Six months ago, in July 2021, which means well before her situation with Kanye West, Julia Fox was profiled by Naomi Fry in The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” section. It was right around the release of Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move, in which she had a supporting role, having already been featured in the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems. The title of the piece: “A Retired Dominatrix Goes to Church”. So, as I’ve been saying over the last two weeks, since Julia lit up 2022 to become gossip’s newest superstar, Ye did not make her a thing; she’s been a thing on her own for a while. 

 

Naomi Fry writes that Julia’s childhood was “itinerant and tumultuous”. She and her father had no fixed address. A dominatrix became a role model (“I always knew it was an option”) and she ended up in a “long-term romantic relationship with a wealthy older man, a client” for five years. This is how she describes their dynamic: 

“He wanted me to marry him, and I loved him so much, but he wanted me to wear, like, Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Tory Burch. I felt like I was always playing a part.”

Given her background and personal experience – complicated, controversial to some, certainly unorthodox – it’s hilarious that people actually thought a few days ago that digging up some comments she made on her podcast a few weeks ago about being a die-hard fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians would be embarrassing for her, like smoking gun evidence that she’s just in it for the attention. 

The girl once answered a Craigslist ad to be a dominatrix for a wealthy client who eventually became her lover and tried to turn her into a Stepford wife – she’s BEEN in it for the attention, for the opportunity, for any advantage, for everything! And she’s already told us! Julia Fox has come to us as a celebrity fully formed, so this amateur hour coverage on her is not going to work. This is a woman who is ten steps ahead. 

 

As Julia also told Naomi:

“I went to, like, six different high schools. I finished school just to prove a point to people. Everything I’ve ever achieved was motivated by that. Like, this is for the haters.” 

That comment came to mind yesterday when Julia addressed her 2022 takeover on the latest episode of her podcast, Forbidden Fruits, with co-host Niki Takesh. So, clearly, Julia’s not running from it. She’s not shutting down her social media accounts, she not hiding behind a new PR firm to field her queries, she’s not changing the way she was previously engaging with the world because of her newfound notoriety. But, as always, she’s definitely taking care of her own interests. Because while last week she gave the exclusive to Interview, this week her own podcast is benefitting from this. 

Buzzfeed recapped what she had to say about hanging out with Kanye: 

"For right now, I'm just living in the moment, and I don't have any expectations. There are no labels. None of that. It's just people that make each other feel better. It's really such a Gemini/Aquarius connection. It's very inspirational."

"Our minds, we both work very fast... I talk very fast and can have 10 trains of thought," she continued. "What's really exciting about him is that any idea can become a reality, anything is possible, any dream is possible, and I love that. He's such a doer. He's like, 'Let's do it now! Don't wait.'"

 

And there’s a flex here – as she shares that she’s been in spaces now that are off-limits to almost everyone, like the recording studio: 

"It's honestly just an honor to be in the presence and to be able to witness history happening," she continued. "Even being in the studio with him and Future and listening to the new songs — which by the way are fucking insane — that's really cool. I love that."

As for the amateur hour attempt to discredit her by calling her a Kardashian fangirl? Julia hit that head-on: 

"Who wasn't a fan of the Kardashians, OK?" she said. "I'm not like die-hard, like stand-in-line-in-the-cold, or like go to like a store opening. I don't even own one lip kit. Guys, it's not really that serious."

It’s exactly how I expected her to react, and even better. A shrug, like so f-cking what? But also… “I don’t even own one lip kit” made me laugh. Because you know what? I have never finished one episode of KUWTK and I actually own a lip kit! One of Kylie’s lip kits. Because one year I bought the holiday collection for our niece and it came with a bonus pack and when I cracked open one of the matte liquid lipsticks, I was like, this sh-t is good! “Kristen” became my go-to shade for weeks after that until I ran out and ordered more and it was out of stock. 

 

The point is, whatever is being said about Julia, that she and Kanye are a set-up, that it’s just to get back at Kim, that none of it is real… 

The real part is that Julia Fox has arrived. That’s the real part that matters. Real to the point that she is now what other celebrities use as a thirst trap: 

That’s Madonna, boasting about having dinner with Julia, to talk about her movie, prompting speculation now that Julia might play her in the biopic. 

Madonna can’t be her only meeting. If she’s taking meetings with Madonna, there are probably a lot of meeting requests happening right now. Everyone wants a meeting with Julia Fox.