Why Julia Fox Was Never The Same After Uncut Gems
The following article includes discussions of addiction.
When A24's "Uncut Gems" hit theaters in 2019, all anyone could talk about was Adam Sandler's standout dramatic performance as gambling addict jeweler Howard Ratner — a far cry from his usual comedic roles. Except, Sandler wasn't the only gem in the film's phenomenal cast. Among the top talent, former NBA superstar Kevin Garnett and Grammy award-winning artist The Weeknd impressed critics with their feature acting debuts playing themselves. Joining with her own feature acting debut was then-unknown actor Julia Fox, who played her curated on-screen doppelganger Julia — Howard's showroom saleswoman and mistress.
How exactly did this local New York City celebrity known for launching her own fashion line, being featured in Playboy's last nude edition, and shocking onlookers with her underground artistry get cast in one of the biggest films of the year? The same way she approaches everything in life — by being unapologetically herself. After meeting the filmmaking duo of Josh and Benny Safdie years earlier through a chance encounter at the SoHo café Jack's Wife Freda, Fox received a phone call about a role in their upcoming film "Uncut Gems" specifically made with her in mind. Without a second thought, she knew this would be her big break. Little did she know, though, that accepting the part would change her life in ways she never could've imagined.
The role of a lifetime
Before securing her breakout role in "Uncut Gems," Julia Fox lived an unconventional life as a self-proclaimed New York "hood celebrity," as described in her 2023 autobiography "Down the Drain. Throughout the years, she dabbled in various creative endeavors while juggling a long-term drug addiction, but in 2017, after joining a recovery program, Fox was ready to begin a new chapter. Through a collection of blood-painted canvases (yes, it was her real blood), Fox created an art show titled "R.I.P Julia Fox" to signify her rebirth. Just one year later, she began filming "Uncut Gems."
There are a lot of similarities between Fox and her "Uncut Gems" character, Julia De Fiore. Fox is the epitome of the headstrong Manhattan party type. After Josh Safdie reached out to Fox about the part, the parallels between her and the character only grew stronger. As far as Fox and the Safdie brothers were concerned, Fox was made for the role, but before she could book it, she had to convince the studio. Executives thought someone like Lady Gaga or Jennifer Lawrence should fill the role, but that didn't deject Fox from pursuing this life-changing opportunity. "Pretty much every single girl in New York auditioned for the role of Julia," Fox told The New York Times. "And they all knew that it was my role ... They thought it was a movie about my life." Ultimately, Fox was able to sway the studio with her knockout screen tests with costar Adam Sandler.
Learning to forgive and start anew
Another part of Julia Fox's plan to start anew was finding the strength within her to forgive and forget an ex-boyfriend who subjected her to years of toxic, emotionally draining behavior. After securing her role in "Uncut Gems," she finally felt empowered to leave him behind for good. According to Fox's memoir "Down the Drain," the day she received the news, she called him up, unsure if she was doing so to rub her good fortune in his face or subconsciously seek his validation.
Surprisingly, he congratulated her. "I knew you would. You're a star," Fox remembers him saying. That was all she needed to let go. No longer did she feel the need to constantly prove herself or change to fit his expectations. "When I hang up the phone, I'm aware this is the last time I'll ever call him. I won't be taking him with me to the next phase of my life, and I'm not the least bit sad about it," she writes.
Forging a profound friendship
As Julia Fox was breaking off relationships that were no longer serving her, she was simultaneously building a new, fast-forming friendship with someone who would soon become her closest confidant. According to her memoir, Fox first met Gianna Valdes at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where they were both seeking help for drug addiction. Shortly after their first encounter, Fox began filming "Uncut Gems." This was her first time ever being on a movie set of this scale. It was an intimidating experience, to say the least, so to help calm her nerves, Fox invited Valdes to be her plus-one on set. The two became inseparable, for better or worse, supporting each other and engaging in well-intentioned hijinks. Fox even referred to her friend as "an unofficial crew member."
