Comedian, actor and writer Maddy Anholt has signed a deal to write her first book which will chart her experience of abusive relationships. How To Leave Your Psychopath is due to be published by Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird in February 2022.
Maddy shared: “An extraordinary number of people are utterly trapped in controlling and coercive relationships.
“For many years, I was one of them, and what I desperately needed back then was a straightforward survival guide to explain what the hell was going on. I decided to write the book I wish I’d read ten years ago.”
Bluebird says: “Anholt is uniquely placed to write this book. After a decade’s worth of emotional abuse, she found the means to ‘wake up’ to the toxic patterns of psychopathic personality types with help from an NHS Crisis Counsellor. She then set out on a journey to educate herself about the complex and intriguing traits of narcissists and psychopaths, and to find out why she – as an empath – had been particularly vulnerable to their allure.
“After sharing her story through comedy shows and on social media, Anholt was astonished at how many people, particularly young women, are trapped in these relationships with no tools or resources to help themselves find freedom. Using her direct experience on the frontline and her skills as a professional comedian and communicator, working with Women’s Aid to raise awareness and funds, and a number of respected psychologists, Maddy has written this survival guide to inform and entertain readers, and possibly even save lives by starting a wider conversation about this issue.”
Publisher Carole Tonkinson said: “Maddy’s proposal was the dream: brilliantly researched, well informed, immensely relatable and laugh-out-loud funny.
“I have been on the search for a book on coercive control that felt empowering, informed by lived experience and is an unputdownable read. One of the terrible legacies of coercive control is toxic shame about getting involved with a narcissist in the first place.
“Maddy is living proof that there is nothing to be ashamed of and her passion to share her hard-won insight and to help other people identify destructive partners and patterns is inspiring.. It’s like a best friend helping you remember your best self and find your way out of trouble. I cannot wait to get it out there.”
The book shares the premise of Maddy’s most recent live show, which she was performing before lockdown in 2020. The book is described as covering ‘the route to self-discovery, how to see and respond to red flags, safe dating, recognising controlling traits, distinguishing narcissistic and psychopathic personality types and all that lies in between’.
Maddy had started performing a live show based on the same premise before lockdown last year. We applaud Maddy for sharing her story.
