Life, Love & Her Latest Project: HERSELF

Her new book, I'll Have What She's Having, follows the candid comedian's path to choosing happiness, "even when it doesn't choose me." On the eve of her 50th birthday, she lets Us in on her secrets

- CARLA SOSENKO

“I’m hard on myself because I always want to excel at what I’m doing,” Handler tells Us. “I don’t ever want to be someone who didn’t care.”

Chelsea Handler has been working her entire life. Her first gig, at age 10, was running a lemonade stand she spiked her product, and the business did gangbusters. Then she moved on to childcare, babysitting a boy four years older than she was. As an adult, her tenacity and quest for financial independence brought an onslaught of jobs, including shows from the 200204 hidden-camera blast Girls Behaving Badly to the 2007-14 talker Chelsea Lately; six New York Times bestsellers; a podcast; and multiple standup specials. She never stops hustling. And for the past decade, she's been just as diligent in her private life, working hard on herself.

Handler’s comedy has given her a reputation: brash, direct, sometimes maybe even obnoxious. But her seventh collection of essays, I’ll Have What She’s Having — which arrives on her 50th birthday, Feb. 25 — reveals that the newest, truest version of Handler is kind, generous and seeking. “You want to get rid of the bad behavior that’s hurtful to others or hurtful to yourself, and also adopt this new version of you,” she tells Us of her evolution. “I don’t want to lose all the edge I was naturally born with — that’s who I am — so it’s a bit of Whack-a-Mole. You’re like, OK, I’m auditioning different versions of myself, seeing which ones make the most sense for this improved version of me.” She talks to Us about becoming the best Chelsea she can be — and having all the fun doing it.

You recently said you’re tired of people asking how it feels to be turning 50. It’s like they expect you to be depressed, because they think being a woman of a certain age — especially one who’s single and child-free — is the ultimate disaster.