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September 06, 2024

Megan Fox is now a best-selling poet alongside writes such as Rupi Kaur and Mary Oliver.

The 37-year-old Expendables 4 actress has released her first collection of poems, Pretty Boys Are Poisonous, which debuted yesterday at the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s Best Sellers chart for the Poetry by Women category. It’s followed by Whitney Hanson’s Harmony, Kaur’s Milk and Honey and Oliver’s Devotions.

Published on Simon & Shuster’s Gallery Books, the 176-page book contains over 70 poems inspired by “previously unspoken feelings of isolation, torment, self-harm, desperation, longing, restlessness, rage and general anguish,” she writes in the intro. Fox herself narrates the book’s Audible audio version, which runs 38 minutes. Pretty Boys Are Poisonous is also available on hardcover for 10 percent off the list price and on Kindle for $13.99, or 46 percent off.

Poem titles reference themes ranging from Disney and Greek mythology to internet slang and even Lana Del Rey songs, such as “Lessons in Hot-Boy Demonology,” “I Would Die for Y— Oh, j/k lol,” “The Avarice Pursuit of Money Power and Glory” (a nod to Del Rey’s 2014 track, “Money Poweer Glory”), “Why I Wish I Was Gay,” “It’s Giving Patrick Bateman” (name-checking Christian Bale’s American Psycho character) and more.

‘Pretty Boys Are Poisonous’ by Megan Fox

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Of the inspiration behind her poems, Fox recently told People that “it comes from a lot of places … Some of it is literal, while other parts are allegorical. Some poems contain a Grimm’s-fairy-tale-type element, and others serve the same purpose as memes in online culture. All of it is something women can relate to.”

Fox (who voices a character in the latest Mortal Kombat video game) gave fans a preview of the poem, “Why I Have Insomnia,” on Instagram, revealing the lines, “And my heart never rests / because it does not trust / the hand that holds it” alongside an animation illustrated by Japanese-American artist Audrey Kawasaki.

“All of my healers tell me that my throat chakra is blocked,” the new author begins in her book’s intro. “In case you aren’t familiar, the throat chakra is the energy center that is related to communication … My problem is that I deeply identify my feelings and have multitudinous ways of articulating them, but I am not able to express them because when I do it has made the men who have loved me feel intimidated, inadequate and insecure. And so I have spent all of my life making myself so small so that others can feel confident. I have a savior/martyr complex.”

She continues, “This book is for anyone who has given much more than they received, or for anyone who struggles to believe they deserve to be heard. This book is also for me. Because fuck. I deserve better.”

Fox explains on the back cover: “These poems were written in an attempt to excise the illness that had taken root in me because of my silence. I’ve spent my entire life keeping the secrets of men, my body aches from carrying the weight of their sins. My freedom lives in these pages, and I hope that my words can inspire others to take back their happiness and their identity by using their voice to illuminate what’s been buried, but not forgotten, in the darkness.”

Those who want to listen to Fox’s Pretty Boys Are Poisonous for free can do so with a 30-day trial to Audible, which includes one free credit each month to use on any premium title to keep forever and access to best-selling audiobooks, new releases, podcasts, original content and more. Alternatively, new subscribers can choose to save 60 percent off the first four months of the Premium Plus plan. Regularly $14.95 per month, the promo brings Audible’s Premium Plus membership down to $5.95 monthly during the first quarter. After that, the subscription auto-renews at the original price.

Fox was previously married to former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Brian Austin Green, with whom she shares three children. She’s currently engaged to musician and actor Machine Gun Kelly (né Colson Baker).

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‘Pretty Boys Are Poisonous’ by Megan Fox