True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet 2008

Morgan Carter is a teenage Hollywood princess whose glittering life crumbles after a wild party night ends with a collapse outside a Hollywood nightclub. Following the incident, Morgan’s mother sends her to live with Aunt Trudy in the wilds of Fort Wayne, Indiana. There she is camouflaged as Claudia Miller and given a fresh hairstyle, a transformation that thrusts her into a world where peers do not own televisions or read magazines—an unfamiliar, almost foreign backdrop that forces her to rethink who she is. The relocation becomes a quiet reversal: a famous face trying to blend in, while a teenager is suddenly stripped of the privileges that defined her life.

With a new appearance and little money, she enters a suburban high school carrying a sharp edge and a wary attitude. At first she doesn’t fit in, until she meets Eli Walsh. He introduces Claudia to his sister, Emily, and to her circle of friends, and Morgan begins to feel a real connection, especially with Emily. A growing friendship blossoms, and Emily invites Morgan to a sleepover. There, Debbie, who has feelings for Eli, warns Morgan to stay away. Disappointed and misread, she leaves early and, on the way home, dials her mother for help. Instead, she ends up speaking with her new stepfather—who is also her manager—Sam. The moment sparks a troubling theory that Sam plans to push her out of Hollywood so he can marry her mom. In a moment of insecurity, she drinks vodka she finds in the kitchen. The next day, while Eli tutors her, she tries to capture his attention by fibbing about a father she never had, borrowing a plot from one of her old movies. Eli grows worried as the tale grows more elaborate and warns her to tell him if her “father” ever shows up. He even asks her on a real date to the county fair, a chance she eagerly accepts. Marissa, her longtime friend from Hollywood, arrives in Indiana, and the two head to a club together. At the fair, Morgan finds herself drawn to Eli in a new way, even as Debbie attempts to blackmail her. The paparazzi close in, exposing the rumors, and Morgan sneaks to Eli’s house to apologize for lying about her father and about not being Claudia. Eli is upset by the deception, but forgives her, and they ride away on his motorcycle, ready to face whatever comes next together.