TORONTO — Jeanne Beker didn't set out to write a memoir about loss.
But after fashion, death is the second through line in "Heart on My Sleeve," which tells the TV personality's life story as reflected by the items in her wardrobe.
Such morbidity might seem a departure for the effervescent fashion journalist, but at 72, Beker has lost a lot of people: her parents, close childhood friends, many of the fashion designers she came to know over the course of her career.
At the forefront of Beker's literary closet is an item long stored in the back of her mother's literal one: a tattered leather satchel she'd carried with her through the Holocaust as she and her husband — Beker's father — evaded Nazis. It was filled with photos of their family members, none of whom made it out alive.
"I grew up hearing stories about death. I grew up hearing stories about the Holocaust and the grandparents that I never knew and the aunts and uncles and cousins I never had," Beker said in a video call from the home she keeps outside Toronto.
"Growing up and hearing those stories incessantly, and knowing the profound impact that had on my parents, of course that all became a part of me. So perhaps that is one of the lenses through which I see my life — knowing everything is temporary."
That carpe diem philosophy spurred her to hop on stage at a Ronnie Hawkins concert in 1969, to move to New York to study acting and to Paris to study mime under a great master, before accepting a job co-hosting "The NewMusic" on Citytv.
From there, she went on to helm "FashionTelevision," a first-of-its-kind program that saw her jet set around the world to haute couture's most hallowed halls.
The show went off the air in 2012, as the once elite role of fashion tastemaker was democratized on social media, and from there, Beker pivoted again.
She became the style editor at TSC — formerly known as The Shopping Channel — in 2015 and began hosting a new show, "Style Matters."
But in 2022, when everything in her life was going swimmingly — "I was on top of the world," she recalled — she was dealt a blow. A recent mammogram had been abnormal. She had breast cancer.
It was around this time that Simon & Schuster reached out to her about writing another book, her sixth.
"I thought they probably wanted me to write a book about my cancer journey, which I wasn't thrilled to do," Beker said.
But no, they suggested something broader that would give Beker the chance to dish about celebrity encounters and impart hard-learned lessons.
Her cancer diagnosis does inevitably come into it. She writes about her treatment at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, the scalp cooling system she used in an effort to keep her hair as she underwent chemotherapy and the process of ultimately cutting off her signature long locks and blunt bangs.
"I realized that even if I only had six months left — God forbid, God forbid — I loved my life too much to let the rest of my life be ruined by fear," she said of that time.
Beker has now been cancer-free for more than a year, but she's kept hold of the attitude that got her through treatment.
"Let's just look at life in the most positive light that we can, because we all do have that choice," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2024.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
