Julia Fox: Mother, Lover, Angel, Devil, Home

January 12, 2022

Certain stars have a rare quality of staying themselves even when they are acting. It’s a gift for bringing something natural, the presence of having lived, into the role. This realness is what made Julia Fox the break-out talent of Uncut Gems, the crime thriller by Josh and Benny Safdie, in which she starred opposite Adam Sandler. The film premiered to much acclaim in December 2019 and Fox was fast tracked to stardom. Then the pandemic hit, New York City shut down, and the film industry took a pause.

Fox has remained optimistic. She’s always been good at reinventing herself. Before she was the Hollywood It-girl, Julia was a downtown New York It-girl, known for her art shows and graphic, fine art photography. There also was a brief stint as a fashion designer, not to mention that whole business of her scandalizing Page Six, whicho covered her sex work past as a “Teenage Dominatrix.”

Interview RACHEL RABBIT WHITE
Photos JASON NOCITO
Styling & Editor in Chief SIMON RASMUSSEN — Cartel & Co
Talent JULIA FOX
Makeup JEZZ HILL — The Wall Group
Hair LAUREN PALMER-SMITH — Home Agency
Light Design WILLIAM TAKAHASHI
Digital Tech TRAVIS DENNEN
Production MITCHELL CONNELL
Production Assistant CASSIE JEKANOSKI
Fashion Assistant SHARE KOECH
Tailor LEAH HUNTSINGER

Pre-Order the Julia Fox Issue 16 cover here.

During the pandemic, Fox became a mother, giving birth to her son Valentino while continuing to work. (She shot Stephen Soderberg’s No Sudden Move while six months pregnant.) She also began writing and launched a podcast, Forbidden Fruits, with her friend Niki Takesh. Juggling multiple projects comes naturally to Fox, who grew up in a working-class area of New York City.

“My parents never spoke unless it was to fight about money,” she explains. “I just knew very young and very early on that I needed to hustle.”

Fox is scheduled to shoot three movies this year. Her next role will be as the hard-partying celeb- rity hairstylist Carrie White in an adaptation of White’s best selling memoir, Upper Cut, a tale of addiction and recovery full of glamorous anecdotes. White partied with Jim Morrison, got high with Jimi Hendrix, and worked on set with Hollywood immortals like Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Goldie Hawn and Marlon Brando. It all sounds like a natural fit for Julia.

There is a lot on the horizon for Fox, yet she remains down to Earth. Over a Zoom call, Fox unpacks from Art Basel Miami, putting things away in the bathroom of her East Village apartment. Fox can transfix an audience even while cleaning the bathroom. I happily watch as she talks, opening and closing the medicine cabinet, moving items around, hair whipping in and out of the screen as we get off topic, talking about her bodega favorites—“a toasted bagel with cream cheese, jelly and bacon,” plus a handful of candy. “And I go to Burger King often!” she adds. “I love the Iimpossible Bburger and the Hershey pies!”

I’m reminded of the multiple ways icons get interpreted, like how in Ancient Greece, there was Aphrodite Urania, the Aprhodite of the Heavens and then there was Aphrodite Pandemos, the Aphrodite of the people. Julia Fox is a celebrity that belongs to the people.

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RACHEL RABBIT WHITE — Your fame means something to a lot of overlapping New York underground communities. You grew up here. You’ve been known as an artist for years, a downtown icon, and you’ve been so open about your past career as a dominatrix. So when Uncut Gems came out, that was all over the press, and in the New York City sex work community that created a buzz, like she’s one of us, and she’s really doing it.

JULIA FOX — It’s always been in the back of my mind… Just that I’ve been given these opportunities when that just doesn’t happen for a lot of sex workers. It’s that people don’t take you seriously if you’re a creative and also a sex worker… I wish I could go back in time and tell myself ten years ago things are going to turn around for you and you’ll be seen finally. At the time, I didn’t have high hopes but I was optimistic. I knew I didn’t want to be in the sex industry forever but I really didn’t know how I would get out, I didn’t have a plan. I’m really grateful for how everything happened organically.

RRW — It was so exciting to have an actual Hollywood It-girl who was open about having been a sex worker. I do think attitudes are slowly getting there but more slowly than they should be.

