Flipping the Script: Bouncing Back From Life's Rock Bottom Moments

by A.J. Gibson

Live Through the Life is complicated and messy, but every now and then life gives you a syndicated talk show on a major network – and then fires you for being “all icing and no cake.” Then it sends your born-again Christian sister to take you out to lunch on your birthday, only to tell you she suddenly believes you can pray the gay away and that you should’ve used your time on the show do more for Christ. Then, because there’s always another “then,” you receive a tax bill from Uncle Sam that almost sends you out your tenth-floor bathroom window…literally. Luckily, AJ Gibson chose to step back and share his struggles because, well…not today Satan! He knows what it’s like when life feels like a never-ending roller coaster, and in his self-help book Flipping the Script , he doesn’t sugar coat the truth. After all, this isn’t Hollywood, errr…anymore. Know You’re Not AJ’s journey from a closeted gay boy from Ohio to that guy people kinda, sorta recognize from TV and Hollywood seems glossy, but the truth is anything but. In Flipping the Script , AJ shows how his life has been a series of personal roadblocks and rock bottom moments. Every time he thinks he’s in the clear, he finds a new way to crash and burn. Let’s just say insecurity was once a pretty close friend of his, so he knows what you feel like whenever you find yourself scrolling social media comparing yourself to others. Luckily, he’s a pretty smart guy and moderately witty, always finding his way out of life’s rock bottom moments – and you can too! Turn Bad Situations AJ has a gift for shifting his perspective, turning crappy situations around and finding a way to persevere each time the world seems to be telling him he was born to fail. Through all of the mess, all of the hardships, he somehow manages to keep a smile on his face and a roof over his head. He also knows that we all have problems and he’s here to help. The true stories in Flipping the Script will make you laugh, encourage you to keep fighting for happiness and inspire you to turn your own rock bottom moments into your proudest accomplishments! Feel AJ’s “Hollywood” situation may be unique, but his struggles are definitely relatable. After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who has achieved success without problems – especially in the LGBTQ community. As a proud gay man working in the entertainment capital of the world, AJ’s personal and professional stories will leave you feeling empowered and a little less defeated. Flipping the Script will give you the strength to overcome your own personal roadblocks. In his book, AJ shares tips and tricks in the form of “Script Rewrites” at the end of each chapter that will help you persevere and find your true purpose. Flipping the Script will rip your heart out, make you want to fight somebody, and leave you feeling like you can solve world hunger – all in a single chapter. You

Genres: LGBT, Memoir

300 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2018

About the author

AJ was the host of the nationally syndicated daytime talk show Hollywood Today Live on FOX, he has sat next to Kit Hoover as a guest co-host on Access Hollywood Live and has appeared regularly on Good Day LA as both an anchor and entertainment correspondent! You can also catch AJ sitting next to the ladies of The Talk on CBS and just recently AJ co-hosted multiple episodes of The Wendy Williams Show!

Thanks to his relatable "guy next door" personality and strong relationships with Dick Clark Productions, AJ has become a fixture on Hollywood's most-watched red carpets, chatting with some of the world's most admired celebrities in front of millions of LIVE viewers! From The Billboard Music Awards to The Golden Globes, where French Vogue named AJ one of the best-dressed men in entertainment on the 2019 red carpet, this small town Ohio native has covered it all!

AJ is also the author of Amazon #1 New Release Flipping the Script: Bouncing Back From Life's Rock Bottom Moments and travels the country giving keynote talks, sharing his experiences on camera, as well as his work as a successful author and perspective expert. AJ's passion for helping others live to their fullest potential is only matched by his desire to do the same. This dynamic combination has made AJ the go-to guy for a number of brands, production companies and organizations across the country!

Reviews

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written, illogical book by an unintelligent TV guy who claims to be a "perfectionist" but doesn't know how to spell Disney World correctly and who proclaims that his "choices" and "actions" are "due to DNA." This book represents all that's wrong with a gay guy who claims to be a Christian without accepting many of its basic and complains non-stop about being judged by others, then spends the bulk of his stories condemning and judging those he doesn't agree with. Namely, he's a delusional hypocrite.

