Your favorite memoirist's favorite memoirist
If I could put celeb memoirs in my myspace top 8, Down the Drain checks all the boxes. Honest, chaotic, personal, vulnerable, ownership, reflective and ofc TEA. Whatever you think you think about Julia Fox, read this book.
Warning: this book took me forever to read because I had to stop and google everyone and every situation. This is a rabbit hole of a book for anyone with adhd.
A taste
Dating Kanye West is the least interesting thing about Julia Fox. Born in Italy but also raised in NYC, with barely there parents, Julia learns self-reliance at an malapropos age. She's breaking into homes and stealing while the rest of us are still learning to tie our shoes. I wanted to be shocked when an intoxicated Julia started having sex with a 23 yr old Italian man at 14 but by that point I had been conditioned to the anarchic, just like little Julia.*
Shortly after that experience, Julia is a runaway in NYC living with her drug dealer boyfriend, Ace. There are missing person posters of her all over the city. When Julia sees one, she simply remarks her parents got every detail about her wrong including her birthdate and she looked ugly in the photos. She does call her father to warn him to not pay the ransom money she overhears Ace scheming to collect. It's a recurring theme in Julia's memoir, she's disposable to those she loves and when Julia falls in love with someone, whether a lover or best friend, she makes that person her entire world. It's especially heartbreaking to read when Julia loses some of her best friends to overdoses, her words and her love of her friends have you reeling right beside her.
She's a cat
Julia survives the ugliest of situations (and creates them too), she has been saved by narcan multiple times and was thisclose to prison. Her memoir goes on to detail her life as an artist, a sugar baby, a dominatrix, a club investor with her abusive BF Shane (allegedly Teddy P), her breakthrough to fame with the movie Uncut Gems. And of course, her very brief time with the artist (allegedly Ye) perhaps the least interesting chapter of her life (for the reader) except for the inside tea and humanizing of the Artist.
Random Bit of Info
I always saw those transcendental meditation posters on the subway but never knew of someone who actually did it. But Julia did, before I could even form a coherent sentence in life, her dad sent her. She still recommends meditation for helping with her adhd.
Audio vs Print
The only correct answer is audio. One of the rare audiobooks I listened at 1.0 speed so I could hear every word. Julia's voice has a soothing quality about it that makes it so relaxing to listen to even when she is recounting the most horrible shit. Or delivering likes like:
"Since my Dad decided to give me his urine for drug tests, we're on speaking terms…"
Note, there are no pictures in the hardcover and Julia didn't use a ghostwriter, she's an artist of many forms, including writing.
Notable Quotes
“I mean that sometimes you have to burn your life to the ground in order to experience the life that is truly meant for you.”
On a Catholic school trip, where a boy kisses Julia and Julia is the one who gets reprimanded:
“The rest of the trip, I’m fuming. Did I seriously just wait sixteen hours to get slapped in the face in front of the dead pope? I didn’t even get to have a moment with him!”
The Rabbit Hole Finds (thanks google and reddit)
Julia’s missing poster:
From the observer, regarding the club Julia invested in:
Modeling for Leah McSweeney’s clothing line Married to the Mob
Dare I say I don't know Julia Fox - she sounds complicated!!