Melissa King

Radio Cherry Bombe

Melissa King joins host Kerry Diamond to discuss her new memoir, The Girl Who Became King, detailing the six-year writing process and how it served as

Key takeaways

• King spent six years writing her memoir, fact-checking memories by interviewing family members like her sister and mother to piece together accurate timelines of past events.
• She describes two vastly different grandmothers: Sabrina, a free-spirited ballroom dancer who helped raise her, and Yang Yang, a controlling Shanghainese matriarch whose patriarchal expectations impacted family dynamics.

Main topics

• Memoir writing process and emotional healing
• Family dynamics and generational trauma

Notable quotes

"It took me six years to write because I was also juggling Cook Like a King, the cookbook, and I started getting writer's block along the way."

Conclusion

King's memoir offers an intimate look at healing through storytelling, blending personal

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:04) Hi, everybody. You're listening to Radio Cherry Bomb, and I'm your host, Carrie Diamond, coming to you from New Stand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City. Today's guest is one of our faves, Melissa King, top chef champ, cookbook author, activist, even a Cherry Bomb cover star. Melissa is back because she's written a memoir. The book took her six years plus a lifetime to write. The Girl Who Became King is out tomorrow, and Melissa is here today. to talk all about it. We discuss what it's like to share your family secrets and your own stories, her wildly different grandmothers being sequestered for Top Chef, her family's favorite celebration foods, and of course, her friendship with another Cherry Bomb fave, Padma Lakshmi. Stay tuned for our chat. A big thank you to everyone who joined us on the West Coast at Cherry Bomb Farmers and Makers in honor of 2026 being the International Year of the Female Farmer. What a gorgeous weekend. The team and I were thrilled to celebrate farmers and winemakers and entrepreneurs from the region. I met so many great folks and even got to interview California Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Ross. Be sure to check out our Instagram and Substack for highlights. Today's show is presented by Whole Foods Market. At Cherry Bomb, we're always inspired by great ingredients, thoughtful sourcing, and the people behind the food we love. That's why we're excited to partner. with Whole Foods Market. You Whole Foods fans out there know this, but Whole Foods Market is more than a grocery store. It's a destination for health and wellness. Their purpose is to nourish people and the planet, and that commitment comes through in everything they do, from supporting local makers, including so many founders and entrepreneurs in the bomb squad, to championing quality ingredients and responsible sourcing. I always discover something new when I shop at Whole Foods, whether it's a seasonal ingredient, an emerging food brand or a pantry staple that quickly becomes a favorite. Whole Foods Market believes that paying attention to how food is sourced, grown, and raised can make a positive impact on our communities and the world around us, a philosophy that really resonates with us here at Cherry Bomb. For more, visit Whole Foods Market or WholeFoodsMarket.com. Now, let's check in with today's guest. Melissa King, Speaker 3 (2:23) welcome back to Radio Speaker 2 (2:24) Cherry Bomb. Speaker 3 (2:25) Hi, Keri. Oh my God, it's so Speaker 2 (2:27) much fun Speaker 3 (2:27) seeing you. Same, same. It's Speaker 2 (2:29) always great to see you. You love it here in the studio or you love it in New York? Speaker 3 (2:33) I mean, all of the above, of Speaker 2 (2:35) course. New Speaker 3 (2:35) York has great energy, just one of the most inspiring cities in the world. Speaker 2 (2:40) It is. I saw you a few weeks ago. Have you been here the whole time? Yeah, I Speaker 3 (2:43) feel like we see each other more outside of work than in work. That might be true. Have I been here Speaker 2 (2:48) the whole time? Yes, I have. Speaker 3 (2:50) Been eating around, just... doing some Speaker 2 (2:52) press for the new book. Uh-huh. Speaker 3 (2:54) I can probably say I saw you at Speaker 2 (2:56) Padma's birthday party. Mm Speaker 3 (2:57) -hmm. That was a fun Speaker 2 (2:58) time. That was a fun time. We're Speaker 3 (2:59) on the Speaker 2 (2:59) dance floor, Speaker 3 (3:00) you know? We were. Speaker 2 (3:02) I don't know how much dancing I did, but I ate a lot. I was on the dance floor for sure. Were you? Oh, yeah. That was a good time. Food is always good at Padma's parties. Speaker 3 (3:10) Oh, the best. Sometimes she'll do, like, Indian food, and it's just all different types and buffet style. The Speaker 2 (3:17) funny thing