Secret Summers

LAUREL CANYON—Tara was my best friend. People always said our age difference didn't matter because I was wise beyond my years and she was chronologically beyond hers. We made a perfect pair! We were twins. We thrived doing girly things. We loved hiking, dieting, and fawning over adorable animals. We both had curly, waist-long hair that we sometimes put in 100...

BEVERLY HILLS—Why is it that men are ashamed of their internet movie addiction? Hint: I’m not talking about YouTube or Netflix. Why do some say the habit creates violence, rape, and even murder, yet some cannot live without it? What makes women so mad at their boyfriends for viewing it? What is it about the word pornography that makes everyone momentarily freeze? You...

BEL AIR—It started on a sunny afternoon in our Los Angeles home when I was four. My dad, brother and I went outside to play basketball. Mid-game, my dad took off his shirt. My brother, copying my dad to be as cool as him, took off his. Finally, to act cool like both of them, I took off mine. My...