Most pages are filled with comments that are stereotypes or tropes of his own gayness or those close to him that are religious. None of it is communicated well, filled with mistakes about his own industry and constant repetition, at times saying the same thing thrice in a couple pages. Add to that, this was written just two years after he claimed he wanted to commit suicide and he lost his major TV hosting gig plunging him into a deep depression. It seems there was no editor involved to fix his errors nor anyone who simply said, "You're too young to be writing a memoir because your pain has obviously not healed."

There is a lot of bitterness here, mostly aimed at his dysfunctional family and his church upbringing. His parents divorced when he was young, his dad has been married four times, his stepmom is a witch with the same first name as his mother, his mom got remarried to a guy with the same first name as his father, and (this gets complicated) his stepdad is his dad's boss. You wonder why this boy has issues? Yet at 37, still in the midst of the chaos, he thinks he should write an advice book. AJ Gibson is the last person I'd want advice from, no matter how badly he wants to influence others. After his suicidal thoughts he wrote, "My soul desperately needed to find MY purpose. So I decided to start writing...this book is my Hail Mary, my last-ditch effort to create the life I know I was born to live."

Hate to tell you this buddy but writing your uninspiring memoir is not the way to create a new life. Especially when you've lived so little of life (graduating college at 26 after going to three schools, heading to Hollywood and barely finding any success before being fired). It is not going to inspire readers or yourself in the way you think.

The whole thing is depressing and not inspirational. He essentially is preaching to himself in his end of chapter "script rewrites," which are supposed to encourage others to learn from his mistakes. There's no sense of order to the book, it skips all over the place, includes a number of chapters filled with repetitive depression over trying to figure out what to write in the book, and he adds a stupid gimmick where he starts each chapter with a fake scripted "scene" number that I guess we're supposed to figure out would put thing in order if we were keeping track of it? Then there's the inappropriate cover, which highlights the words "bottom moments" and shows a drawing of the author's profile looking up with mouth wide open. It's all sophomoric and rings false because it's obvious Gibson has no sense of direction and has not learned from himself.

Much is made of "representation" in this book, in which he wants gays to be better made public through positive characterizations, yet he doesn't seem to worry about representation for others. Where is the equality when he condemns people he supposedly "loves" page-after-page and verbalizes disdain for Republicans, Christians, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, and conservative media? He misrepresents those he opposes, and therefore isn't truly a believer in accurate representation for all. I feel sorry for the right-wing grandmother, who he claims to love more than anyone and who accepted his sexuality completely, when he mocks her death and besmirches her memory by criticizing what she believed in.

I could devote pages to analyzing his approach to spirituality, in which he left his Catholic upbringing to become an atheist for 15 years and blames Christians on just about everything bad that has happened to him. Then out of nowhere, due to his son-of-a-preacher boyfriend, the couple return to church and Gibson starts making proclamations about Jesus and God that are just not based on truth but on his emotional feelings. "I had never been able to fathom that I could live as both a follower of Christ and a gay man." Why not? Everyone in the world, no matter what they've done or choices they've made, can become a true follower of Christ if they actually commit to what Jesus said would make them real believers. But that's where we're going to have a problem.

AJ wants to pretend that his choices are because of being born gay and he doesn't have to be held accountable to God for them. "When you try explaining your prejudices away by saying you hate our actions, when those actions are not something that can be changed, because they are a part of our DNA in the same way that your brown eyes or blonde hair are a part of yours, you create an impossible scenario from which we cannot escape." And therein lies the problem--he doesn't see anything about his sexuality or thoughts that are a choice to be held accountable for. He claims "God doesn't make junk" and therefore ANY choice he makes is something he can't change.

That's unscientific, bad Christianity, a false narrative, and not at all what Jesus taught. The God of the Bible holds adults accountable for choices no matter how they were born, and what ultimately makes you a true believer in following Jesus is acknowledging your bad choices then turning to Him for forgiveness and help to do better. I'm not condemning Gibson or hating on him, I'm just saying he (and many others) have twisted and ignored what real Christian faith is, as well as abolishing any personal responsibility for choices they make that could result in harm to themselves or others. Meanwhile he (and those like him) lash out at flawed humans that also try to also strive for truth.