about her parties is people always bring her food. That woman already has so much food. She Speaker 3 (3:22) has Speaker 2 (3:22) so much food in her house. Speaker 3 (3:24) She never has to leave home because there's Speaker 2 (3:26) just constantly food there. Never, ever. And I brought food. I brought a whole cake. She loves it. I mean, I knew there was – somebody must have thought about bringing cake. But this amazing young baker, Sahana, who has that company BakeAway, it's a line of bake mixes, she made me the most spectacular cake. And brought it to me that Friday at Cherry Bomb House. And I was like, oh, gosh, what am I going to do with a cake? And I was like, oh, wait, I'm going to a birthday party tonight. Perfect. It was perfect. Yes. So, Sahana, if you're listening, thank you so much for that cake. It was beautiful. Beautiful cake. Today's episode of Radio Cherry Bomb is brought to you by Kettle One Vodka. Let's take a little trip back in time. Picture Holland in 1691, when the Nolet family began distilling spirits. More than 330 years and 11 generations later, that family tradition continues with Kettle One Vodka. Kettle One wasn't created to be just another vodka. When it was introduced in 1983, the family had a simple goal. Create a vodka that would make cocktails even better. Inspired by the classic martini, they crafted a crisp, smooth vodka designed to complement a cocktail. Never compete with it. Whether your go-to is a perfectly chilled martini, the always iconic Cosmo, or a signature drink you created, Kettle One is made with cocktails in mind. And if you're looking to branch out, there's Kettle One Citron with bright citrus notes and Kettle One Botanical and fresh flavors like grapefruit and rose. and peach and orange blossom. Need a little cocktail inspo? Visit KettleOne.com for classic recipes, modern twists, and more. And as always, you must be 21 to drink. Please enjoy responsibly. We have so much to talk about. I don't even know where to begin. I have lots of notes. You wrote a memoir. I did. You are the last person I would have thought would write a memoir. Oh, same. I thought the same. And we'll talk about that in a second. But in my brain, you are a public-private person or a private-public person, whichever order makes sense. Speaker 3 (5:29) Do Speaker 2 (5:29) you see yourself that way? Speaker 3 (5:31) I do. I like to maintain parts of my privacy. I think it's important to, you know, kind of have something for yourself. But at the same time, I love vulnerability. I'm like, I'm going to just, especially with the memoir, I really felt it was important to be honest and transparent with the life that I've lived. The Girl Who Became King takes you on that journey. Speaker 2 (5:51) So Speaker 3 (5:52) a lot of the Melissa Speaker 2 (5:53) mystery. Speaker 3 (5:54) Oh, yeah. You'll get to know me a lot Speaker 2 (5:57) more. in this book compared to the cookbook. I did, even though I've interviewed you so many times for our cover. You were one of our cover stars. You've been on the podcast a few times. I learned a lot about you in this, and it's a great book. Speaker 3 (6:11) Thank you. Speaker 2 (6:12) I Speaker 3 (6:12) wrote it all. Speaker 2 (6:13) I Speaker 3 (6:13) wrote every single word. It was Speaker 2 (6:14) wild. Oh, you know, sometimes you think people have to have these, like, huge dramatic lives, and you've definitely had dramatic things happen to you, especially with your Top Chef win. But I was so curious. how you're going to approach the memoir. But it's a beautiful book, Melissa. So congratulations. Thank Speaker 3 (6:31) you. It took me six years to write because I was also juggling Cook Like a King, the cookbook, and I started getting writer's block along the way. And it was a whole process. But I like to say it also took my whole life to write because it truly, you know, I'm starting from the beginning. And you'll kind of start with stories of me as a little kid at five years old. waving a little Chinese meat cleaver around and wanting to be a chef. But I think for a long time, I felt like everyone was against me in that dream. So I think the beautiful thing with the book is you see the arc. You see sort of the drive and the ambition to follow your heart and really embrace every part of my identity and who I am. So, yeah, it was really special. It felt like I was doing six years of therapy, like just straight therapy. In the Speaker 2 (7:23) acknowledgments, you mentioned your therapist. You worked with your therapist a lot in the writing of this book. Speaker 3 (7:28) Yeah. I mean, I think it was important for me to do, you know, weekly check-ins with my therapist as I was writing it because so many memories were coming up that I literally, you know, I would wake up in the middle of the night and voice note