Down the Drain
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4.6 • 43 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The hotly anticipated book from ‘one of the all-time pop-culture greats’ (New York magazine) that chronicles her shocking life and unyielding determination to not only survive but achieve her dreams.
‘Intense and compelling’ SUNDAY TIMES
'A gripping and powerful coming-of-age story' TELEGRAPH
‘A masterpiece’ GREG JAMES, BBC RADIO 1
Julia Fox is famous for many things: her captivating acting, such as her breakout role in the film Uncut Gems; her trendsetting style, including bleached eyebrows, exaggerated eyeshadow and cutout dresses; her mastery of social media. But all these share the trait for which she is most famous: unabashedly and unapologetically being herself.
This commitment to authenticity has never been more on display than in Down the Drain. Fox recounts her turbulent path to cultural supremacy: her parents’ volatile relationship that divided her childhood between Italy and New York City and left her largely raising herself; a possessive and abusive drug-dealing boyfriend whose torment continued even from within Rikers Island; her own trips to jail as well as to a psychiatric hospital; her work as a dominatrix that led to a complicated entanglement with a sugar daddy; a heroin habit that led to New Orleans trap houses and that she would kick only after the fatal overdose of her best friend; her own near-lethal overdoses and the deaths of still more friends from drugs and suicide; an emotionally explosive, tabloid-dominating romance with a figure she dubs “The Artist”; a whirlwind, short-lived marriage and her trials as a single parent striving to support her young son.
Yet as extraordinary as her story is, its universality is what makes it so powerful. Fox doesn’t just capture her evolution from grade-school outcast to fashion-world icon, she captures her transition from girlhood to womanhood to motherhood. Family and friendship, sex and death, violence and love, money and power, innocence and experience—it’s all here, in raw, remarkable and riveting detail.
More than a year before the book's publication, Fox's description of it as "a masterpiece" in a red carpet interview went viral. As always, she was just being honest. Down the Drain is a true literary achievement, as one-of-a-kind as its author.
About the author
Julia Fox is a multidisciplinary artist. She’s had a fashion label, published art books and held numerous exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles. She inspired the character in her break out role in the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems and has acted in numerous films since. She’s a fashion darling and muse and continues to inspire designers with her bold looks. She’s a strong advocate for sustainability and a do-it-yourself attitude. She cohosts a podcast called Forbidden Fruits. She is a single mom and currently lives in New York City with her son Valentino.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Actor and model Fox debuts with an unvarnished account of her tumultuous childhood, struggles with drug use, complicated friendships, and volatile romances. Beginning with her move, at age six, from Italy to New York City—where she and her family had been homeless for a brief period when Fox was a toddler—Fox chronicles her rise, fall, and resurgence in Manhattan's downtown milieu. Along the way, she recounts relationships with a series of violent men and the scars she weathered from a procession of best friends with whom she fell out. Key episodes include a torrid affair with a young drug dealer from the Bronx, a hot-and-cold romance with a softhearted sugar daddy, a cleansing stint in Louisiana, and the birth of Fox's son in 2021. Throughout, Fox discusses heavy subject matter, including her early experiences with heroin and her teenage stint as a dominatrix, in blunt terms ("As I stand there, completely naked with my legs apart and wrists tied up and hooked to the ceiling, I can't escape my reflection. I can see myself from every angle... Then the most forbidden thought of all crosses my mind: What if my parents saw me like this? Cringe"), which works both to the book's advantage and to its detriment: it lends the proceedings an air of intimacy, but prevents Fox from varying her emotional register. Her present-tense narration can feel like a shortcut to immediacy, though it's an effective one. Less effective is her reliance on clichés ("My hero turned out to be nothing more than just another flawed human being"). Though Fox's recollections feel somewhat undigested, their gossipy appeal is difficult to deny.
Customer Reviews
Well read and written
Really enjoyed this honest and raw book. Julia tells her story in a way that makes you feel like you’re sitting across the table having a coffee with her.
Down the Drain. J Fox
Average read. Level of drug use made me feel nauseous. Wouldn’t recommend. Nothing spectacular about the author.
Wow
Love, love, loved this! What a wild, bittersweet autobiography! This woman’s life has been absolutely absurd, and terrifying. Even from a young age she navigates her way through the world, learning how to use herself to get what she wants. She wants to get some new clothes? Steals it. She wants to do heroin? Bangs a 26 year old for some. She wants to get her tongue and nipples pierced at age 12? Flirts with the piercer and gets it. I could go on and on. I was particularly surprised to hear about her issues with Ace, and how she dealt with that (or didn’t deal with, more like). It is just so insane to me that she never had any support, no matter what stage in her life. From being 5 years old, having separated parents, having parents to abuse her and each other, and having to steal to survive and hide whatever money she could, to now, being 34 years old and one of the highest paid supermodels in the world. Truely amazes me to have heard her story and seen how far she’s come.