JF — Well, for instance, after a movie like Uncut Gems, I probably should have gotten some sort of brand deal, whether Chanel or something like that. But you know, that didn’t happen. And I’m sure that it’s because I don’t have the cleanest image. And it’s like, well, I’m a real fucking bitch and that’s what people want nowadays. It’s like—and you get it—I honestly feel like they’d be lucky to have someone like me to endorse them, you know what I mean? Like, they’re just not there yet I feel. But you know, for sex workers, Cardi B is like, a great example. Like, she’s really doing her thing. That’s huge for, you know, a stripper to come out and now be like fucking Cardi B. So, I feel like, you know, music now has accepted it. Hopefully film and television will become a little more accepting.

RRW — Completely. I’m looking it up now and Cardi only got her first luxury brand deal last

year—it was with Balenciaga… This is a couple years after she brought their brand into the zeitgeist, you know… “I like those Balenciagas/ the ones that look like socks.” Did you ever feel pushback directly because of how open you’ve been about your life?

JF — I’m not going to name names or anything, but people I’ve never even met, executive people, studio people, had comments. There were some things said about my figure, about my butt potentially being too big to be in a movie, which is ridiculous because we see big boobs in movies. A big butt is super mainstream now and it’s like, ‘Get with it!’ And also I was born with a big butt. My mom has a big butt. It’s an Italian gene that I have. You know, what am I supposed to do, apologize for it and hide it so that your reaction to me is acceptable? I’m not responsible for your reaction to me. Get your fucking head out of the gutter.

RRW — That’s crazy. I feel like audiences completely celebrated your ass on the big screen!

JF — Yeah, exactly. It turns out that Josh Safdie was 100% right in casting me because there were many things that people loved and enjoyed about the performance and about me and the character. My manager always tells me your people will find you. And it’s so true. When I was younger I was a little more frantic, a little bit more like, ‘Oh, what am I going to do?’ My parents don’t have money, I don’t have an inheritance. I was always hustling, I had to support myself. I used to freak out and come up with ways to make money. It’ll be crypto, it’ll be marijuana, it’ll be this or whatever, but now I’m just so much more relaxed because I know that even if I don’t work for like a month, something will come. And it always does. So, I definitely don’t stress about that anymore.

RRW — That was one thing I wanted to talk about, how when you do sex work in New York City you become keenly aware of how much money other people have and of the disparity of wealth.

JF — I remember when I was working, I had never had a thousand dollars before, I had

never held a thousand dollars before. And I remember that feeling. I remember getting tipped a thousand dollars and seeing that money in my checking account. I just remember being, like, ‘No, that check was fake, it bounced. He canceled it. There’s no way.’ And I remember when I saw it. And now a thousand dollars isn’t as much money to me, but at the time I felt like, wow, you know? I was living on my own and I just got so thrown, I got exposed to things that I never had growing up, for sure, like I was literally 18 years old checking the stock market because that would in turn affect my clients, my money.

RRW — I’m curious, with your success, what is your relationship like to money now?

JF — Oh, I’m still super cheap. Everyone knows that about me. But if it’s like your money, oh, then, we are going, yeah, then I can spend like a mother, like actually scary, like, $60,000 in an hour scary. But now that it’s my money, that’s a whole different story. I’m also really into saving and smart financial decisions and I think that does come from growing up without money and always being afraid that it’s going to be taken away at any moment. I live in the East Village and that’s my lifestyle. It’s not glamorous at all. I was actually thinking the other day, like no matter who the woman is, it could be Mariah Carey, it could be Beyonce, there is so much upkeep as women. There’s nothing glamorous about it! Especially if you’re a mother. But from the jump we have to wax, there is just so much we have to do, or are conditioned to do, and it’s like we just do it on autopilot.

RRW — Yeah and then when you don’t come from money, the upkeep can become something you do because you realize that your looks are an asset, not necessarily because you want to!

JF — I realized it in middle school. Prior to that I was a tomboy. I was kind of a lesbian. I grew up with my dad and my brother and my next door neighbor who was a boy. I wasn’t into being girly. But then when I realized, ‘Oh guys like me when I’m more feminine presenting, they’re nicer to me, and I can get things when I am this other way…’ The switch was overnight. I started

wearing heels the same week. I was fully going to milk it to the max, you know?

RRW — IAnd there’s layers to it, too. I remember going back on the train the first night I worked at a strip club and I was like…. I’ve been doing this job my whole life, pleasing men. I’ve cultivated this skill, I’m good at it, and now I’m finally getting paid for it. I was so shook that I didn’t notice I’d missed my stop like three stations ago.