Although Fox and Valdes shared something special, they never came across as cliquey or excluded anyone from their two-person circle. Fox describes the cast and crew as her second family during this time and shares memories of her and Valdes having a slumber party with Kevin Garnett and playing basketball with Adam Sandler. However, these peaks make up only half of the story, as for every high, there existed a corresponding low.
Drug use and on-set sickness
Despite attending A.A. meetings, Julia Fox and her friend Gianna Valdes continued their drug use, both on and off the set of "Uncut Gems." The two friends pushed their limits with irresponsible binges that would often leave them sick or hungover. Fox recounts a couple of instances in her memoir, one being the time she took some bad pills the night before the first day of filming and spent all night throwing up. Arriving at work in a sleep-deprived state, she found it fortunate that her condition suited the scene in which her character had recently had a long night of partying.
Another instance involved Valdes projectile vomiting in the bathroom after the two sniffed the opioid Roxicodone in anticipation of Fox's make-out scene with Adam Sandler. Fox revealed that anytime she watches that scene, all she can think about is her sick friend. They knew they had a problem, but it would take something much more devastating to wake them up to the harsh reality of addiction.
Grieving the loss of an old friend
While having her hair and makeup done on the "Uncut Gems" set one day, Julia Fox's perspective on life took a drastic turn when she received a devastating phone call that her long-time friend had died of a drug overdose. Not only was Fox suddenly forced to grapple with the grief of losing a friend without letting it get in the way of her work, but she was also confronted with the severity of her own addiction. Up until that point, Fox had been on and off with her drug use, unable to quit for any substantial duration. With her drug habit escalating during filming, Fox realized she had no choice but to give it all up for good.
However, her friend Gianna Valdes didn't share the same commitment to sobriety. As Valdes had not been as close to Fox's late friend, she didn't feel the personal impact of her death and, as a result, saw no reason to give up her own drug use. At least, that's what she convinced herself and Fox of. Fox, on the other hand, obviously had a different mindset and tried to open Valdes' eyes to the tragedy of it all. The whole situation marked the beginning of a shift in Fox and Valdes' friendship that only escalated as time went on.
Finding new romance
Love was in the air at the "Uncut Gems" wrap party, where Julia Fox cozied up to longtime friend Peter Artemiev through the late hours of drinking and smoking. Fox might not remember much from that night, but the one thing she does remember is never leaving Artemiev's side. According to her interview on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, the two first met as teenagers, but the slight age gap prevented anything from happening. Into adulthood, Artemiev had a girlfriend, and it wasn't until they broke up and the two rekindled at the wrap party that sparks started to fly. Everyone was happy about the new romance but Gianna Valdes, who felt as though she was being replaced as Fox's partner in crime, according to "Down the Drain." However, this didn't stop Fox and Artemiev from marrying only one month later in November 2018.
In her memoir, Fox remembers their honeymoon stage being more than perfect, but after only two years of marriage, she and Artemiev officially divorced amid the COVID-19 lockdown in July 2020. By then, Fox was already pregnant with their son, Valentino. When she gave birth in January 2021, the two had to learn how to navigate co-parenting, which proved to be difficult when Fox took to Instagram to call Artemiev out for being a deadbeat dad. Fortunately, they eventually worked out their issues, which prompted Fox to make a statement in The Cut apologizing for airing out her grievances so publicly.
Red carpet looks by a style icon
Before Julia Fox broke into acting, one of her many creative outlets involved running her own luxury knitwear line called Franziska Fox. However, anyone who's seen Fox's red carpet looks during the promotion of "Uncut Gems" won't find this past business venture at all surprising. Her introduction to the red carpet during the film's premiere showcased her style instincts and forecasted her further submersion into the fashion scene as one of today's biggest trendsetters.
Fox's style has since evolved into something much more bold and daring. Being thrust into the public eye after "Uncut Gems" had a lot to do with how she started seeing herself from an outsider's perspective. Once she began to dress more for the girls and less for the male gaze, as she put it during BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, Fox discovered her true style and a new confidence within.
