Co-Author of Tom Sizemore Memoir Says 'He's No Saint' But 'Incredibly Misunderstood'

Tom Sizemore, now sober after a long struggle with drug addiction, has signed a deal with Atria Books to write a Hollywood memoir about his gritty past and path to redemption.

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Sizemore, known for his roles in such films as Natural Born Killers and Saving Private Ryan (as well as a stint on Celebrity Rehab), saw his acting career sidelined by a crippling addiction to heroin that eventually landed him in jail. He'll write about that, and more, with co-author Anna David in the book, scheduled for release in 2013.

"He's a total softie who cries openly, he reads constantly and can quote books I'm too intimidated to even consider reading," David told The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive statement. "He fought with his manager to make sure I got paid more than we'd agreed to after the deal was signed because he liked the proposal so much. All that being said, I know he's no saint: I'm all too familiar with the trouble he's gotten into and I've seen him lose his temper. I just think he's incredibly misunderstood."

David, an editor at the addiction-and-recover website The Fix, said the 50-year-old actor approached her to co-write his memoirs. "He's also really funny. I wouldn't always realize it at the time because he talks fast and mumbles sometimes, and I was always so focused on what I wanted him to talk about. But later, when I'd read the transcripts for the proposal I'd laugh. The transcriber agrees with me that he's shockingly funny," she observed.

Sizemore's personal and professional lives hit a road bump in 2003, when the actor -- heavily addicted to drugs -- was convicted of assault and battery against his then-girlfriend, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss. (The exes later appeared together on VH1's Celebrity Rehab last year.) He did time in jail for drug convictions in 2005 and 2009.

"I should have been dead many times over and honestly, I didn't know that I was going to come back from the bottom I dropped to," he said in a statement. "The fact that I'm now sober over two years -- and that I'm acting as much as I did before—proves that people can overcome obstacles even when they're sure they can't. I hope that this book can inspire other people to never give up."