JF — For me with dominatrixing, it was more of like, I have been in these kinds of abusive relationships all my life, now I can be paid for it. Because the dominatrixing was, it’s much less about sex and more about mind-fucking and being a sadist or being a masochist or whatever. And so it was a little more emotional I would say. I just felt like I released so much aggression on these guys. And obviously there were submissive moments in there as well. At the end of the day it is a service. You’re a dominatrix. You are providing a service.

RRW — Cat Marnell said that I should ask you about the South. You ran away to The South when your New York life got too crazy, in 2015. You went to Louisiana, where you were living with the guys from the band Salem for some of the time, going around, documenting crazy stuff for an art book.

JF — That’s so funny. I went to visit friends and basically just never left. I went down there just because I wanted to not be reminded of anything. Like, I just really wanted everything brand new and, you know, prior to that I’d been living such a, it was a lavish life, for sure, but it was fucked up and I was in some unhealthy relationships. I just wanted to get away where I didn’t know anyone and nobody know me. And I ended up there. Through discovering the South, I also kind of discovered the rest of the United States. And that was really cool, because prior to that I was just such a city kid. I was literally like the meme of the guy in the ocean wearing Tims, like scrolling on his phone. I did make friends. They were telling me about Katrina. A lot of them still didn’t have running water or electricity. Their shit is still really fucked up. And it’s really, really sad just how it’s overlooked. It’s fucking crazy, the amount of poverty. And my friends from Louisiana, they still hit me up and they’ll be like, ‘Yo, this is crazy. I can’t believe you’re in the fucking movies.’ And I’m like, ‘I know, this is wild.’ We were literally chilling in a trap house with no electricity or running water all day, all night. And fucking now I’m in a fucking movie. Like, that’s crazy. But I don’t know... I kind of always knew something like that would happen one day. I just always had an inkling. You know how you just know? That’s why I feel like I’m exactly where I need to be, where I was meant to be. Like, God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle or that isn’t made for you, tailored specifically for you. And this just happens to be my experience.

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RRW — I call that feeling ‘walking in god’s path.’ Like, you know when you’re on it.

JF — Exactly. Even if you do make a wrong decision, it’s going to lead you exactly where you need to be. You’re always going to be brought right back onto the path.

RRW — What was that blowup fame moment like?

JF — Surreal but really tiring. I was doing a press tour. You know, obviously it was just non-stop attention and people talking to me, reaching out. Then my best friend died and then everything kind of took a turn. She shot Uncut Gems with me, she was with me on set every single day for filming. She was there for everything. This was supposed to be our moment. I was in LA and on tour and busy and I wasn’t there for her the way that I wanted to be. I did speak to her, like, a couple hours before she died and we had a nice conversation.

RRW — Do you still feel a connection? Like, how when someone you are really close to dies, it’s like they never go away.

JF — Well, actually, when I got pregnant, I was already in the middle of the divorce with my husband and then I ended up pregnant. It was like, Fuck! And I calculated the due date, just out of curiosity. I hadn’t really decided what I was going to do yet, it was just really early stages. And the due date was my best friend’s

birthday. I just knew that this was a gift and I was going to rise to the occasion. When I look at my son, I see her. She’s in the frame. She’s there, for sure.

RRW — Do you want to raise him in New York?

JF — I feel like, growing up here, I don’t know, I have such a love-hate relationship with New York. I’ve been trying to move to California for a really long time. I feel like that’s kind of like the path that all my friends have taken. It’s like you either die or fall off the fucking face of the earth, nobody sees you again, or you’re on drugs or something, or you move to California. I feel like that’s the progression of a New Yorker’s life.

RRW — What will you be working on this year? What will you be manifesting?

JF — I have three movies that I’m supposed to be filming next year. One of them, just announced today, is Carrie White’s story. She’s an iconic celebrity hairstylist. She had an amazing career, lost everything, got into drugs, got it all back. I read her memoir, Upper Cut, it’s such an inspirational and triumphant story. I’m always rooting for the underdog. And there are a few other things that haven’t been announced yet, so I don’t know if I’m supposed to share anything about it yet… But there’s a lot. She’s busy. She’s booked and busy, for sure. Yeah. I wish I could say this one thing, but I definitely can’t. But it’s OK. Everything is OK.

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It’s like you either die or fall off the fucking face of the earth, nobody sees you again, or you’re on drugs or something, or you move to California.

Culture

The Club Is Coming to the Stage

We enter and make our way to what is approximately front left of the DJ booth, where we’re accustomed to dancing at clubs in New York. “So is this a techno club or a dance performance?” yells an uncertain participant in my boyfriend’s ear. He laughs, bouncing along to Ben UFO, and yells back, “It’s both!” The club has long been a hot topic in European contemporary dance but it is only now making its way into New York performance venues, largely through transatlantic tours. R.O.S.E. follows recent examples like Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1 (May 2024), (LA)HORDE’s Room with a View at NYU Skirball (October 2023), and Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd at BAM (October 2022).

