The original manuscript was written by Li, translated from his native Chinese into English by Professor Tai Hung-chao, then edited by Anne F. Thurston.

Tai claimed that the English-language publisher, Random House, wanted more sensationalist elements to the book than Li had provided, in particular requesting more information about Mao's sexual relationships.

These include Mao's role in orchestrating events such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and various purges of members of the Communist Party.

Li also details his disgust and frustrations towards the sycophancy and opportunism of high-ranking officials, such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao, Yang Shangkun, Lin Biao, Chen Boda, and Zhang Yufeng in carrying out Mao and Jiang Qing's orders against their better judgement, and the effect their actions had on Li's ability to provide medical treatment for Mao.

He does however have praise for Wang Dongxing, Luo Ruiqing, Hua Guofeng, Marshals Ye Jianying and Peng Dehuai as the few honest individuals within the system who were willing to challenge Mao, albeit with varying degrees of success.

The review stated that though there may never be absolute corroboration of the book and its many anecdotes, its contents are supported by the numerous pictures of Li with Mao on his many trips, as well as the consistency of the details with the information known by specialists of Chinese history and politics.

The book also highlighted the hypocritical, often decadent lifestyle Mao experienced, while enforcing strict political and secular restrictions, as well as harmful ideological changes on the population.

[8] Writing for The Christian Science Monitor, reviewer Ann Tyson described Li's role as trapped dealing with a man he learned to despise, sacrificing his family life, professional goals, and personal convictions.

[11] According to Lorenz M. Lüthi, The Private Life of Chairman Mao "turned out to be a relatively reliable source" that he could verify through comparisons with other documents.

[12] Historian Frank Dikötter, wrote in his book, Mao's Great Famine, that Li is "a very reliable guide whose recollections can be verified, sometimes almost verbatim, in the party archives", although he notes that he has also been much maligned by some sinologists.

During the Cultural Revolution, he burnt all of his original diaries and, as such, the book was based on restructured memories which might be wrong or fallible as Li's collaborator, Anne Thurston, admitted.

Lin et al. argue, however, that Mao himself had publicly criticized the personality cult in April 1956, when he stated that it was a lesson to be learned from the regime of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union.

To make Western readers believe that he had access to core secrets, Li fabricated scenarios, resulting in countless errors in his memoirs.

[25] Frederick Teiwes, an American academic specializing in the study of Maoist China, was also critical of The Private Life of Chairman Mao, arguing in his book The Tragedy of Lin Biao: Riding the Tiger during the Cultural Revolution 1966-1971 (1996) that despite Li's extensive claims regarding the politics behind the Cultural Revolution, he was actually "on the fringe" of the events taking place in the Chinese government.

For the significant figures and events described in Li's book, memoirs and biographies published previously in China and Hong Kong have revealed as much, if not more.