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
⭐️3.5 Listened to the audiobook of this. A lovely insight to Vogue Williams life with some very sensitive topics. Wasn’t sure what to expect as I listen to all her podcasts but it shows she is essentially the same person in her personal life vs her podcast life. Hard to rate an autobiography very high unless it’s wild and major secrets shared but because she’s so honest on the podcasts nothing came as a major shock, so was a nice listen.
Fans of Vogue’s podcasts will enjoy this lighthearted book (in audio especially), although I do think it’s a stretch to say her personal life is “laid bare”.
She manages to actually remain very private about herself and the people in her life while creating the appearance of being an open book. Fair play to her.
Big fan of Vogues and the MTGM pod however this book is not going to be winning a literary awards anytime soon, lots of the story’s were ones I’d already heard on the pod or were just a bit random (looking at you last chapter). I listened as a audiobook so was fine to chuck in while doing something else, sort of like a very long pod!
I love Vogue Williams, however I echo what a lot of other people have said that there isn’t much new information in this, that you haven’t already heard in podcasts. The tone is very true to her, but I would have liked to hear more in depth about MTGM or more specific anecdotes of her life. It was all a bit surface level
Brilliant memoir like chatting to one of your mates over a cup of Barry’s or a bottle of Prosecco 🥂 loved it binged it felt it was slowing up and dragging a bit towards the end 4.5 out of 5 stars tho 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Vogue is someone I have read about in articles in the Hello! magazine so I don't really know much about her at all. To know a little bit more I picked up this book as it is her telling her own story with more depth than magazine articles can provide.
Exactly what I wanted it to be!! Casual, funny, light and just a nice read. I love Vogue and think you would need to to get the most out of this book 🩷