It seems as if everyone is attempting to make a dollar on a celebrity nowadays. From websites like Perez Hilton that update you on the latest celebrity scandal, TMZ detailing play-by-play moments in celebrities’ lives, to the standard gossip weeklies at the supermarket, a recent trend in light reading is unauthorized biographies which offer an even closer look into the private lives of celebrities. With the attached label of “unauthorized” lending a juicier edge, these tell-all tales from those close to the subjects, and at times even family members, guarantee that avid fans of celebrity gossip will be grabbing these intimate profiles and curling up for a pool-side read:

Life With My Sister Madonna
Written from the perspective of her own estranged brother, this new tell-all biography already sounds like a celebrity rag reader’s dream. In addition to being her sibling, Christopher Ciccone was once a close confidant who worked for Madonna for many years. Speculation of Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s divorce has made the release of this book even more timely, as the book details matters regarding the couple’s relationship, as well as the demise of her relationship with her own brother. Throughout the book, Ciccone reveals many aspects of Madonna’s failed relationships, including the fact that Ritchie is homophobic and not comfortable around him or any of Madonna’s gay friends, that Warren Beatty was so paranoid Madonna was cheating on him that he had her trash searched, and that she labeled Sean Penn as a “paranoid control freak.” While Madonna has not read her brother’s book, Madonna’s publicist has already commented that she is deeply upset by its release, which guarantees popularity with the public.

Kate Moss
Written by French journalist Francoise-Marie Santucci, this biography covers 24 years of the model’s career with anecdotes from sources close to Kate Moss as well as archived materials, though Moss refused an interview with the journalist due to the book’s unauthorized status. Dubbing her “Snow White for the modern age,” the book talks of Kate’s troubled relationship with cocaine and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Pete Doherty, and also makes a comment on her experiences in the fashion industry. While it is currently released in France (not yet available in the U.S.), Moss is not making any statements regarding the book.

Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
From childhood to Scientology fanaticism, writer Andrew Morton covers Tom Cruise’s entire life in this unauthorized biography. Morton stated that Cruise’s famous Oprah couch-jumping incident instigated his interest to write a book about the actor. Making claims from Cruise being the “number two” of the Scientology Church, his child Suri being speculated by Scientologists as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, and that the founder of Scientology required Katie Holmes to audition to be Cruise’s girlfriend (beating out other starlets including Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johannsson, and Kate Bosworth). Tom Cruise, An Unauthorized Biography hit number one in sales on Amazon.com in just three days after its release and has already become number one on The New York Times Bestsellers List just one week of being published.

Rollin' With Dre: The Unauthorized Account
Dr. Dre’s right-hand man Bruce Williams gives a first hand account of the trials and tribulations of the West Coast hip-hop scene through Tupac Shakur’s rise and fall, the West and East Coast feud, and Dre’s launching of Eminem, 50 Cent, and The Game's careers. Other personal accounts also detail Dr Dre’s reconciliation with Eazy E before his passing, Dre’s departure from The Row (formally know as Death Row Records), and his development of his co-owned label. As a bona fide insider, who artists would look to as both a friend and a problem solver, Williams provides a closer look into a scene that took him in as a confidant, who fondly nicknamed him “Uncle Bruce."

Marilyn Manson: The Unauthorized Biography
From Marilyn Manson’s beginnings in Southern Florida with his band The Spooky Kids to the immediate success in the '90s with his controversial breakout album Antichrist Superstar, this unauthorized biography documents the formation, early gigs, and Christian conservatives' backlash of Manson's music and image. The book covers Manson's struggle with censorship and accusations of being an influence on Columbine shootings as not hindering the band, but pushing them to promote art and individuality, as Marilyn Manson still releases critically-acclaimed music while waging a war against conservative protesters to this day.

The Unsinkable Heather Mills: An Unauthorized Biography of a Great Pretender
The latest media obsession seems to be celebrity divorces and the dirty laundry that goes with them. Ex-wife of The Beatles' Paul McCartney, Heather Mills' life is portrayed as a life of triumph, tragedy, and pain. It’s hard not to question the claim of the book being unauthorized, due to its melodramatic nature, but Neil Simpson paints Mills' life through dozens of interviews and testimonies. Her life’s events, besides her very publicized divorce, includes a chaotic childhood of protecting siblings from a dysfunctional parent, being a homeless teenager in the circus, and rising from tragedy by learning to walk again after being run over by a police officer. The book even brings its subject's difficult struggle with the media, who have accused her of being everything from a prostitute, to a lesbian, and a liar.