Julia Fox’s Guide to Being a Freak
I remember being in fifth grade [on New York’s Upper East Side] and being exhausted from trying to pretend to be normal all the time.
Once I went to middle school, that’s when the freak was unleashed: I’d go to St. Marks Place [in the East Village] and be enamored of the punk kids, with their spiky hair.
Eventually they became my friends. In New York, you can meet freaks from all over the world and connect. We latch on because it’s comforting.
I don’t really hang out with straight people; I hang out with a lot of dolls. The years of masking, years of performing — it’s similar to what [trans people] go through, on some level, but obviously not to the same degree. [My housemate] Richie Shazam and I have been friends since we were teenagers, so we’ve been at each other’s side through all the transitions and transformations.
