Ione Skye on surrendering her past and forgiving herself

The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Kiedis through his drug addiction while she was still a teenager — a relationship she shudders at today.

The 1990s It girl was named for the Scottish island where she was conceived, before her enigmatic folk singer father, Donovan abandoned the family before she was born.

A string of stepfathers couldn’t remedy Ione's fundamental abandonment and she grew up surrounded by creative types who flowed freely through her mother’s house in Los Angeles.

Following her beloved older brother into the world of acting and modelling, Ione had an early start in Hollywood and it led her to a full, messy life in which she starred alongside the likes of River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and John Cusack.

When she was only a teenager, she began a relationship with Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who was addicted to heroin. 

This dysfunctional relationship led to Ione’s marriage to the first great love of her life, Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, and a period of time she describes as her 90s daydream.

This happy period devolved as Ione joyfully and remorsefully explored her bisexuality and the infidelity eventually ended the marriage.

Today Ione is happily married to Australian musician, Ben Lee and has two daughters.

Further information

Say Everything is published by HarperCollins.

Find out more about Ione Skye and Ben Lee’s creative project, Weirder Together.

Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

This episode of Conversations deals with absent fathers, epic life stories, personal stories, cheating, divorce, relationship breakdowns, inappropriate relationships, age gap relationships, intimacy, therapy, Hollywood, Ad-Rock, partying, substance abuse, modelling, child actors and acting.