Bio

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die …  or perhaps you’ve found yourself on the website of Shannon Bradley-Colleary. Which is me, Shannon. 

This website began as a personal blog, inexplicably named The Woman Formerly Known As Beautiful (here is the explication) which is an annoyingly long url but I’m stuck with it. 

Now back to the third-person.

Shannon Bradley-Colleary is a writer of films, books, the blog and several teenaged/young adult journals detailing all the fear and loathing from that incendiary time of life. 

Those latter tomes will never see the light of day unless Shannon’s parents make any further grievous errors. Then all bets are off!

The Lifetime Film

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story aired on The Lifetime TV Channel in 2021. You can stream it here. It stars Heather Locklear in her comeback performance after a four year hiatus. Rounding out the cast are Jason MacDonald (Vampire Diaries), Natasha Bure (Fuller House), Emily Rose (NCIS ) and Ella Dorsch.

The Sundance Film

To The Stars premiered in the U.S. dramatic narrative film section at the Sundance Film Festival 2019 and was released by Samuel Goldwyn in that godforsaken year 2020. (You can buy or rent it here.)

Shannon Bradley-Colleary screenwriter

It stars Kara Hayward (Moonrise Kingdom), Liana Liberato (If I Stay), Madisen Beaty (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Lucas Jade Zumann (Anne with an E), Tony Hale (VEEP), Malin Ackerman (Billions), Jordana Spiro (Ozark) and Shea Whigham (Mission Impossible 7 & 8). It’s directed by Martha Stephens and produced by Kristin Mann and Laura D. Smith. The New York Times called it “Enlivening.” The Guardian called it “Charming.” Entertainment Weekly called it “Lovely.”

Shannon Bradley-Colleary screenwriter

The Books

  • Into The Child: 40 Weeks in the Gestational Wilderness (more info here)
  • Smash, Crash & Burn: Tales From the Edge of Celebrity (more info more info here)
  • Married Sex: Fact & Fiction (more info here)
  • She Dated the Asshats, But Married the Good Guy: How to Go From Toxic Love to Real Love in 12 Exercises (more info here)
  • To The Stars: A Novel (more info here)

Shannon Bradley-Colleary author

The Blog

How do you know whether this blog is a good read for you?

Married Sex

Do you fantasize you’re a hot-blooded Flamenco dancer partnered by Chris Hemsworth whom — after an international dance competition in Firenze, Italia — drinks vodka out of your belly button?

Kids & Parents

Were you accused by your then 4-year old of “Cutting the Fun!”?

Lasers & Browlifts

Do you wish you knew how all of the celebrities over 50 look so good? Are they moisturizing with yak semen?

Body & Soul

Could you solve Poverty if you spent less time wondering how to stop your thighs from rubbing together? Do you want to hear the stories of and see the fine art nudes of women struggling with weight, age and illness? (You will be shocked by the beauty of it all.) Are you wondering how to get through breast cancer treatment? It’s here, Shannon’s fresh from the battle.

Love & Sex

While you patiently waited for your boyfriend to come out of his Cave, did you not realize the Cave was another woman’s vagina? If so, I’ve got the 10 Signs You’re Dating an Asshat (and how to quit him).

Hollywood Tales & Screenwriting

Have you ever wondered if Gwyneth Paltrow stole your life? What it was like 10 steps from stardom (for the boy were dating)? What it’s really like to be a screenwriter? (Lots of time in pajamas. Vodka. Chocolate.)

Women

Would you like to equip your daughters or granddaughters with vital information they can use to stay safe and not become a member of “Me Too?”

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re in the right place.

Sign-Up for Shannon’s Occasional Newsletter Here! 

The personal blog of Shannon Bradley-Colleary is so cool it’s been syndicated in “O” The Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post, Medium, Buzzfeed, Purple Clover, London’s Daily MailOnline, SheKnows, Self, Your Tango y mas.

Her work has been featured on The Today Show, NPR, CNN and HuffPo Live, Publisher’s Weekly and Deadline to name just a few.

