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Home / Entertainment

Julia Fox spills on brief ‘disturbing’ relationship with Kanye West in her memoir Down The Drain

NZ Herald
11 Oct, 2023 03:05 AM6 mins to read

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The star claims the Heartless rapper inundated her with demands and tried to control her. Photo / Getty Images

The star claims the Heartless rapper inundated her with demands and tried to control her. Photo / Getty Images

Julia Fox has lifted the lid on her disturbing relationship with Kanye West.

The Uncut Gems star, 33, who dated West for less than two months in early 2022, remembers the time as a whirlwind of control and a “sick, twisted game” for the rapper in target="_blank">her memoir Down The Drain.

Fox writes in her book that she met West — who she refers to only as “the artist” — when a pal asked if he could give her number to a “famous artist who’s been asking about me”, according to Page Six.

Soon after, a text arrived “followed by dozens of phone calls.”

At the time, Fox had just gone through a rough split from her ex-husband pilot Peter Artemiev, whom she shares her 2-year-old-son Valentino with.

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The former dominatrix revealed that she and the Heartless rapper spoke for hours over the phone, however the conversation tended to be one-sided: West spoke for majority of the time, she says, and Fox “mostly” just listened, “occasionally chiming in. When he does listen to me, he loves my ideas and thinks I’m really smart.”

West, now 46, then asked Fox to spend New Year’s Eve in Miami with him, which she turned down at first — until he chartered a private jet for the model and her friends.

The two met for the first time in-person at a club. Allegedly, the rapper - without saying a word - hugged her and held her, with “his hands scanning the folds of my body,” and she kissed his neck.

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“I know this is the beginning of something truly special,” she recalls.

After trying to chat — which was futile considering the “music was pounding” — the Yeezy founder led Fox out of the club and into a parking lot.

“The artist starts peeing on the wall and I quickly jump in front of him,” she writes. “‘You better not take any pictures!’” she shouted at bystanders.

“Once he zips his pants back up, he puts his arms around me and pulls me in close, kissing me passionately,” she shares.

Julia Fox, centre, and Kanye West who had donned a balaclava, right, at the Schiaparelli couture show in Paris in January last year. Photo / The New York Times
Julia Fox, centre, and Kanye West who had donned a balaclava, right, at the Schiaparelli couture show in Paris in January last year. Photo / The New York Times

The couple then headed to a party at a “famous rapper’s house on Star Island” - which many have speculated to be rapper Rick Ross - where the actress was dancing until one of West’s pals instructed her to stop.

A day later, the pair went for dinner at Carbone in Miami where West allegedly spent an hour rearranging the tableware. Later on, he bluntly asked Fox to be his girlfriend.

As he popped the question, a photographer started taking “candid photos of us mid-sentence.”

The Flashing Lights rapper asked, “How do you feel about taking our relationship public?” then proceeded to babble on about hiring a team of stylists for Fox, prior to agreeing to employ her pals Tammy and Liana.

The next day, Fox woke up to a test from a Page Six reporter, who had pictures from the night, making Fox question whether West himself had leaked the photographs to the media.

Later on, the pair went out for dinner in New York at Carbone, where Fox received a message from her friend Tammy instructing her to go to the bathroom. Inside were racks of clothing and Fox described the evening swirling into a movie montage as she tried on various ensembles while someone took photographs, which left her feeling like a “show monkey.”

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Julia Fox and Kanye West are seen in Greenwich Village in January 2022 in New York City. Photo / Gotham / GC Images
Julia Fox and Kanye West are seen in Greenwich Village in January 2022 in New York City. Photo / Gotham / GC Images

After the dinner, the pair went back to West’s hotel room where even more clothes were waiting, such as a slinky top that the actress said didn’t fit right without a bra.

West, in response, offered: “I’ll get you a boob job if you want.”

The next day, the Grammy winner told Fox that he had forwarded the pictures, including snaps of them making out, to Interview magazine and asked her to write a paragraph about how she met West.

“I feel like he’s using me in some weird, twisted game,” Fox writes. “It makes me feel dirty.”

Fox and her pals then received an NDA from the rapper but Fox refused to sign it.

Julia Fox is seen in March last year in Los Angeles, California.  Photo / Rachpoot / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images
Julia Fox is seen in March last year in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Rachpoot / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images

The couple arrived in Paris a week later, but things started to fall apart at the seams when West started to list the things about Fox that he didn’t like, such as her friends. The row continued on at a party at the home of “one of the most prolific artists of our time”. It was only when Ric Owens’ wife, Michele Lamy, told the couple to cut it out and enjoy the evening that things started to cool.

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A few days after the party, Fox was told that the rapper was taking a break from his phone for a month but that he would be in attendance at her upcoming birthday bash.

The actress was already at East Village restaurant Lucien for the party when she received a call telling her to meet West on the other side of Manhattan. There, she was met by her stylist friends and more clothes that had been pre-approved by West. He then made a grand entrance with five Hermes Birkin bags for Fox and her pals.

“My friends are ecstatic, but I can’t shake off the feeling that this is more of a farewell gesture than a birthday present,” Fox recalls, adding that West forced the girls to re-create the reveal moment multiple times so that the photographer could capture it.

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A post shared by Julia Fox (@juliafox)

“We do as we’re told and awkwardly throw our arms up and scream for joy as he stands off in the background, looking on with pride,” she says. “As we pose like puppets, I question his true intentions, feeling that this grand gesture is nothing more than a publicity stunt.”

What should have been a magical night ended up not so festive when West ignored Fox at a club.

She texted the rapper the next morning that she was ready to break up.

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“If you loved me, you would support me,” West is said to have written in response, prior to calling and informing her he had chatted to his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, about her.

“I didn’t know you were a drug addict,’” West complained, which angered Fox. She then reminded him that she had told him she had struggled with drugs in the past but that he hadn’t listened.

Soon after, she was bombarded with multiple texts and calls from West asking about the unsigned NDA.

“I can’t be friends with you if you don’t sign it,” he warned.

Fox then replied: “I’ll live.”

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