myself and say, OK, remember to write about this memory. Things would just come as I was going through the process of writing this. Speaker 2 (7:50) Did you unlock things you had forgotten? Speaker 3 (7:52) Certainly, yeah. You know, even thinking about my younger years and my parents' divorce, there were things I couldn't fully remember. And I don't know if that's like, you know, trauma that blocks it out or what it is, but I had to interview like everyone in my family and kind of piece things together of what. was, you know, as close to factual as possible. Tell me how that works. So you literally interviewed people in your life. I interviewed my sister, my mom. I was like, wait, is this what happened? And like, how old were we? Just to kind of fact check, because a part of me started to question my own memory. Like, is this accurate? Or did this really happen to us? And so there was a lot of that throughout. Speaker 2 (8:35) You write about an interesting thing that happened during Top Chef. When your mom came on the show, it was the season that you won. Speaker 3 (8:44) And Speaker 2 (8:45) if you didn't know, Melissa won Top Chef. Sorry, spoiler alert. Because a lot of people go back and rewatch that show. They watch all seasons of that show. It's amazing. But your mom was on an episode and you wound up talking about your dad. And your dad did not know that your mom was even on the show or that you were going to talk about him. And obviously, you're not shown what the producers. turn the interviews into. So it was kind of a surprise for you as well. Speaker 3 (9:09) Absolutely. And Speaker 2 (9:10) I was wondering, because your dad did not react well to discovering that episode, did that impact you when you were working on the memoir? Were you worried about telling your family stories? Speaker 3 (9:21) Certainly. I think as I was going through the journey of this book, I really had to be quite mindful of knowing that certain family members are still around and they're going to be reading this. And they're people that I love dearly, and I want to, in a way, you know, be honest about the story, but also show some compassion for all of us through the process. This book doesn't just focus on my life. It really tells my parents' lives and also my grandparents' lives. Multiple generations. Yeah, I wanted to really include the generational trauma through and through in this book because I felt it's so important to understand the family that I come from and sort of the cultural layers and expectations and pressures that kind of get passed down in order for the reader to kind of know more about me and where I come from and who I am. And so, yeah, it was a balancing act, really, emotionally, having to kind of, you know, like, how much do I include? And I'm proud of what I wrote. Speaker 2 (10:27) But it was a Speaker 3 (10:28) journey. Speaker 2 (10:30) It's always funny when I do an interview about a memoir or even a cookbook. Like I interviewed Olivia Tiedemann a few weeks ago, who's a private chef and who's got that great social media following. And I felt like her cookbook was so unique that it was almost like a movie and I didn't want to do spoiler alerts. So I'm not going to reveal too much. I feel I'm not going to reveal too much about the book because I want you all to go out and buy it. But there are definitely. some things we could talk about that won't give away anything. Did you feel like you had to ask your family for permission to write this book? Not entirely. I think Speaker 3 (11:04) for myself, it was important to write it. I know what they can handle. So I think that was something that I had to really be mindful of. But I ultimately shared it with them before it went to print to make sure everyone kind of felt. you know, good about it or had processed whatever feelings that might have come up. But I also wrote... Did they Speaker 2 (11:26) take out their markers and their highlighters and go at it? Speaker 3 (11:29) You know, it was very well received within my family. A lot of tears, a lot of crying, a lot of emotions of just reliving some of these memories. And I had to really preface it with, you know, this is our past and it's not... where we are today. And where we are today, I'm very proud of the family that I've come from. I'm proud of, you know, where we are in our relationship. Yeah, it was a gentle kind of process to kind of approach that with my family. But ultimately, everyone was so great with it. My mom's read it like three or four times. My sister and my father definitely cried a lot through it. And so I wanted it to be something that in a way even heals my own family because I think as Asian Americans, we don't talk about our feelings. We don't talk about a lot of our past. And, you know, my parents, there were so many things I never