Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld and Gayle King were among a group of starry, influential friends who came out to support Nicole Avant and her moving new book, “Think You’ll Be Happy: Moving Through Grief with Grit, Grace and Gratitude” in NYC.
Film producer Crystal McCrary McGuire hosted the intimate bash at her Central Park West apartment in NYC, along with a host committee that included Jessica Seinfeld, Thelma Golden, Amy Griffin and Susan Fales-Hill.
Arianna Huffington, Huma Abedin, Gayle King, Sunny Hostin, Tina Brown, Marcus Samuelson, Laura Dern, Debbie Allen, Lili Buffett, Roy Wood Jr. and McGuire’s husband, Ray, were also among the guests.
Avant’s book is a “deeply emotional memoir” penned after her mother, Jacqueline, was fatally shot during a home invasion in 2021.
She also produced the 2020 Netflix documentary, “The Black Godfather,” about her dad, Clarence, who passed away at 92 in August.
Avant has said she had to “pitch and pitch” in order to get the doc on the streaming service despite her husband, Ted Sarandos, being chief content officer of Netflix.
“This is not a book about death. It’s a book about life,” Huffington said during some opening remarks.
“To take a book that is obviously about death and transform it into a book about life is really an incredible gift… [to] bring us all along for the journey — thank you so much for doing it and bring it to all of your friends in the room,” she said.