Author Nikki Nash Talks ‘Collateral Stardust’ One Year Later

While author Nikki Nash spent her earlier life chasing Warren Beatty, it was only a little over a year ago that she published her stories for book lovers everywhere. Collateral Stardust: Chasing Warren Beatty and Other Foolish Things is a memoir driven by Nash’s young obsession with Beatty as she recounts celebrity-filled memories from her time growing up.

Nash had several stories to tell, and she knew they needed to be intertwined by her earliest, silliest obsession— Warren Beatty. And while her pursuit of Beatty was successful, it’s the other stories that speak to Nash’s life in a way nothing else (except her paintings) could. As a result of saying yes to everything — from going skydiving to joining the Directors Guild — Nash shared a life full of firsts with her readers. She now reflects on her memoir Collateral Stardust a year after it officially hit shelves.

“I didn’t want it to be like a kiss and tell or look at me or aren’t I fabulous,” Nash said. “I knew the other stories; the only way it could all tie together is if I went into the pain underneath all the seeking; it couldn’t just be, here’s another funny story. It had to be like the evolution of my own character and leading to freedom.”

We sat down with Nash to discuss how she feels a year later, having shared her life stories with the world and what went into structuring the timeline of the book.

Putting It All on Paper

The idea for the book sat with Nash for about 10 years before she decided to go for it. It wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic, when she lost some of her hearing and her job with Conan ended, that she started to put it together. She set a goal of 200 words a day.

“I mostly just wrote all my stories down. Skydiving, the Warren, stalking Robert Hayes, Jesus, the nun’s habit to buy liquor, Dennis Miller, Frank Sinatra, I just put them all down,” Nash said.

We learn early on in the book that Nash has all of her dad’s date books from his time as a musician. She learned from this to keep track of everything she did, which she referenced during the writing process. One of the first stories Nash wrote for the book was when she tried to sell her grandmother’s ring. Nash thinks she’s meeting with a buyer who is actually investigating stolen goods.

She chose an early family memory as the starting point of her memoir, showing the pivotal moment when she developed her obsession with Beatty. Nash introduces her complicated relationship with her mother and father, woven through several chapters.

“I decided I wasn’t going to get the love in the household as obviously as I thought I should. So that’s all right. I’ll put it off on him [Warren Beatty] for some future date when it’ll all be fabulous,” said Nash. “And it’s that future date way of living that I think.”

Apart from the Beatty arc, another large portion of the book follows Nash’s own growth and her enlightenment about her mother.

“… Her pain, her being stuck in her age when that’s what you did. She envied my life,” Nash said. “I didn’t want to make it a mother book, but that happened organically as I wrote the book.”

And while the book offers readers silly stories about crabs, Jesus, skydiving, and nun habits, Nash’s life was filled with much more. Her battles with alcohol, drugs, depression, and eating disorders sit at the forefront of her pivotal journey from start to finish in the book. The memoir moves from childhood obsession to Nash realizing she only needs to be herself by the end.

“At fourteen, when I’d chosen Warren to give my life meaning, I’d chosen wisely, as Warren’s apparent lack of actual investment gave me the freedom to get what I needed from him— with no fear of loss. It was like a nearly fifty-year course in becoming myself,” Nash said in Chapter 27.

The Freedom of Collateral Stardust

According to Nash, only a few people said no when it came to using their real names. Others were fine with being in the book, including Robert Hayes, who Nash is still friends with. And Beatty eventually gave the green light after Nash dropped by his house with a copy.

Even after a year, Nash wouldn’t change a thing about Collateral Stardust. She describes the reactions she’s received as “heartwarming” from many who felt comforted by the book.

And it is, truly, a comforting book. Nash’s ability to draw the reader in with humor while discussing vulnerable pieces of her life — family, eating disorders, drug addiction, death, religion, and sex — lets the reader know that many struggles not talked about in their own lives are actually completely normal.

“I’ve always been pretty funny and friendly, but sort of distant in a way. Protective. Polishing it up for other people. I presented a little protective of my faults,” Nash said. “Not only is that exhausting for me, but it gets lonely. Writing this completely eliminated that. It somehow reconciled all my disparate parts.”

“This is who I am. It’s been a wonderful growth for me at this age to feel freedom.”

In Nash’s eyes, her pursuit of becoming an actress was also a way to get love and attention. It was this goal that led her to work on the Oscars, join the Directors Guild, work on a sitcom with Rob Lowe, meet Warren Beatty, Mary Hartman, try stand-up comedy, and more. But now, many years later, each job, person, and piece of Nash’s story made her the strong woman she is today.

“By the time I got to the age when I wrote the book, I could see it. I could see, ‘Yes, I am strong. I’m a hard worker,'” said Nash. “And I’m coming from a place where I don’t need approval for any of these things. I just think they’re silly now. So here they are. And in a way, without trying to be didactic, it was like, yeah, we can survive anything.”

Nash’s Top 3 Reads

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

The Future by Naomi Alderman

What Readers Can Expect Next

Nash is currently a little over 250 pages into her next book, and unlike Collateral Stardust, it is completely fiction.

“Nobody cares what I write; nobody is waiting for me to do anything grand, [so] I might as well just have fun with it,” said Nash.

And that’s exactly what she’s doing. She chose all the things she loves — cults, multi-level marketing, and mentalists to name a few — and packed them into one fun story. Visit Nash’s website for updates.

Readers can get Collateral Stardust: Chasing Warren Beatty and Other Foolish Things at Barnes & Noble.

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