Down the Drain

Julia Fox is an Italian American writer, actor, model, photographer, and designer. She was born in Milan, Italy, to parents Gracie and Thomas Fox and is the eldest of three siblings. She lived in Italy until she was six, when she moved to New York City to live with her father. Throughout her childhood, she visited her mother in Italy intermittently but primarily resided in Manhattan with her father despite familial and domestic upheaval. In Down the Drain, Fox details the events of her tumultuous childhood, coming of age, and adventurous adulthood from her first-person point of view. She became famous online after her work as a dominatrix in the East Village was publicly exposed. Instead of giving in to this attempted public humiliation, Fox claimed her story in her subsequent artistic publications. In 2015, she self-published her first photography book, Symptomatic of a Relationship Gone Sour: Heartburn/Nausea, and in 2016, she self-published her second photography book, PTSD. She went on to exhibit her visual art series, R.I.P. Julia Fox, at a New York gallery. The show famously featured canvases splattered with Fox’s blood. These personal and creative endeavors established her as an artist in her own right. Like Down the Drain, these works similarly feature and rely upon Fox’s irreverent personal experiences to comment on a woman’s right to live as she likes and claim her own story in her own words.

Fox’s modeling, design, and acting endeavors have widened the scope of her influence and career. She appeared in Playboy’s final nude spread in 2015 and in fashion campaigns and editorials for popular publications such as Tiffany & Co., Diesel, Coach New York, Supreme, Wonderland, Vogue, Vogue Italia, and Paper, among others. She details or references these pivotal moments in her career throughout Down the Drain, identifying them as signs of her talent, creativity, and cultural cache. In the memoir, Fox self-identifies as “an artist in the role of a lifetime, playing Me” (314). She believes her array of diverse artistic endeavors is evidence of her self-empowerment and significance in various industries. Beginning in 2019 with her role in Uncut Gems, Fox broadened her reach and established herself as an actor. She was nominated for Breakthrough Actor in the 2019 Gotham Awards for her role in Uncut Gems. Fox has also starred in PVT Chat, No Sudden Move, Puppet, Uppercut, and The Trainer. Fox presents these varied experiences throughout Down the Drain, claiming every facet of her past and present life without shame. Fox’s unguarded, unrestrained first-person voice reiterates the memoir’s central thesis: that this is her story and that no matter how famous, loved, or hated she might be, her life and experiences belong to her.