Ginger Zee

OF ‘GOOD MORNING AMERICA’ AND ‘HEARTS OF HEROES’ ON ABC

Your second memoir – “A Little Closer to Home: How I Found the Calm After the Storm” – is being published Tuesday, Jan. 11. How did you decide on your approach to writing about aspects of your life that might surprise your “Good Morning America” audience, such as an early pregnancy, an abusive relationship and a suicide attempt?

I had to consistently think, “How does this become a story that helps someone? How does this go beyond being about just myself?” The beauty of doing “Natural Disaster: I Cover

Them. I Am One.” (Zee’s first book) was that I got to learn so fast, and

I’m hoping that with this book, I’ve been able to add more tools and more helpful hints about the healing process. You need the reality and you need the trauma to get to the point of giving people advice.

How did you come to the decision to do a second memoir?

The publisher asked me if I would write a follow-up, and the first intention was to do it for a younger audience. I started doing test groups, meeting with high-schoolers, and I was really impressed with where we’re at with mental health at a younger age because of the people I met. But I started thinking, “I don’t know if that’s the right book to write. I feel like there might be more for adults before getting to something like that. And I don’t even know if I’m even the right person to write that book.”

Then, there came the morning when we were replaying Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony (about alleged sexual misconduct against her) on “GMA” ... and in that moment, it hit me that not only did I have more stories to tell, but it probably was the most important part that had not yet been told. I’m so ready for it now.