"And men started reacting like, Wait, what happened to her? She used to be so hot," Fox told The New Yorker. "And I leaned into it. I was, like, Oh, great, they hate me — and I love it. The more they hated me, the more fun it was to keep doing it." Now, you can find Fox walking runways and appearing in tons of editorials and campaigns, influencing the fashion world at large.
The greatest loss of all
After all of Julia Fox's hard work, "Uncut Gems" finally hit theaters in 2019, but her celebration was cut short when she learned that Gianna Valdes had died from a drug overdose involving fentanyl. Writing about it in her memoir, Fox describes shutting down and retreating inward during her grieving period. She put the blame on herself, feeling guilty about spending less time with her in the early days of her marriage.
Valdes continued to support Fox up until her death. In her memoir, Fox remembers seeing her alone in the general audience during the "Uncut Gems" New York premiere, cheering Fox on as enthusiastically as ever. The last texts Fox received from her late friend were words of encouragement, but by the time she replied, it was already too late. Fox had already been sober prior to this, but Valdes' death has been a driving force in keeping her clean. "If I even have a thought [of using], that is very quickly wiped out when I think of her. I just know in my heart that I'm never going to do that again," she said on "Call Her Daddy" (via Mamamia).
A-list celebrities slide into her DMs
More famous than ever before after "Uncut Gems," Julia Fox writes in her memoir that she began receiving Instagram DMs from a horde of A-list celebrities looking to take her out. Of course, by the time "Uncut Gems" hit theaters, Fox was already married, but her divorce meant entering a whole new dating world with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Outside of her relationship with her ex-husband, Fox kept her dating life as private as possible — that is, until Kanye "Ye" West came along. Sliding into DMs may not be Ye's style, but after meeting through a mutual friend, he and Fox apparently hit it off and started a very public relationship.
News about the couple was all anyone could talk about during those intense few months they were together. Even after being known for "Uncut Gems," this was unlike any attention Fox had received before. However, being Ye's "muse," as she described it on "Call Her Daddy," wasn't all it was cracked up to be. "I learned very quickly that I was being weaponized," Fox told The Los Angeles Times in September 2023. "I just felt like his little puppet." The two ultimately broke things off in February 2022.
Poor timing
Julia Fox's big break couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time. Just a few months after the release of "Uncut Gems," the whole world went into a COVID-19-induced lockdown, forcing Fox to put her career on hold during a time when she should have been building on her newfound success. During this period of isolation, however, Fox was dealing with more than just professional uncertainty, as she describes in "Down the Drain." She was grappling with the recent loss of her best friend and navigating the complexities of a divorce, all while in the midst of her second trimester of pregnancy, which also caused Fox to fear for her career in an industry where pregnancy is often viewed as a career-ending for certain women.
Eventually, the light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, as Fox received an offer to join the cast of the 2021 crime thriller "No Sudden Move." It became clear that not even a worldwide pandemic could slow her down from achieving her wildest dreams.
Opening the door for more opportunities
If there's one thing to take away from all this, it's that Julia Fox was destined for show business, and she's not going anywhere anytime soon. Her journey was seemingly written in the stars since her birth when the delivery nurse told her mother, "With eyes like this and a name like Julia Fox, she's going to be a movie star!" — an anecdote Fox shares in her memoir. After her mainstream debut in "Uncut Gems," she has consistently made power moves as if her rise to stardom were a game of 4D chess.
Most recently, she added author to her resume with 2023's "Down the Drain," detailing the nitty gritty of her whirlwind of a life. She mentioned to The Telegraph that she is currently adapting the memoir into a film and concurrently finding funding for another, original screenplay. Meanwhile, Fox may have just entered her pop star era after opening her New York book launch with a performance of a new original song. You'll also find her in the upcoming dark comedy film "The Trainer," or simply on the streets of New York serving jaw-dropping looks.