As the granddaughter of one of the 20th Century’s best-known authors, Ernest Hemingway, Mariel Hemingway was always destined to be somehow be in the spotlight, if only by virtue of her surname. At the tender age of 17, her work in Woody Allen's ‘Manhattan’ earned her an Oscar nomination. She has since made more than 30 films and numerous television appearances. Now at the age of 61, Mariel is a wife and mother of two, a best-selling author, a healthy lifestyle devotee, and a mental health and suicide prevention programme advocate
We have seen her on the big screen in ‘Manhattan’, ‘Lipstick’, ‘Personal Best’, ‘Star 80’, ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’, and on the small screen in various roles. But today, Mariel Hemingway lives a very, very different life.
Following the 2014 release of the Emmy-nominated documentary ‘Running From Crazy’, which focused on the seven most recent suicides in the Hemingway family, and was co-executive produced by Mariel and Oprah Winfrey, Mariel decided to fully focus on the subject of mental health and suicide prevention programmes.
This focus resulted in the publication of two books, authored by Hemingway, namely, ‘Out Came The Sun’, aimed at adults, and ‘Invisible Girl’, written predominantly for teenagers.
‘Out Came The Sun’ is a moving, compelling memoir about growing up and escaping the tragic legacy of mental illness, suicide, addiction, and depression in one of America’s most famous families: the Hemingways. Mariel reveals in candid detail the story of her troubled childhood.
Four months before she was born, Mariel’s grandfather Ernest killed himself in his cabin. It was the fourth suicide in his immediate family. Then barely out of grade school, a young Mariel nursed her mother through cancer and her father through his unhappy marriage. At age 13, her sister Margaux, a model and actress, recommended Mariel for a supporting role alongside her in the screen drama ‘Lipstick’. The teenage Mariel had never acted before, but nevertheless accepted the part and appeared alongside her sister.
It was possibly one of the best decisions of her early life as a certain Woody Allen saw the movie and shortly after called from New York to ask her to read for a part in his latest project - a part he had specifically written for her. As Tracy in ‘Manhattan’, Mariel earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in what is still regarded as one of the 20th Century's best films.
Hemingway continued acting, but tragedy also continued to plague her life. She survived her sister Margaux's chemical abuse and death, and in late 2000, her father passed away from bypass surgery complications. Just a few days later, her husband Stephen Crisman was diagnosed with cancer. Mariel herself also went through bouts of everything from eating disorders to over-exercising to low self-esteem. Something, somewhere had to change.
And so Mariel channeled her energy into writing and published her first book ‘Finding My Balance: A Memoir With Yoga’ in 2003. “It wasn’t that I thought my story was that fantastic and different from any one else's or particularly Hollywood-like,” she says. “Quite the contrary. What I knew was that I had dealt with a lot of major issues and I had dealt with them through trying to be the healthiest person that I could be. I was first drawn to healthy living as a means of survival. I felt the need to share that with other people that were in the same position or who were even moderately healthy. I really feel passionate about empowering people to be as healthy as they want to be.”
Calmly sipping on her tea, Hemingway recalls that she found her spiritual side more than 20 years ago. “I don't take myself terribly seriously, which is why I can be incredibly honest about my life. “My problems weren't and aren’t so different to those of anyone else. Everyone experiences pain and a certain level of dysfunction at some point in their life and we need a way out of that pain.”
In both of her books, Hemingway describes her childhood as chaotic and she reveals that part of the reason she decided to write two books about was to be able to reach out to a younger audience that isn't normally served. “My publisher suggested that we should help young people, and I was excited as I have always wanted to reach out to that age group, because that was when I was the most scared. That was when life made the least sense to me.”
Another Mariel Hemingway passion is general health and wellbeing. “When my husband was first diagnosed with terminal cancer, I was in the middle of my writing my first book and I realised that the principles by which I had lived should be shared with others. It was beyond survival; it was about an overall lifestyle. I’m very into organic food. America is the most malnourished country because they make it very difficult for people to make better choices. We eat from boredom, fear and not feeling loved, and I want to try to encourage people to think differently,” she enthuses, “I’m very passionate about my cause.”
Continuing on her quest to promote a healthy lifestyle, when Mariel set out to design a new kitchen, she approached the process in the same way that she approaches every significant decision in her life, with considerable thought and careful study. She considered a variety of cabinets, examined numerous appliances, and looked at an array of flooring options. When it came to the selection of her countertops, she was equally meticulous, studying the pros and cons of every conceivable surface. Eventually she discovered that Cambria, a Minnesota-based company, offered a product with impressive environmental benefits. “I was impressed that Cambria recycles 100 percent of the water used in its Minnesota factory and that the company has committed to minimising the long-term ecological impact of how it quarries and mines its quartz.” She was also pleased to learn that the company purchases its quartz primarily from North America and makes every effort to restore the quarry site after quartz extraction, even going so far as to stabilise the slopes of waste rock and reclaim the flat surfaces with soil and vegetation. “My countertops are safe enough to be rated as a food preparation surface. I realised that with marble and granite you have to put petroleum sealants and coatings on them,” she says. “Just knowing that you can physically prepare foods directly on it and that there is no detrimental effect is important to me.”
Mariel’s other great passion is her family, and she speaks fondly of her two daughters, the elder of whom is following in her mother’s footsteps as an actress. “I tell her that she should never have to compromise herself and she shouldn’t have to please people, because at the end of the day people are only trying to please themselves. I never regret my experiences, as they all lead you to who you are now and the person you become.”