Sherri Shepherd Survived Lesbian Sex Attack While Locked Up in Jail

Sherri Shepherd has always been outspoken and during her short tenure on "The View" has told a lot of stories about her personal life.

But in her new autobiography - Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break - which goes on sale in October, Sherri delves further, talking about warding off a sexual attack while in prison, ditching an ex who wanted her to assist him commit a robbery and her nude photos.

"Sherri doesn't hold back on the book, revealing even more crazy details," a publishing source familiar with the memoir told The Enquirer.

While it's no secret that Sherri once spent eight days in jail for unpaid parking violations, she reveals in the book how other women in the jail thought she was a prostitute because she was dressed like Julia Roberts' character in "Pretty Woman."

"At the time of her arrest, Sherri says she was decked out in thigh-high boots, a miniskirt and 'my cleavage was plunging.'" said the source.

But she paints a much darker portrait of jail life after she was moved to the notorious Sybil Brand Institute for Women, a Los Angeles facility that's since been closed.

"Sherri recalls being humiliated by the daily searched called 'squat and cough'. They were performed because so many prisoners were hiding crack pipes in their 'back pocket' or 'under their breasts,'" said the source.

The 42-year-old actress also recalls an incident involving a masculine female janitor who offered her a Snickers bar from a vending machine.

"Sherri writes that she was saved from a lesbian sex attack from the janitor by her caring cellmate Yvette, who warned Sherri," said the source.

"Yvette told Sherri that if she ate the Snickers bar, 'You gonna be her wife.' Sherri passed on the janitor's snack offer and learned later that she woman had assaulted another inmate."

In another shocker, Sherri writes about an ex-boyfriend who turned out to be an arsonist.

"Sherri recalls that she found out years later one of their dates was supposed to end with the two of them committing a robbery," said the source.

"Sherri, would split from the date early, says she found out, 'I was there to play the part of the unwitting accomplice.""

Sherri also fesses up to new details about a set of nude photos. which she first revealed on "The View" in 2007. Sherri says she sent the pictures to a boyfriend in prison, and she wishes he had made them public.

She cracks in the book: "I was in my 20s and I looked amazing. I had one chin and no wrinkles."

Source: National Enquirer (July 13, 2009 print edition)