"Prozac Nation" author Elizabeth Wurtzel has terminal cancer

Good for her. Embrace it.

She doesn't say it's terminal, op, unless I'm missing something

Stage IV is terminal.

My mistake . Thank you r3.

I wish I too were "afraid of nothing"

[quote]I am a con artist and cancer is my final con.

Don't say she didn't warn you.

Hey, OP, let us know when you have terminal illness, so we can have some fun.

Why R7?

Stage IV is not always terminal.

Read the article. She's still nuts.

If it's so unremarkable for her, why bother writing about it?

I don't care what she says, I really am sorry. I like her (and yes, I know she's a mess).

I was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer with a prognosis of 18 months, that was summer 2010. A cousin was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2011, he died two years later.

Did she try weed?

She's tried everything R14.

She's written about every damn thing in her life. I'm sure cancer does suit her - it's perfect for writing about.

Why must everyone advertise their diagnoses these days? It’s simply narcissistic to think it helps anyone else. I long for the bygone days of discretion where people dealt with their illnesses privately and with dignity. If they survived, great. If they didn’t, well no skin off our noses.

She specifically says her advanced cancer is not a death sentence (not terminal). She is on a daily pill, my mom is on a daily pill for stage 4 lung cancer and has been stable for coming up on 4 years. These targeted therapies work on a specific mutation of the cancer and can be effective for many years, though it will never be cured.

Life expectancy for Stage IV breast cancer is 26 months.

Back when the NY Observer was good (i.e. before it was bought crooked real estate scions married to same) Rich Cohen wrote a story about going to Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to be Girls. A highlight for us NYers was a brief scene where he was out, in drag, and ran into some publishing friends, including E. Wurtzel. Cohen was amazed at how super-cunty Wurtzel was to him when she thought he was a rival female.

[quote] I have cancer. Don't tell me you're sorry

None of us have a problem honoring your request, bitch.

she is and always was her messed up self.

she wrote about her life.

she told the truth and said what was real for her.

so, that does not make her a bitch. it makes her a bad ass bitch. i admire her veracity. few have it.

Still, if anyone ever anyone needed a quick smack in the mouth..............

[quote] Why must everyone advertise their diagnoses these days? It’s simply narcissistic to think it helps anyone else. I long for the bygone days of discretion where people dealt with their illnesses privately and with dignity. If they survived, great. If they didn’t, well no skin off our noses.

Because believe it or not, it does help others. When I was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer 2 years ago, I wanted to read everything about anyone who made it through any kind of cancer, and I wanted to read about the ones who didn't. I wanted information, I wanted to know what to expect, what questions to ask, to know if I'd still have a sense of humor about it, how to deal with others, how to deal with myself... so many things. Sharing someone else's experience helped me greatly. I know there's no science to it; what works for some doesn't for others and just because one person beat it doesn't mean you will and vice versa. But goddamn, did it get me through some worrisome nights, especially when i was doubting staying on chemo because it was so horrible.

And even though Wurtzel comes off as a toxic cunt in that article, I'll bet her attitude helps someone else who needs to find that particular kind of "fuck you" strength to keep going.

I don't care for her at all but I hope the medication she's on helps her. Either to beat the cancer or to lessen the severity of the pain until she passes. Cancer truly sucks.

Well said, r24, and best of luck to you. Here's to your "fuck you" strength!

I recall that her Prozac Nation cover photo was the result of her publisher saying to make her look "depressed but fuckable", and though I hate her writing, it gave me empathy for her.

W&W, R24.

Wurtzel herself is a raging narcissist, but dismissing the entire online community of cancer patients as "simply narcissistic" is even more noxious than anything that bitch ever wrote.

R23: well, don't we ALL ????

"Everyone has a plan-----until they get hit in the mouth"----Mike Tyson

I knew her slightly in college--I was in the year ahead of her, and she lived in a different dorm, but she hung out in mine all the time. She was considered completely toxic even then. Even to be friends with her was to put yourself in emotional harm's way because she was so manipulative and needy and demanding. A mutual friend who knew her better once summarized her to me thus: "Not only is she always thinking 'me, me, me,' but she's thinking you must be thinking about her all the time too, and if you aren't, she becomes absolutely furious."

I don't have a problem with her writing about her cancer, but I do have a problem with her literally shaming ("They should be ashamed") other people with cancer who aren't "cool" enough to have her "bad-ass" attitude. How other people cope with their cancer is none of her business.

I somehow dodged her in the early 90s. Everyone insisted she was an IMPORTANT writer who was PROVOCATIVE.

Good for you R13! Best Wishes and strength to continue your fight!

[quote] I somehow dodged her in the early 90s. Everyone insisted she was an IMPORTANT writer who was PROVOCATIVE.

Her writing boils down to: ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.

I wish her well and hope her journey, whatever it is, is as pain free as possible. But as a writer? She's already had far more attention than her meager talents and capabilities ever deserved.

If there was a way to make the cacerous cells read one of her books, the tumours would jump straight out of her ass and flee like the devil was after them.