100 thoughts on “Bio”

  1. You are so hilarious!! I haven’t been reading your blog recently because I’m trying not to read anything FUN, but I may have to rethink that…

    1. The Woman Formerly Known As Beautiful

      Yes, next time we must make a little more time. Are you going to the big Blogworld hoo haw in L.a. in Nov? I’m going for it.

  2. I’ve been blog hunting for so long. I want to read things that make me laugh at something other than bad sentence structure (I can see it but can hardly avoid it myself) You are it! So great! And hilarious!

    1. Shannon Colleary

      Hi Heather — I’ve been kvetchy all day (and I’m a shiksa so that’s hard to do), you just unkvetched me.

  3. Okay, after all these years… (you know we go way back) I finally figured out the very best thing I enjoy the most about your writing. The part I will always admire and envy… It’s the “desolate warehouse” – you must tell me over our next vino session – how you think of these effortlessly surprising turns that pinpoint your point right on the dot. Solid gold! (And yes, I’m sober and I mean every single word!)

    1. Shannon Colleary

      Jrob — you know I feel the same about you. Even if you “tits aren’t up to it” you are one of my favorite writers. xo

  4. Wow! What an amazing “about me” bio you’ve got. Now I can tell ALL my friends that I read the blog of a famous woman who knows and dated tons of stars and her husband wrote Face-Off. (Tell him way to go – I effin LOVE that movie) Cool – I’m like .2% famous now by semi-association. Kim K had to get her start somewhere right?

    1. I like to think I’ve lived on the edge of celebrity while never really being allowed in the club. And I love Face Off too. Very proud of my hubby. I have to brag because he won’t.

  5. Your blog is amazing! I cannot stop laughing!!! You are hilarious and so true to the heart – thank you for sharing!

    1. Inez — thank you for reading. I am an insecure writer always in need of approval. Why couldn’t I have been a dentist? Happy Thanksgiving xo

  6. Classic commentary! I knew Mike back at UC Berkeley (we roomed with the same people… Claire Lim, Brian Rubin, and Scott Morrison). You are too funny! I have to turn my wife Kathy on to your blog. Our girls are 13 and 16, and we live for them too, but now that they are teenagers, I think they just see us as standing in their way… but we are GOOD at it! I agree with you… I think you could take Jolie down in a NY minute!

    1. Shannon Colleary

      Hi Tharin — yes, Henry/M is losing hair. But he’s like Ed Harris – it just further enunciates those penetrating blue eyes. Thanks for reading!

      1. I did like this one as well but I have a fond place in my heart for mliendss action flicks from my youth. But I’ve got to say that I personally feel that Travolta and Cage never really bring much to the roles they play. I’ve never really liked Travolta and I’m on the fence with Cage. I probably find him really enjoyable in about half his movies.

  7. Wow! So glad to have found you via Design Mom. How much does a mini-brow lift and blepharoplasty cost? I’m about ten years past the need for one. Funny how more than 45 years of “I’m against plastic surgery” can melt away in one morning glance into the mirror. Repeated 365 times. Deets, please.

    1. Hi Annie — I went to an incredible guy. Dr. Jonathan Hoenig in Beverly Hills. He’s pricey because he’s good. I wanted something very conservative. I didn’t want to look surprised. The cost was $7,000. Yes. I know. But I’m thrilled with the natural-looking results. And I sold one of my kidneys.

  8. So here’s the deal. You complimented my writing in a comment on your HuffPost post. I responded. Apparently, because I referenced my (amateur) blog, I was blacklisted.

    Whatever.

    I wanted to write and make sure that you know that I appreciated your comment. As I mentioned in my reply to you that HP didn’t post (which, after I send this, they’ll post along with the second one I sent when they didn’t post the original response, and they’ll do it just to humiliate me – how do they know?!), I’ve been working on my first novel length story for two years. Two damned years. God. Anyway, every compliment matters, and since you complimented me, I decided to stalk you until you knew that I appreciated it.

    You might know that now, which means I can go to bed and wake up late and go to meetings and then come home and write some more instead of earn an income. (My wife is thrilled with my writing. My earning too much money has always been her worst nightmare.)