The irony is that it's obvious from his life story that most everything about him came not from DNA but from environment. "My dad's one of those guys who blames everything on everyone else. He's never been big on accountability and likes to play the victim." Pot calling kettle black? AJ, you are just like him! "He's not a bad guy at all and he loves his kids very much, but he is definitely a product of his environment."

So let me get this straight AJ--YOU claim you are a product of your DNA and don't have to accept responsibility for any of your actions because you can't change who you are and are upset when people don't accept that, yet HE is a product of his environment, won't take accountability for his choices and you are using the book to verbally condemn him to try to get him to change? The author obviously needs to work on himself to become consistent in his approach to life before he spews more hatred and nonsense.

In a few spots he refreshingly admits to some of his faults: "I was entitled and allowed life to overwhelm me. I'm the guy who racked up over $50,000 worth of student loan debt and a few thousands of dollars more in credit card debt, with no way of ever repairing any of it without the help of my parents." These are the same parents he often condemns for how he reacted to his delayed coming out to them and lying to them that he was bisexual. As much as he wants them to look bad, they also saved him and accepted him, though he wants to focus on every hesitation or question they have about his choices.

Gibson, like many in the LGBTQ community, is dishonest with his use of memory and science. He tries to claim that he was "born this way" as a way of washing away his own faults but as you read on you discover at around the time his real dad left home, AJ was in a basement with another boy and they played sexual games. From then on his interest was in males. Distant dad, overbearing mother, playing sex games with a boy at age 6 or 7--I'd say environment had something to do with it and even if he wants to claim it's from birth, that doesn't relieve him of any responsibility for his adult choices.

I wish him the best but he needs to truly flip the script by getting unbiased outside feedback (not mimicking GLADD talking points), taking responsibility for his own choices, using his brain, forgiving others, and discovering the God he claims to want to follow.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! The emotional range that this book takes you through: sad, heartbreaking, smiling/laughing, standing ovation!! It is all there. Growing up in Celina Ohio as well (only a few years behind AJ), I recalled my own memories when he talked about Celina. While I am not the same person I was growing up, this book reminds me that it is okay to change/to be the better version of yourself/not to let the judement by others hold you back. To me, AJ is telling this not as a book but as a face-to-face conversation with the reader. The chapter introductions allow the reader to visualize AJ and his surrounds, again as if you are sitting/standing nearby listening to him talk. I definitely recommend this must read!!
To AJ - keep being you! Good luck in all future endeavors (wherever life takes you)!! ☺🙏💕👏

[Cheri Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book....a must read!

[Thomas Boetto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to anyone behind having a rough time in life.

I like the way AJ never gave up on his dream. I hope that many doors will open up for him.😊

[C.G. Twiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this because I thought it might be uplifting and it definitely was, but it was also sad and bittersweet to hear all that AJ Gibson has gone through in his life merely because of his sexuality. I did really appreciate that he was able to continue to keep himself open to people like his father who weren't open to him, and eventually watch those people grow and change, and was eventually able to develop a relationship with them on his own terms but also being empathetic to the hang-ups and backgrounds of those people. AJ is a better person than I would have been! I loved the bits about his grandmother too.

He also has a nice, soothing voice so it was a great book to listen to at bedtime.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing approach to a self help book by sharing so many deep personal struggles and the journey and resolution to those issues. It is a reminder that the easiest way to help and heal one self is best done by helping others and along the way we end up helping ourselves. A.J Gibson is the real deal and is genuine in his approach. I really enjoyed the excercises or the “ homework” as I like to call it that was at the end of each chapter. The exercises are helpful and are a great reference when we need to revisit past issues or reignite motivation in ourselves. I look forward to A.J’s future works.

[Monica del Pozo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well there were parts I liked, and parts I didn’t.
I like it when there were stories being told, but not so much with the advising.
The book is great, is just that it is not my type of genre.
Also I felt it was not in order of events. I mean I just wanted like take it apart and rearrange it.
But I laughed, cried, think about my life, etc.
I read this book cause I listened to Afterbuzz and Happy hour.

[Rebecca Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story of AJ's life and his experience with coming out and dealing with family, friends, and public perception of being LGBTQ in America.

[Ron Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of an autobiography than a book to help others.