the-philalethist asked: What do you think about Cat Marnell? I find reading her so interesting/problematic, because her work is so entwined with who she is, or at least with her drug habit. She's made a public spectacle of her private crisis, and we're caught between wanting her to keep going down this wasted road until she burns out and wanting her to get better - but don't we love her precisely because she is so broken? Can she have a career if she gets clean?
This is a question I am asked often. Mostly, I think, no one’s opinion on Cat Marnell really matters. How she chooses to live her life is none of our business. Of course… she kind of makes it our business in how she writes about herself and allows writers to follow her for those breathless OMG SHE IS SO SKINNY AND PRETTY AND HIGH profiles, so there’s that. Clearly, she’s getting something from all the attention, both good and bad. I suspect her favorite drug is attention but does that make her terribly different from most people?
The spectacle bothers me. I feel like, there’s so much going on in this world. Why are we so fascinated by this young woman? Addicts are everywhere. People with problems are everywhere. What is it about Marnell that has everyone in such a frenzy? It’s odd and at times, kind of boring.
Some of the public handwringing by writers bothers me. It feels a bit opportunistic and condescending. I honestly cannot read one more profile or article at this point. What more could possibly be said?
I think Marnell knows exactly what she’s doing. She is open about her narcissism.
As someone in her late thirties, the glorification of addiction and disordered eating concerns me but again, it’s not my business so my concern is just that of an older person who had a crazy twenties and thinks, “You could make things so much easier for yourself.” That’s what old folks do.
Marnell is smart. She’s a good writer who, like most of us, could be better.
She’ll definitely have a career if she gets clean or if she doesn’t. Addiction has never really stopped a creative type from having a career and what we love as much as the spectacle of someone hurtling to the bottom is someone who redeems themselves as publicly as they fall.