W&W R35

You missed nothing but her whining, complaining, blaming everyone else for every issue in her life and heaps of pretentiousness.

R24, very well said! Hope you continue to win your fight too. Brave of you to tell that weasel off!

Sorry, my comment at R37 was for R32.

Jackie Collins had stage 4 breast cancer for 8 years.

I've had two stage 4 friends recover completely, one Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, one invasive ductal carcinoma...... My mother "beat" a terminal Sisto-Sarcoma of the breast too. All three are alive and well YEARS later, cancer free

Did she try Prozac?

She's Brett Easton Ellis with a (physical) pussy. If you like things like 'Less than Zero' you might like her stuff.

It's probably easy to have her attitude when she can afford the magic cancer treatment that's a daily pill that costs $12K a month. Perhaps not every woman with Stage IV breast cancer is so fortunate.

Cunt.

Plus, she's also got ER+ HER2+ cancer, so she actually can respond to Ibrance, Gleevec, or Tamoxifen. Fuck those losers who have triple negative tumors and their lousy attitudes.

Cunt.

Thank you, kind sir or madame R33.

Last I heard she was getting married. But that cancer article reads like she's single. Did she get a divorce?

Wasn't she fired from a bigshot law firm for being an unreliable cunt?

She claims it was an amicable parting.

Sure, just as cancer is amicably parting her from life.

Cancer....that's hilarious!

RE parting from the law firm: She said in a subsequent magazine or other piece, that she was working for Boies again. Maybe on a piecework/contract basis, who knows. And subsequent to that, NYT did a "Vows" write-up saying David Boies officiated as minister at her wedding, on the rooftop of a Soho loft. The wedding was after she went through a year or more of radiation and chemo, double mastectomy, and reconstruction, following an initial breast cancer diagnosis at Stage 2. In the initial diagnosis, she learned for the first time she was in the small group of women with the gene Angelina Jolie has, and has since been very vocal about the need for Ashkenzai Jews (a goodly proportion of those with this gene), to have genetic screening.

Yes, she remains happily married. You can see snaps of her pretty darned happy life on her publically available (natch) Instagram. She's a big dog person, and there's lots of that.

The recent, new diagnosis that moves her from the so-called "survivor" column to the "Stage IV" aka, "advanced breast cancer" aka, "MBC [metastatisc breast cancer]" status occurred recently, when a spot was found on a bone. With breast cancer, Stage IV/advanced/MBC is defined as, it has moved to another organ or site. And it can and does occur in women who were told their treatment years earlier for an initial diagnosis was successful. Some women are living for years with MBC/Stage IV using various drugs. Elizabeth Edwards was a high-profile instance.

Gotta give respect and props for the Guardian piece. She basically admits she's spent a lifetime being insufferable, got better (OK, for this person getting better is relative, but . . . ), and now has had this happen, and it's not fair, but she's not gonna hang her head in shame or have a pity party about it.

What a toxic, dreadful person.

R43, now THAT'S a low blow!

She convinced me that she is an insufferable cunt.

Thanks for the Instagram lead, r52. She's friends with Ronan Farrow! I bet she reminds him of his insane mother.

"Cancer, schmancer! I'm gonna live forever..."

R13 Did you change your diet? How did you survive the disease?

In complete denial.

Up next: Chemo Nation.

She's had Cancer for a while. She's milking it for sympathy and relevance. She and Valerie Harper should go on the road together.

Wow R41, congratulations to them!

This reminds me of the movie Melancholia. The Kirsten Dunst character was always miserable and then when the world was ending she was happy.

I didn't know she was a lawyer from Yale. Somebody up there doesn't like us women Yale lawyers.

Her husband is cute, with beautiful lips.

I'd say she's done better in the life partner department than most of the bitter souls here calling her a cunt.

[quote]I'd say she's done better in the life partner department than most of the bitter souls here calling her a cunt.

She has borderline personality disorder, has been hospitalized numerous times for it, has attempted suicide multiple times, and right now she is dying in her early 50s. You think having a handsome husband outweighs all that?

Right R66, calling someone who may have psychological issues a witch and a cunt is not shallow at all.

Perhaps her marriage made her deal with her mental issues. Not that IG is a reflection of anyone's real life, but she seems to be content in her marriage.

And, please, when did pointing out at someone's looks become a sign of shallowness on DL? It's our favorite pastime.

R66,

Has she ever admitted she had BPD--to me, she seems like a textbook case, but I've never read about her saying so. Her career's always puzzled me--but amazing what looks, a little writing talent and a flair for self-promotion can get you.

I'm sure if I worked at it, I could drum up some compassion--cancer sucks--but she's not someone who would do old age well. Sadly, going out early suits her.

[quote]And, please, when did pointing out at someone's looks become a sign of shallowness on DL? It's our favorite pastime.

It may be, but that doesn't mean it's a deep approach when talking about someone with terminal cancer.

Face it, honey: you're shallow.