Katie Lee is well known for expressing herself on the plate — to the delight of foodies across St. Louis. Now she brings her life, loved ones and hard-learned lessons to page in her yet-to-be-titled autobiography. Lee told St. Louis on the Air that she decided to serially release each chapter to get the story out “as quickly as possible in the most reasonable way.”
“I come from the restaurant world, [where] we need instant gratification — things to happen now. That's just the way I operate,” Lee said. “I thought, ‘I've got to start getting it out there. I can't wait around for someone to find it, or like it, or do a publishing deal, even though hopefully that will be the case.’”
Lee’s first chapter, titled “The Last Stop,” chronicles the moment she called her mother on the phone, crying, to be picked up from a state-run rehabilitation facility in Hannibal, Missouri.
Her mom refused, then abruptly ended the call.
“I knew that she had had enough. I think in that moment of rebirth, I had this awareness of what I had put my family through, even though I was struggling,” Lee said. “[My mom] was beginning to mourn … it signaled: ‘I am dead. What happens next?’”
Lee said that nearly every chapter includes moments with, and lessons by, her late father, Tom, and her close friend Rolando Llerrena Colon. In the first chapter, there’s a photo of the first storefront the three of them operated together in Clayton.
“That restaurant was the breeding ground for me to learn my greatest lessons,” she said. “That little hole in the wall pizzeria symbolizes the love I have for them, the lessons I learned and what I’ve built from there. It’s very nostalgic for me.”
In telling her own story, Lee said she’s sharing stories about those who had a hand in making her who she is now after 14 years of sobriety.
“I can't share my story without sharing their story. It's really not as much about me as it is about the people that influence me, that touch me, in good and bad ways,” she said. “St. Louis, the city that I grew up in — all of those people, places and things have created my life experience.”
For more on Katie Lee’s autobiography and to hear an excerpt from the first chapter, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: “Katie Lee - The Last Stop”
When: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec 3
Where: Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid Ave. St. Louis, MO 63108)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
