You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip

“Gossip is the only cultural tradition I care about, and Kelsey McKinney has written its Bible” – Samantha Irby, #1 NYT bestselling author

A delightfully insightful exploration of our obsession with gossip that weaves together journalism, cultural criticism, and memoir, from the host of the massively popular Normal Gossip podcast.

Can you keep a secret?  It’s harder than it seems – after all, it’s only human to thirst after the juicy updates, jaw-dropping stories, and idle chatter that we typically collect over drinks with friends. No one knows this better than Kelsey McKinney, who has always loved gossip wholeheartedly, with abandon, and sometimes to her own detriment. But the more time she spent collecting and sharing and thinking about stories as the host of the blockbuster Normal Gossip podcast, the more her concept of gossip began to expand.

In YOU DIDN'T HEAR THIS FROM ME, McKinney explores the murkiness of everyday storytelling. Why do we think we’re entitled to every detail of a celebrity’s personal life? Why is gossip considered a sin and how can we use gossip for good? And how do we even define “gossip,” anyway? But as she dishes on the art of eavesdropping and dives deep into how pop culture has changed the way we look at hearsay, McKinney also hopes to capture the heart of gossiping: how enchanting and fun it can be to lean over and whisper something a little salacious into your friend’s ear. With wit and honesty, McKinney unmasks what we're actually searching for when we demand to know the truth – and how much the truth really matters in the first place.

About the Author

Kelsey McKinney is a reporter and writer who lives in Philadelphia. She is the host of Normal Gossip, as well as a co owner and features writer at Defector.com. She has worked as a staff writer at Deadspin, Fusion, and Vox, and her reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair and many others. Her first novel, God Spare the Girls, was published in the summer of 2021 by William Morrow.