Gay author Rupert Smith got his journalistic start interviewing celebrities and writing about show business. Unsatisfied - and somewhat disgusted - with the glitz, glamor and lies, Smith retreated from the celluloid circuit.

He may have given up chopping up bigwigs, but the author didn't leave it all behind. In his novel, I Must Confess, Smith offers a hilarious send-up of celebrity memoirs, homosexuality in Hollywood and inflated egos.

Though publishing in Britain back in 1998, I Must Confess has just made its US debut. We dispatched Paul Florez to pick Smith's brain.

Read what Smith had to say about celebrity culture, coming out, Jodie Foster and why the main character's voice came so easily…

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