    1. Hi Rowland — wtf is up with Huffington Post blacklisting you? Maybe they thought you were spam or something. Anyhow I loved your writing. Keep doing it. Don’t stop. It all adds up. I am not where I’d like to be professionally but am trying. There’s a great book by Steven Pressfield called “The War of Art.” Pick it up immediately. It will kick your writing into high gear.

  9. I rather enjoyed your huffpo story and would have loved to have been able to shoot with you 🙂 I shoot women all the time that worry too much and so far, I’ve been lucky enough to show 100% of them how amazing they are. Great read!

    Jay
    cinema-photography.net

  10. Ummm, where do I begin. Loved reading about your evolution. I’m in the midst of a devolution, I’m blaming it on my children. I sing the Tings-Tings song “That’s not my name” all the time to them. I’ll be checking in regularly. Cheers.

  11. Shannon,

    I am so glad that you are writing at AL now or I would have never known to find your blog and fall in love with it. You write so powerfully and with such personality.
    This freaking about page has me crying from laughter. This has insured you a spot on my coveted (:D) blog roll. You rock my socks off.
    I can’t wait to meet you at the AL party at BlogHer!
    XO

  12. Pro Choice Mama

    I enjoyed your piece on why you are pro-choice. I also became more pro-choice after my kids were born. Your writing is extremely entertaining — thank you for sharing your thoughts and creativity! I am looking forward to reading more.

  13. Great, simply great! You are hilarious and I look forward to reading your posts. I feel I can really relate to you. Thanks for being real!

  14. Hello, I wanted to follow up with you about an email I sent you last week in regards to a possible partnership with us. Did you receive it? Please let me know…..Thank you, Clayton.

  15. See now… it should not have taken me this long to discover you. I’m absolutely sure we are friend-of-a-friend on multiple fronts. Now I just have to figure out who all to berate for not telling me to come read your blog Shannon! 😉
    Wish I were going to be in NY this week – I’d hunt you down. Maybe next year!

  16. You had me all the way until “pantyliner.” Then, I vomited. Well done!

    Seriously, I loved meeting you at BlogHer12. I hope to Jehovah that you are going to the Non-Con.

    Also, I have a treatment I’d like to pass to you. It’s basically Citizen Kane, but with black people. This is a brilliant idea! Black Citizen Kane! C’mon, you’d watch it. Admit it.

    1. The pantyliner is definitely a cockblocker. It was lovely to meet you as well. Are you serious about the black Citizen Kane? I should warn you I may be the only cinefile who didn’t love that movie. In any case I’d be happy to be helpful in any way I can.

  17. Shannon,

    I read an excerpt from your book, “Into the Child:..”. What I have is a suggestion, not a criticizm and that is with regard to how you now communicate with God. I offer this from my own experience. Considering God in the same way you would your father or grandfather, wouldn’t you keep communication open all the time instead of just when you “need” him. Don’t you think he wants to talk to you in the good times and the bad or difficult times. If you do approach him this way, I suspect you will have much more to write in the future on this subject and, in a way that may touch a lot of people. I greatly enjoyed not only what I read in the excerpt but the writing style particularly.

    1. Hi Jose — thank you for your comment and suggestion. I can be a bit of a know-it-all and you reminded me to remain humble and be open to other people’s points of view. xo

  18. Just stumbled upon you today. The HuffPo link on facebook led me to your article and beyond.
    Thank you for the laughs today.
    Love your style, thanks for making our age look so G-damn good.
    Wishing you much success and happiness.
    Ali

  19. So Shannon, I’m checking you out because I just got an email from your advertising gal asking if I wanted to advertise on your blog. Well, I don’t actually read many blogs (since I write my own) but I read a bit of yours and you seem like fun. In fact you remind me a bit of me, when I was younger and IF I understood grammar and actually knew how to write.

    So advertising on your blog huh?? I’m always looking for opportunities that actually work without actually involving any work.

