Julia Fox.Photo:Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC
Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC
Sex, drugs and, yes, datingKanye West— there’s not a lotJulia Foxhasn’t experienced over the past 33 years. And she has no problem sharing all of it in her new memoirDown the Drain.
In the book, from Simon & Schuster, the actress talks about everything from her childhood in New York City (where she learned to shoplift and got a tattoo when she was 12) to forming a heroin habit in her teens.
She also opens up about her brief time working as a dominatrix, landing her role in theAdam SandlerfilmUncut Gems, and later dating an individual she only describes in the book as “the artist” but is clearly rapper West, 46.
Fox also writes about losing her best friend to an overdose, and howbecoming a motherto Valentino, 2, changed her.
Read on for some of the shocking revelations fromDown the Drain,out now.
Richie Khan / Simon & Shuster
By Age 6, She Stole Money from Her Dad and Shoplifted at Stores
Fox opens the book with her early childhood, and how she moved from Italy to New York City with her dad when she was just 5 years old, leaving her mother and younger brother back in Italy.
As she adjusted to her new life in the U.S., she wrote that she and her father were broke, so she started stealing from stores. “The only way to get what I wanted was to take it,” she said.
Soon, it wasn’t just bubblegum from the deli, but she also started sneaking dollar bills out of her dad’s wallet until she had stacks of cash pilfered away — enough for him to later buy her an iMac computer with.
She Tried Marijuana for First Time at Age 11
Fox admitted her life got very wild very quickly. She wrote about how in middle school she spent most of her days with her new best friend “Ella,” who lived with a mom who was often drunk. Fox told the story of how one day, the two of them came home to find Ella’s mom having sex with her drug dealer on the couch. The dealer gave the girls a jar of “s—-y pot,” and Fox got high for the first time.
She wrote that she loved the feeling. “I feel warm and fuzzy and everything is so funny. My thoughts are more linear and I can finally hear myself think,” she said.
She Taught Her Best Friend How to Steal Clothes to ‘Appear Richer,’ and They Got Their First Tattoos
She found herself addicted to the rush of stealing, but got busted after an outing at Bloomingdale’s. (She’s permanently banned from the store.) She also got her first tattoo (a cartoon cat dangling from a rose) for free from a tattoo artist on St. Mark’s. Her father told her she and her friends are worse than the girls from the movie13— even though they are only 12.
Julia Fox.Frazer Harrison/Getty
She Ran Away from Home at 15 to Be with a Boyfriend
After moving back to Italy for high school, Fox wrote about visiting New York on vacation, where she tried ecstasy for the first time. She loved it — but more importantly she fell in love with the guy who gave it to her, who told her she should be his wife.
They had a torrid affair, but Fox had to go back to Italy. She missed her boyfriend so much that she bought a ticket back to New York and ran away from Italy to be with him. Three weeks later, she saw “missing” posters with her face plastered on them around the city — her father did his best to get her to come home.
She Tried Heroin for First Time at 16
Fox is no stranger to drugs as a teen. But one night at a house party, she met a drug dealer who handed her two small bags of heroin. She sprinkled some of it onto a joint, not knowing what it was. She felt warm and fuzzy, but then passed out and nearly burned down the house with her lit joint.
“This is the feeling that Lou Reed sang about in the Velvet Underground. It’s what William Burroughs wrote about in my favorite book,Junky. It’s what Sublime warned about in ‘Wrong Way.’ I know I’m flirting with fire, but it’s just too damn good to resist,” she wrote of heroin.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
At 18, She Took a Job as a Dominatrix
She started the job the very next day. (Her first client wanted her to blow cigarette smoke into his mouth.) For six months, at age 18, she worked as a dominatrix at night while going to high school during the day. She made enough money to get her own apartment in the Meatpacking district with a friend.
Julia Fox with Adam Sandler in “Uncut Gems”.A24
She Got ‘Uncut Gems’ Role Despite Studio Wanting a Famous Actress
Fox wrote about landing the role of a lifetime as Adam Sandler’s lover in 2019’sUncut Gems. Shesaid the screenwriter Josh Safdiehad been telling her for five years she’d be perfect for the role, and she aced her screen test with Sandler.
The problem? Safdie told her the studios want “someone with a big name, like Lady Gaga or Jennifer Lawrence.” She said she knew she was a nobody in Hollywood, so didn’t expect to actually get the role. When she did, she said it felt like she hit the lottery.
Kanye West Asked If She Could Be His Girlfriend Nearly Immediately After Meeting
Fox took care when writing about her relationship with the rapper, whom she only describes in the book as “the artist.” She wrote about how they met after he asked a friend of a friend for her number, and soon they were having hours-long phone calls, before they met in in person in Miami over New Year’s Eve.
The day after they met, he invited her to dinner where he bluntly asked her, “Would you want to be my girlfriend?” He added, “How would you feel about taking the relationship public?” Fox wrote that she shot down the idea at first, but she said he told her, “If you’re worried about me embarrassing you, I wouldn’t do that. You have a son, and my mom was a single mom.”
Kanye West and Julia Fox on during Paris Fashion Week on Jan. 23, 2022.Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Kanye West Tried to Control What She Wore — and Offered Her a ‘Boob Job’
Fox wrote when she first met “the artist,” he sent a selection of clothes to her hotel room, all of which were variations on the same skintight, black jumpsuit.
By their second date, he told her he wanted to appoint a team to work on her wardrobe. By their third date, her new stylist told her to meet her in the restaurant bathroom where she was on a dinner date. In the bathroom, the stylist offered Fox different outfits to try on.
The move made Fox wonder why “the artists” didn’t just tell her he didn’t like her original outfit. She said she felt like “a show monkey.” Later, as she tried on various designer pieces for him, he told her, “I could get you a boob job if you want.”
The words stung; she refused. “His words stick to me like a piece of lint on my clothes. I can’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling,” Fox wrote.
A rep for West, whochanged his name to Ye, did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment
source: people.com
