I HID MY SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION FROM MY KIDS

The hilarious and brutally honest author, mom and actress comes clean about her weakness for online adoration

INTOUCH with...JENNY MOLLEN

Jenny Mollen's latest book, City of Likes, is a work of fiction. But the novel, which centers around Meg, a mom of two who moves to NYC and becomes seduced by a glamorous group of momfluencers led by Daphne, was inspired by Jenny's own experience. In 2015, the 43-year-old and her husband of 14 years, actor Jason Biggs (they share Sid, 8, and Lazlo, 4), left LA for the Big Apple, where Jenny says that because of her sizable Instagram following, she was courted by baby brands and invited to "underground mommy supper clubs."Soon, she realized she was addicted to the buzz she got from social media. "I would go into my bathroom at night and start scrolling," she admits. "It was this dirty secret. I don't want my kids to know what Instagram is, and I was hiding my phone from them like it was a cigarette." Here, the bestselling author of I Like You Just the Way I Am and Live Fast Die Hot chats with In Touch's Fortune Benatar about art imitating life, why LA made her "a psychopath" and her favorite Housewives.

What inspired you to write this book?