    Should I? advertise that is? Also, my daughter is moving to LA in January to pursue a screenwriting career. She has sitcom specs now. Any advice??? Wanna take her under your wing? That actually would be worth paying for, 🙂

    Sorry about typos, it’s my stupid iPad. Take care.

    Lynn MacDonald

    1. Lynn – we met a couple of years ago at BlogHer. I remember your blog name! Listen, have your daughter call me anytime. I’d be happy to talk to her about screenwriting.

  20. I caught the last part of the NPR show you were on today. I did not hear the particulars of your rape, but I felt the program was great and timely and I applaud you for having the courage to tell your story.

  21. I stumbled onto your piece about Brandon Lee. I am so impressed I don’t even know what to say. you have a way of putting into words what I don’t even realize I feel. your honesty is refreshing. I don’t even know your last name but I will, because I’d love to read more.

  22. Hi Shannon,
    I think it’s fabulous that you and your husband are committed to keeping the passion alive in your marriage.

    Next Tuesday nite at 8pm est, DIVINE AND DIRTY TALK RADIO will host a show about daring to toss societal stigmas to the wind by encouraging women in long term committed relationships to dare to walk on “the wild side”sexually. We’d love to have you as a guest to help our audience members to ” turn there hair loose” and add some spark to committed relationships. We would also promote your work on topic.

    Looking forward to discussion…

    Sincerely,
    Yvette

  23. Lady Shannon, Bringer of the Belly Laughs,

    How do I love thy blogerific hilarity? Let me not count the ways, for I shall be here all day. Let me instead say that in writing my brand new blog (regaling the masses with tales of life, love, and the occasional pursuit of sperm), I oft hunt about the blogosphere for others who inspire me, make me laugh, and help my own cheese to stand a little less alone. In that quest, I can say that I would rather chew the flattened frog carcass to to the left of my driveway than read almost every blog I’ve found. YOURS, Madam, is the exception. I adore your dry humor and wet sense of irony. Applause.

    XOXO
    Princess Burlap

    1. Hello PB — thank you ever so much for stopping by and lavishing me with your affection. I’ve popped over to your site and find we are kindred spirits. We must keep in touch forevermore (which sounds a bit creepy now that I think of it.)

  24. I’ve already initiated said in-touch keeping via your provided America Online electronic mail (just call me Creepy McCreeperson). In this email, I professed such adulatory zest for you and your blog that I couldn’t imagine not advertising upon it. Very few bloggers are on my peculiar page, and you? Well. You’re my flavor of whack. I like that. I’m trying to put my stuff on BlogHer where applicable, I’m up for The Babble 100 (along with 581 other bloggers and counting), but really, TWFKAB is where it’s at.

  25. Hi Shannon,
    Wow….so I’m sitting on the couch with my amazing 12 year old daughter watching TV. Well, she’s watching TV as I multi-task plugging away on my laptop when she tells me how she googled herself once and found a funny baseball picture of herself when she was just 6. So I googled myself and found my name in your Blog…had to laugh at the reference to the “track and football God” and then you reminded me of your friend Viv…If I recall she later broke my heart. Ouch!!! Glad to hear you and she are still good friends. Ed Bushor and I are still very close friends and business partners. Closer now as adults striving to be better men, husbands, & fathers than we were back in the day…God is good.

    Sincerely,
    Aaron Molinar

    1. Hi Aaron — Now I’ve got to go find that post to make sure I didn’t write anything too incriminating about you. I certainly hope Vance Schmitz doesn’t google himself. He might take a hit out on me. Anyhow it’s so nice to hear from you. I certainly had a massive crush on you in high school and have never really forgiven Viv for dating you. Plus she’s more gorgeous than ever. It’s a good thing I love her. Having said that I also had a huge crush on Ed as well. I was a two-men kind of woman.

      Two anecdotes you may appreciate. I was running track after school — which I hated BTW — and ran through a little cloud of gnats. I brushed them off of my face and, as I came to the finish line, I noticed you on the track. You stopped to talk to me, which made me quite swoony. I walked away thrilled only to arrive in the locker room to discover that I had one live gnat stuck to the Chapstick on my lips beating his little wings. Mortification ensued and I think I ducked you for the rest of the year.

