By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
Nothing was going to stop Dena Voorhees from seeing Molly Ringwald in Princeton on Friday night she even rescheduled her husband’s 51st birthday dinner to be there.
”We need to talk,” said Ms. Ringwald with laugh, causing the packed audience to crack up.
Ms. Voorhees, of Hamilton, was just one of the many Molly Ringwald fans who sat in the public library’s community room on Sept. 14. Women made up the majority of the audience and like Ms. Voorhees, grew up idolizing Ms. Ringwald.
From kissing Jake Ryan in “Breakfast Club” to forking over her underpants in “Sixteen Candles,” Ms. Ringwald captivated her fans back in her Brat Pack days and hasn’t let go since.
”This is just such a big deal to me, I have been a fan since the 1980s,” said Ms. Voorhees. “It’s nice to see how well she matured and how well rounded she is.”
Many know Ms. Ringwald as an actress, some are familiar with her as a singer for the Fulton Street Jazz Band but on Friday, everyone met Ms. Ringwald, the author.
Ms. Ringwald came to the library to talk about her first work of fiction “When it Happens to You,” a book about different forms of betrayal, sliced into separate stories that all link back to the central plot: a marriage in crisis.
She stood at the podium in a simple navy blue dress. Her signature fiery orange hair, now a much more tame red, pulled back from her face. In a quiet voice, she apologized for being late due to traffic. “It was to die,” she added, generating giggles from the crowd.
Ms. Ringwald then put on a pair of black rimmed glasses and began reading an excerpt from her book called “My Olivia,” where a mother betrays her transgender child. Many of the attendees grabbed their book copies and read along with Ms. Ringwald, others listened and watched.
After the reading, Ms. Ringwald held a brief question and answer session from the audience.
The audience found out that Ms. Ringwald had been a fiction writer before her acting career, but that her acting days had hindered her from publishing anything.
”Once I became an actress, it sort of seemed like that was all anyone would allow me to do. Then I turned 40,” she added with a laugh. “And I realized I didn’t really care what anyone thought and I was just going to do what I wanted.”
And one of the things she wanted was to show her writing to the world.
While Ms. Ringwald was writing this book, she hinted she worked on it from three places: a writer’s room with fellow frustrated authors, on film sets during her down time and in her house. For her the hardest part was actually sitting down in the seat and putting pen to paper, so to speak.
But she doesn’t stay in that seat for very long, due to a rule created by her husband, who is also a writer and editor.
”Two hours or 500 words whichever comes first,” said Ms. Ringwald. “To me, anybody that says you have to sit there and write for more than two hours is like a life sentence.”
Ms. Ringwald was originally going to write a collection of short stories, but after her first story ended at 11,000 words, she decided to make it a novel, in multiple stories, with more complex characters. Throughout the process, she found her characters continually surprising her, often changing her plans.
”In ‘My Olivia’ my character said something and the story was over. How did that happen? My character just told me the story was over,” said Ms. Ringwald. “I really feel like they were speaking to me.”
These characters have also stayed with Ms. Ringwald and have her thinking about adapting the book into a movie. While the opportunity to direct her own adaptation has her mind on who she would cast, she is also considering writing a different novel.
”It remains to be seen if the novel wins out. I doubt I’ll be able to do both at the same time,” said Ms. Ringwald. “I can do a lot, but I don’t think I can get away with that.”
Ms. Ringwald also divulged that she has not read a review of her work since age 19, informed the audience her jazz album will be released in February and described “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn as “literary crack.”
However, it was J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” she said was the first book she felt was written for her just like how her movies did and continue to speak to generations of teenagers.
”The films not only spoke to my generation, but subsequent generations I think it’s very much like J.D. Salinger and his books,” said Ms. Ringwald. “They really stood the test of time.”
But those films might have never existed if Ms. Ringwald grew up in a world obsessed by the Internet, Facebook and Twitter a factor she said would have made her parents say ‘no’ to an early acting career.
”I think if I was growing up in the environment that actors have to go through today, they would not allow me to do it,” she said. “It’s just dangerous now and not many people survive teen stardom I consider myself to be a survivor.”
While Princeton was excited to have Ms. Ringwald for the evening, she was equally excited to finally arrive a visit she’s been meaning to make since the 1990s when former Princeton University professor Toni Morrison invited the young star to audit her class.
”I wasn’t able to make it because I got a job and it’s always been one of my greatest regrets,” said Ms. Ringwald. “But she was so warmhearted she wasn’t someone who said ‘you can’t do that, you’re an actor’ so I finally made it.”

