Faith & Spirit Quote by Rona Barrett

Barrett’s line lands with the punch of a confession dressed up as advice: the “monsters” aren’t out there in the tabloids or the red-carpet drama she spent a career chronicling, they’re in you, and they’re negotiating the terms of your life when you’re not looking. The irony she names isn’t a cute twist; it’s the uncomfortable fact that the biggest captor is often the self, even as we insist we’re being held hostage by circumstances, other people, or fate.

“Final monsters” suggests a last, stubborn layer of inner sabotage - the private compulsions, grudges, addictions, shame loops, or appetites you’ve learned to manage publicly but never actually untangled. Calling the psyche a “jungle” is classic Barrett: vivid, accessible, and just dangerous enough. A jungle isn’t evil, it’s overgrown. It implies neglect and complexity, not melodrama. You don’t beat a jungle; you cut a path through it.

The phrase “your soul is up for grabs” borrows the language of commerce and celebrity bidding wars, which is where the cultural context bites. As a journalist who watched identities get packaged, sold, and spun, Barrett points to a quieter transaction: when you haven’t faced your inner animals, you become easy to purchase - by fame, by romance, by bosses, by the crowd, by whatever promises relief. The intent isn’t spiritual in a churchy way; it’s psychological survival with tabloid-era stakes. Your autonomy isn’t stolen. It’s outsourced.