      And now to that scoundrel Ed. He was the TA in Mr. Kennison’s class and I was one of the students. One day, as I was walking to class, Ed came sprinting toward me across the quad calling my name. I couldn’t believe he even knew my name because we’d never spoken before. I wondered if maybe he wanted to walk to class with me. Instead he put a stack of heavy text books in my arms and asked if I minded taking them to Kennison’s since he had something else to do. The books weighed about 50 pounds. Sigh. You and Ed kept me humble. xo S

  26. That’s so interesting on the screenwriting! I do illustrating, like comics…currently working on two graphic novels. It’s slow going, but I’m working on it everyday. I’ll definitely take a deeper look at your website in the coming weeks…it all looks and sounds interesting! Jon:)

  27. Hello,

    We are a B2B e-commerce company, we wanna buy some text link ads from you. Would you please tell me the price for a text link on the homepage of https://thewomanformerlyknownasbeautiful.com for 3 months?

    If you have the list of PR4+ websites which sell text link ads on the homepage,please do not hesitate to let me know?

    Sincerely Yours,
    Candy

  28. Love this and shared with friends – dying to read everything you’ve written. Don’t judge me on my website! We moved and I haven’t even updated the contact info. And don’t plan too this week either. (Been 11 months).

    You’re awesome.

  29. Hi Shannon,

    Been quietly browsing your site for the last couple of days. Firstly, you’re way prettier and (from what I could see in that quick video with Brandon, and all your writing here) more talented than Gywneth, who I have NEVER been able to stand (how good was the ending in ‘Seven’?)
    Where can I get a non-kindle version of ‘Smash Crash Burn’?
    Much respect for putting it out there, warts and all, I think all women can relate to these stories.

    1. Dear Betty my darling, I wish I could offer you a non-Kindle version of SC and Burn, unfortunately I’ve not yet found a traditional publisher. But will let you now STAT when that happens! And thanks for quietly browsing. It keeps me typing.

  30. You’re very funny but I think spot on about many things. I’ve been in a relationship with a really nice guy for 19 months long distance. He takes me to very nice places, i.e., plays, restaurants, romantic walks. Yes, here comes the “BUT”. But I feel like we are not sexually compatible. He loves all things I do to please him, but when it comes to me, I hear oh my arthritis in the back of my neck really hurts when I’m top, or I had a bad experience with oral sex, I have arthritis in my fingers so it’s painful to finger you but I’ll try. I’m really getting sick of it. He’s 53 so get over your bad oral experience, but he likes it done to him. I have repeatedly shown him how I like to be kissed, touched. He keeps saying please be patient with me. I’m just not used to having to work this much to click with someone sexually. The only way I can get satisfied is if I am on top. That’s not a bad thing sometimes, but I feel like he likes that all the time so he can just lay there mainly. If he’s on top, he can hardly keep an erection so he jumps off of me, saying oh my head, my knees. I am doing all the work and he’s getting the benefits. That’s how I feel. I think he is a selfish lover. What do you think?

    1. Hello Grace — I love that this comment ended up on my ABOUT page. Never had one quite like it here. Okay, so. He’s only 53 and he’s already this disabled? I find this worrisome because what’s it going to be like when he’s 73? You might end up being his nurse, rather than his romantic partner. I can’t really advise you as I suspect there are many ways in which he please you out of bed. I think you have to ask yourself how important the sex component is in your relationship?? Are other things between you more important? If so, you may have to adjust your expectations because I doubt he’ll change. But if sex is very important you might want to think about moving on?

  31. I am a mental health author who has over 300 book reviews on Amazon. My book is popular and I write for many national websites. Who can I talk to about contributing articles the Huffington Post.

    I would like to talk to someone and provide sample articles and references.

    Can you help me.

