We All Worry—Now What?
From cosmetics pioneer, medical trailblazer, and sexual assault survivor Victoria Jackson comes the seminal guide to rising from endless worry and rumination to a life of empowered action.
Victoria Jackson doesn’t look like a worrier. In one of the greatest American success stories of our times, she went from surviving a childhood riddled with constant worry and anxiety to bootstrapping a cosmetics empire. In 1989, Victoria Jackson Cosmetics became the first line to be sold on TV, and generated a billion in sales. Her trademark “No Makeup” makeup aesthetic revolutionized the beauty industry.
Victoria, who was brutally attacked by the Pillowcase Rapist when she was 17, was too shaken to finish high school. Still, she possessed the one credential that matters—a survival instinct. But alongside that bravery, she carried a painful secret. As she taught millions the power of mascara, she grappled with crippling anxiety, at one point so debilitating that she couldn’t function. What happened in 2008 only intensified the dread. Victoria and her husband, Bill, heard the shocking news that their daughter, then 14, had neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a rare, potentially fatal autoimmune disorder. She was given four years to live. Victoria’s purpose became clear: finding a cure for NMO. Driven by a mom’s fierce determination, she traded mascara for medicine and established the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation. Yet as she poured herself into that mission, she continued to battle a private anguish.
Now, for the first time during Victoria’s extraordinary rise in the business and medical-research worlds, she pulls back the curtain on the shame-filled reality she endured. In We All Worry, Now What?, she shares how she has navigated the path from overwhelming worry and other panic disorders to a life rich in courage and connection. The result is a five-part wellness journey to moving past self-sabotage and embracing freedom. “When we’re hit with an unimaginable crisis, how do we meet the moment?” Victoria writes. “Do we collapse in fear, or do we rise and act? How do we persevere against all odds? Those questions led me to write We All Worry, Now What?”
The book is structured around the Warrior Walk, five steps Victoria has taken to slow anxiety’s spiral and exit the rumination loop. The book’s sections are anchored with wisdom from luminaries including Gloria Steinem, Kris Jenner, Jane Fonda, Arianna Huffington, Jay Shetty, Sherry Lansing, Monica Lewinsky, Yogi Cameron, Aimée Mullins, and Maria Shriver. Throughout the narrative, readers will find real-world tools for navigating worry. The collection of voices, alongside a prescription that never preaches, make this book more than a traditional self-help volume. We All Worry, Now What? is a roadmap for awakening: to yourself, to a path of compassion, and to the life that becomes possible when we free ourselves from worry. “My journey is proof that we can separate ourselves from the panic,” Victoria says. “With the power of love and intention, anything is possible.”
Cosmetics entrepreneur, medical research trailblazer, and Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Victoria Jackson founded the global powerhouse brand Victoria Jackson Cosmetics. With her creation of the “No Makeup” makeup aesthetic, she irrevocably altered the beauty landscape and became the first person to market a cosmetics line on television. During her decade-long run on QVC, she developed more than six hundred products and generated a billion dollars in sales.
Then in 2008, when her young daughter was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder and given four years to live, the mother of three shifted her focus from mascara to medicine. She and her husband, Bill Guthy, founder of the marketing behemoth Guthy-Renker, established The Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation to fund research on NMO treatments and a cure. Victoria’s unrelenting determination proved effective: In 2016, the foundation developed the first NMO therapeutic, and soon after, three therapies received FDA approval. The unprecedented pace of that accomplishment prompted the American Academy of Neurology to declare 2019 “The Year of NMO.”
In recognition of Victoria’s unswerving dedication to the NMO community, as well as her foundation’s groundbreaking research, feminist icon Gloria Steinem inducted her into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2016. The following year at the Vatican, Victoria accepted the Pontifical Key Advocacy Award for her personal and visionary approach to advancing the understanding of NMO around the globe. She has authored four books, including The Power of Rare: A Blueprint for a Medical Revolution. In 2021, her entrepreneurial journey came full circle when she partnered with Ellen DeGeneres to launch Kind Science, a skincare line. Throughout the narrative, readers will find real-world tools for navigating worry.