Linda Richman

Born in the Bronx, New York, she was raised by a well-meaning but depressed mother and a loving father. When she was eight years old, her father was struck and killed by a car. Told by her mother only that he had "gone away", she didn't learn of his death until age 14.

Leaving one dysfunctional family for another, Linda married at age 19 and, during her 30-year marriage, gave birth to two children. Shortly after her children were born she developed agoraphobia and was housebound for a staggering 11 years.

At 47, Linda, newly divorced, started her own casting agency, which she operated, at first, out of a telephone booth in a Manhattan office building. The company, Hidden Talents, went on to great success finding real people to appear in television commercials.

Just as she was flourishing both professionally and personally, life dealt Linda a devastating blow, when her son Jordan was killed in a car crash. From that day forward, she embarked on a search for a meaning to her life and to learn how to laugh again. Her journey, aided by her irrepressible sense of humor brought her to the Canyon Ranch in Tucson, AZ, where she gave lectures and taught seminars for people dealing with loss and grief.

Her bestselling book I'D RATHER LAUGH: How to Be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans for You, was featured in Newsweek, The New York Times, Glamour, Good Housekeeping and many other publications. She has appeared on Oprah, Rosie, The Today Show, The Early Show, CNN, Entertainment Tonight and hundreds of radio shows across the country. Her column, "What Can I Tell You", ran monthly in Rosie Magazine.

A certified grief counselor, Linda currently lectures nationwide on the healing power of laughter and is working on her next book.