    Stan Popovich

  32. We went to high school together. The whole time we were in high school we only talked to each other once.
    I only know one thing for sure about your sex life (or lack there of) in high school. You never did anything with me.
    I was Upland High class of 84. When you were a senior you had a class in the north east part of campus. That is the part of UHS near James Games arcade. We used to pass by each other in the halls during first semester.
    You should remember seeing me. When I was 16 I had to buy my clothes in big and tall stores.
    I am now way bigger than you remember. Now outlaw bikers try to recruit me to fight in their turf wars. Outlaw bikers leave me alone when they find out my idea of a good time is a Star Trek convention.
    We all age differently. The older I get the more I look like an ogre.

    1. Okay Eric — just had to check out your babyface in my ’83 yearbook. It can’t be possible that that sweet face now belongs to an ogre? Anyhow thanks for reminding me of school days. We just had our 30th reunion last October. I guess this means yours must be coming up!

  33. How did I miss your About Page?! I am roaring here! Like so much so that my older kids were reminded of Tony the Tiger and asking for Frosted Flakes. I love your off the wall personal trivia. I did something similar on my About page, but not nearly as successful. Oh! And I loved that Nicolas Cage/Travolta script! Did your guy really write that?? And finally Wacktress! HAHA!

  34. My God you are a hard person to contact.

    Anyhoo, I hope you’re doing fine and into reading new books like American MaleWhore in Tokyo.

    It’s a juvenile/explicit comedy about an American who moves to Tokyo with the goal of becoming a successful host, the job duties of which include getting paid by women to party, flirt, and quite often sleep with them. In real life, some of these guys make astounding amounts of money while doing astounding amounts of damage to their livers.

    If you’re interested, I would be happy to provide a paperback or Kindle edition, and if it’s not up your alley, you’re more than welcome to quit at any time, burn the paperback or punch your Kindle in the face, and never speak of this again.

    Kanpai,
    John Box

  35. I read your article about the 4 reasons stay in marriages. You missed one – being wracked with guilt about the damage it will do to your spouse. Help. Divorce would destroy my wife.

    1. Hi Tony — you sound like an incredibly responsible and caring person. I think what it all boils down to is are you just surviving? Maybe just surviving is good enough for you. It is good enough for some people and there’s no shame in that. But if you are drowning you have got to save yourself first. You’re no good to anyone if you’re crashing and burning.

    2. Hi Tony
      I am feeling the same way. I care a lot abput my husband. Its been 10 years out of which we fought for 8 yrs. We have an 8 yr old son and he needs a father. He will always need a father and i made that as a reason to stay. But sometimes i am not sure. Did you leave your wife? If so did it help?

  36. I love the Asshat Recovery Program. Here in the UK the Asshat is commonly known as a ‘complete and utter prick’ or if pushed the C word lol
    I’ll be having a more in depth read when I’ve had some decent sleep but love what I’m reading already. Cheers Shannon 🙂

  37. “I am out of words.. There are no words to describe what i feel.. This side of Brandon no one knew simply makes me feel closer to him.. A beautiful soul.. A beautiful boy.. I am trying to get my hands on the book but i am unable to specially in India. But i will keep trying and trying till i get it.. At whatever cost.. Thank you Shannon for sharing a very different Brandon with us. We all fans will be forever grateful. God bless..”

  38. Hi Shannon,
    I’m going to ask what a lot of the ladies would like to know, was Brandon Lee a good kisser? And how was he in bed? You would know and good or bad he was still hot. And Brad Pitt has recently gave an interview about Brandon, here ii is: “Pitt recalls Brandon Lee expressing fears he’d die young like his father Bruce Lee. One night in 1992, Brandon Lee told fellow actor Brad Pitt that he feared he would die young, just like his father, Bruce Lee.
    During an interview with Esquire that published Tuesday, Pitt, who stars as Cliff Booth alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, recalled one particularly eerie evening from his early days in Tinseltown when he found himself partying with the younger Lee. “He drove a hearse and lived in Echo Park,” Pitt recalled of Lee. “We went out one night and everyone else had peeled off, and we ended up back at his place and it was like six in the morning. A real, you know, drunk and stony night, and he proceeded that night to tell me how he thought he was going to die young like his dad. And I just chalked it up to, you know, stony 6 a.m. talk. Then he got The Crow the next year.”
    What do you think?

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