Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey are giving The L Word fans the tea on all the talking, laughing, loving, and breathing that has taken place behind the curtain.
So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family, & The Show That Started It All will be released by St. Martin’s Publishing Group and will hit the shelves on June 3, 2025.
The book promises to delve into Moennig and Hailey’s “real-life loves and losses and their status as queer icons.” But don’t worry- there will also be plenty of L Word reminiscing and some “never-before-shared glimpses into the making” of the Showtime series.
Since The L Word ended its run in 2009, Moennig and Hailey have remained close friends. The two currently host the PANTS podcast, where their real-life friendship is on display as they recap the iconic show and talk about their day-to-day.
Their upcoming book will be a “love letter to a life-defining friendship over the decades and [follow] Kate and Leisha’s unlikely and extremely entertaining journey stumbling from closeted queer kids to LGBTQ+ activists to successful actresses, podcasters, and business owners.”
In an exclusive excerpt published by People, Moennig and Hailey reveal the hilarious story that started it all: The L Word casting. In this 20-year old flashback, Moennig recalls being presented with the role of Shane McCutcheon, who was described as “a womanizing serial monogamist” in the character breakdown. We know now that no one else could have embodied Shane more than Moennig, who breathed life into the character. But, at the time, she was not so sure. Even when she got the call to come out to LA and screen test for studio executives, she remembers not wanting to get her hopes up.
Who else did she run into but Hailey, who was also auditioning for the same role. From her perspective, Hailey remembers sitting next to “a drop-dead gorgeous creature with the plumpest cherry red lips” who “looked like Mick Jagger,” a pretty apt description of Moennig. The two future bffs and “major homos” sat together in a room full of Jenny wannabes with no idea what the future would hold.
“This book has been a very special project for us this past year- and in some ways, for the past two decades,” the two wrote in a shared Instagram post. “…We chose to write a shared memoir, because with PANTS you can’t have one leg without the other.”
The book is available for preorder now and signed copies will be available at Skylight Books.
