Guy Branum reveals why Chelsea Handler was the best boss: 'She wasn't just financially generous'

Before he’d written for shows like Awkward and The Mindy Project, Guy Branum was a panelist on Chelsea Handler’s long-running E! series Chelsea Lately.

As the comedian-actor, 42, reveals in his new memoir My Life as a Goddess, Handler was a “generous” boss who really “saw” Branum, and gave him the opportunity to shine on a bigger stage. She’d also throw around $100 bills for staffers under the age of 30, recognizing the need to provide a little support. “She wasn’t just financially generous,” Branum says. “She was a level of emotionally aware that I’d never experienced in a male boss.”

Branum tells his life story in My Life as a Goddess, an alternately inspiring, hilarious, and deeply touching book about his coming-of-age as an overweight gay man, and his struggles to break out in popular culture amid discrimination and feelings of self-doubt. As the official synopsis teases: “Guy talks about finding a sense of belonging at Berkeley — and stirring up controversy in a newspaper column that led to a run‑in with the Secret Service. He recounts the pitfalls of being typecast as the ‘Sassy Gay Friend,’ and how, after taking a wrong turn in life (i.e. law school), he found stand‑up comedy and artistic freedom. He analyzes society’s calculated deprivation of personhood from fat people, and how, though it’s taken him a while to accept who he is, he has learned that with a little patience and a lot of humor, self-acceptance is possible.”

The author has exclusively shared an audio excerpt, in which he talks about his time on Chelsea Lately, with EW, which you can listen to below.

In addition, you can check out an exclusive interview with Branum below. Purchase your copy of My Life as a Goddess (out today) here (hardcover) and here (audiobook).