About the Author
1.Rhonda Byrne by
Jack Canfield, Co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series
I
first met Rhonda Byrne in July 2005, when she asked if she could
bring her film crew to a meeting of the Transformational Leadership
Council and interview our members for a movie she was creating
called The Secret. For four days she and her crew filmed during the
day and socialized with us at night. I was struck by her energy. She
seemed to be in a constant state of bliss, of childlike wonder.
As I got to know her, Byrne, 50, seemed to always be in that state.
Even when she ran out of film, when the money to complete the next
phase of the project hadn't yet materialized or when her original TV
distribution deal fell through, to her it was always "perfect." She
radiated a confidence and a trust that it was all being handled
perfectly by the universe. Obstacles that would defeat most people
didn't seem to daunt her. She just kept moving forward in joyous
faith that it would all work out. What I didn't realize at the time
was that the way she was living her life and approaching her work
was teaching me even more about how to live in harmony with her Law
of Attraction than her movie or book.
I am often asked why The Secret has been such a phenomenon�more than
2 million DVDs sold in a year and almost 4 million books in less
than six months. It is primarily because Byrne's love and joy
permeate every frame and every page. Her intention was pure and
simple�to uplift as much of humanity as she could reach, and so far
she has reached millions. And I believe she has only just begun.
2. The Secret life of Rhonda -
Colin Vickery, 17 January 2007
AUSSIE television producer Rhonda Byrne's emotional breakdown in
2004 has led to the biggest success of her career.
Telemovie The Secret has become a worldwide internet phenomenon and
a best-selling book in the US. In recent weeks, it has been the main
topic of two American TV shows, Larry King Live and The Ellen
DeGeneres Show.
Byrne is the brains behind World's Greatest Commercials, Marry Me
and Sensing Murder, but that didn't stop her life falling apart two
years ago. The death of her father, Ronald, in 2004 was the first of
a chain of events that took Byrne to breaking point.
The production of the six-part true crime series Sensing Murder,
hosted by Rebecca Gibney, was plagued with troubles and the chilling
subject matter left Byrne deeply depressed. The gruelling schedule
left no time for friendships and it splintered relations with her
production team. "One day I woke up and received one phone call
after another reflecting the disintegration of relationships with my
team and my friends," Byrne says. "Then my accountant called and
told me we'd run such a loss that year I'd be broke in a month, and
we still had two films to complete. "As if that wasn't enough,
I got a phone call from my mother who said she didn't want to go on
living. She missed my father so much that every day was unbearable.
I understood, but I couldn't bear the thought of her not being
there."
Byrne, sobbing, retreated to an outside balcony at her home. Her
daughter, Hailey, then 24, saw her mother was distressed and asked
what was wrong. When Byrne listed everything, she got a surprising
response. "She just said to me, 'It will be OK'. Then she
disappeared and came back with a bundle of photocopied paper with a
bulldog clip on it and said, 'Read this'." Hailey had given her
mother a copy of The Science of Getting Rich, a 1910 book by Wallace
Wattles. Wattles believed people could shape their thoughts and use
the law of attraction to turn their lives around. People's thoughts
were like magnets: bad thoughts created bad situations; good
thoughts created prosperity.
"It lit a fire in me," Byrne says. "It was exactly the opposite of
the way I thought life worked."
She spent the next 2 1/2 weeks tracing Wattles' philosophy,
discovering that its roots lay in 3000BC. And she realised she had
to make a TV show project about it. Channel 9 came on board and
Byrne went to the US to interview more than 50 teachers and
philosophers who shared a belief in the power of personal thoughts,
visualisation and the law of attraction. Byrne envisaged a worldwide
screening of The Secret, but that didn't happen - it still hasn't
been shown in Australia. Instead, it has gained worldwide notoriety
through video-streaming on the internet.
"Something incredible happened because it was available only
online," Byrne says. "It has become a phenomenon through word of
mouth. People love it and want to share it with their friends and
family. "I've heard of people having screening parties of The Secret
in their homes with more than 80 others.
"I've had emails from people with diseases disappearing from their
body; chronic pain for 20 years disappearing; people who have
attracted the perfect person in their lives; and people who have
used it to get a promotion. "Children who were clinically depressed
have watched it and been taken off drugs."
Now Byrne realises that her breakdown happened for a reason.
"I was trying to change things on the outside and you can't," she
says. "You've got to feel it on the inside and everything else will
change." The Secret can be seen at
www.thesecret.tv
and will screen on Nine this year.