Do these performances compromise the club’s spirit — a space idealized for its anonymity, dark lighting, and thundering music? The notion of the club as a utopian escape is admittedly just that — an ideal — because of how its intense conditions can create barriers to entry. Still, the club remains sacred for many, a place to forge connections and embrace an alternative state of being. Looking at how performances transfer this spirit to new settings reveals what aspects of the club are essential and those that aren’t.

Sharon Eyal, R.O.S.E. 2024. Photography by Stephanie Berger, courtesy of Park Avenue Armory.

Eyal’s dancers make their entrance. The lighting shifts from roving blue to yellow spotlights as Ben UFO’s tracks transition to more melodic beats. Clad in deconstructed lace Dior lingerie with dark red tears painted on their faces, the dancers move cautiously in a tightly maintained pack, slicing paths through the horde with hoof-like steps and jerky leg extensions. After around ten minutes of this controlled choreography, the dancers vanish as the lighting shifts back to blue and Ben UFO picks up his dubby beats. The club, as we knew it, resumes. This cycle of tightly executed movements and free-flowing club-goers repeats several times, each time emboldening the dancers to plunge further into the crowd.

Clubbing in a building once built for the U.S. Army National Guard on Manhattan’s Upper East Side turns out to be surprisingly successful — at least for the audience. What starts as an awkward, scattered group searching for their non existent seats gradually gels into an engaged, bouncing crowd that erupts in cheers each time the dancers enter and exit. Performance patrons who might never step foot in a club find themselves swept up in its potential for communion, moving in unison with fellow ticket holders. But it isn’t until the very end of R.O.S.E. that the dancers finally break free from Eyal’s choreography and join the fired-up audience in a brief moment of improvisatory movement with the music. By keeping her dancers at arm’s length, Eyal seems more interested in the club as a backdrop for her signature movement style than wholly as a space with meaningful stories to be told.

Michele Rizzo, HIGHER xtn. 2024. Photography by Cameron Kelly courtesy of MoMA PS1.

Back in May, I attended Wire Festival, a multiday electronic music event at Knockdown Center that had no shortage of organically united dancefloors. It attracted a crowd of seasoned ravers who were eager to celebrate the start of spring as they danced alongside DJs who played well into the daylight. I left Wire in an afternoon daze to see Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1. My sleepless euphoria only deepened as the performance unfolded, starting with a lone dancer who looked plucked out of the festival.

The dancer, dressed in sneakers, baggy jeans, and a tight tank top, shuffled slowly into the gallery, perfectly in sync with the looping bars of an understated electronic melody. Soon, other dancers, clad in the same staple rave uniform, joined him — each having traveled from Europe for the U.S. museum debut of HIGHER xtn., which premiered at the Stedelijk in Amsterdam in 2018 and quickly became a fixture at kunsthalles and festivals across the continent. As the score’s tempo climbed, the choreography locked into a 16-count sequence, which the dancers executed with precise synchrony. They remained intensely focused, never making eye contact with each other, as they sought release in the endless repetition of synthesized beats. Once the dancers reached their limit, they stopped the sequence and exited the gallery, one by one.

HIGHER xtn. used the focused daylight of the gallery to highlight the meditative release found in the repetitive movements that dominate dark dancefloors. The performance’s restraint brought more consistency and intentionality than Eyal’s all-encompassing club construction in R.O.S.E. Yet both performances offer enticing entry points into club culture for those who may not frequent raves. Rizzo’s ecstatic, hypnotic repetitions reveal how the club can mirror other meditative practices, while Eyal’s interpolation of performance and clubbing helped hesitant audience members blossom by the end. Still, both works overlook one of the most underappreciated aspects of clubbing — its potential for individual expression. HIGHER xtn.’s pristine uniformity especially risks promoting the outdated techno trope that there’s a “right” way to dance to electronic music.

Maybe this shortcoming is, in fact, a benefit. For habitual ravers jaded by one too many sunrise sets, it’s a reminder to return to the club with more intention. If you pause and peer through the darkness, you’ll see hundreds of people moving to the same beat, each with their own subtle variations. This collective choreography is a ready-made spectacle that doesn’t need validation in a theater or museum. And when the music shifts slightly, you can watch the ripple effect sweep through the crowd while feeling the new beat in your body. Maybe this small bit of magic is best left on the dance floor.

