Jimmy El Chamouri

Skinned Down Jimmy El Chamouri

At just fifteen years old, Jimmy returned home from school to find an incomprehensible tragedy. Abruptly, he and his siblings were orphaned, left without their loving mother and grandmother by the selfish actions of his estranged father. Amidst very public media coverage of the incident, Jimmy took refuge in the shadows of life as he grew up. Through this early part of his life, not only was he avoiding conversations about his family, he was also hiding his identity as a gay man enveloped in the restraints that his Lebanese culture placed on him. Although, for a long time he was a closed book regarding all aspects of his private life and about what really happened during the family tragedy, Jimmy always had a dream in mind to write his own story. He is now finally free and ready to set the record straight once and for all with the intention of helping others in similar situations overcome their obstacles just as he did. In this gripping memoir, Jimmy, vulnerably opens about all the shadows he once resigned to live with. He has taken his walls down and his shell off and has completely skinned down to nothing but the raw truth.