Culture

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Culture

Porsche SCOPES Brings Art, Music, and Design to Toronto

The festival was a full immersion into Toronto’s dynamic creative energy. Day one set the tone with DJ collective Living Room, followed by an experimental performance by Claire Rousay that captivated the crowd. Jewelry designer Steff Eleoff unveiled her Porsche Taycan 4S art car installation—a bold fusion of automotive and wearable art inspired by her Sedona ring—while OVO Sound’s Naomi Sharon and DVSN wrapped up the night with powerful, genre-defying performances.

We witnessed SCOPES Toronto bridging underground and mainstream with day two’s lineup. DJ Korea Town Acid’s set paved the way for Angelphroot and Dameer’s debut of BASSMATI, a track blending South Asian influences with bass-driven sounds. Chippy Nonstop’s return to Toronto and Richie Hawtin’s extended set were milestones of the evening, proving that the city’s underground scene has a global resonance.

The final day featured standout performances from local pianist Harrison, Indigenous artist Tia Wood, and hip-hop visionary Sean Leon, who elevated his set with a live choir. Moonshine Collective’s film and musical performance explored themes of African utopia, showcasing art’s power to bridge culture and technology. Rising Toronto star SadBoi, who paused her tour to perform at SCOPES, further underscored the festival’s commitment to nurturing local talent.

Throughout the weekend, we experienced installations from artists like Mitsu Mitsu and culinary creations from Bar Mordecai, capturing the multifaceted creativity Porsche SCOPES brought to Toronto. This milestone 10th edition, open to all, allowed Toronto’s vibrant arts scene to thrive, underscoring SCOPES’ mission to celebrate local talent while connecting it to a global audience.

office had the chance to connect with rising star SadBoi ahead of the event. In our conversation, she shared insights into her creative journey and reflected on what performing and growing up in Toronto means to her and her work.

How are you, and where are you at right now? You told me you were traveling.

Um, I’m good, I’m feeling really good right now. I’m traveling back to Salt Lake City. I had a show yesterday in Seattle. I’m on tour right now with Coco and Claire.

How is touring life treating you? Do you like it?

I love being on the road. To be honest, I feel like I don’t know—like I’ve had good experiences and bad ones—but this time it’s really fun, especially with the people I’m surrounded by. It’s also the longest tour I’ve been on; I have about four more weeks to go. I’m trying not to think about how many days I have left.

Do you feel homesick?

Yes, because when I start thinking about how many days are left, I start to miss my dogs. I’ve just been trying to stay in the moment—I don’t even know what day of the week it is, to be honest with you.

Oh, sweet! What are your dogs’ names?

Jillian and Winston. I know, they’re crazy names.

You’ll be performing at SCOPES in Toronto, which is where you grew up. Do you feel like the crowd is different when you perform in Toronto compared to other cities?

Yes, I mean, Toronto just feels different because it’s home. Every time I come back to perform, something in my career has changed. The last time I performed in Toronto, people just wanted to have a good time, and I’m excited to perform back home again to see everyone’s reactions. I know it’s going to be different from the last time. It’s exciting to see your own growth. Toronto is a tough crowd, though. If we’re with you, we’re really with you.

So, they’re super picky? You have to gain their respect, or what is it?

I think Toronto people are in their own world, but when something really connects with them, they’ll lose themselves in the moment. But it takes something to bring them out of that. Toronto crowds are tough because even if they like you, they won’t show it outright until they’re really vibing with you.

It’s like a vibe check, right?

Exactly. They’ll enjoy your performance, but it’s hard to explain. When people visit Toronto, they often say, “Oh, you guys are so nice,” and I’m like, “I don’t think we’re that nice, we’re just polite.” Like, you can walk down the street, and no one will say anything, but it’s just our mannerisms.

You mentioned Toronto can have a moody energy, especially at night, and that the underground night scene there really inspires you. Can you talk more about what makes Toronto's nightlife so influential for you?

Absolutely, Toronto has this unique energy that comes alive at night. Similar to New York, there are the popular clubs everyone knows, but you need to find your niche—the people who know where the real parties are. I remember going to raves in high school yards, sneaking in because I wasn’t old enough. Events like Baby, Jerk!, and Yes Yes Y’all were pivotal, exposing me to DJs blending dancehall with EDM—something I hadn’t seen before. Toronto nightlife is moody and intense, but when everyone’s out, it’s like the whole city is alive.