Cat Marnell

{{Short description|American writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Cat Marnell | image = Cat Marnell at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe October 2012.jpg | alt = Marnell at Housing Works Bookstore Café in New York City, October 2012 | caption = Marnell at Housing Works Bookstore Café in New York City, October 2012 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1982|09|10}} | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | death_date =  | death_place = | alma_mater = The New School (BA) | occupation = Writer | known_for = }} '''Caitlin Elizabeth Marnell''' (born September 10, 1982) is an American writer and media commentator based in New York City. She was a beauty editor at ''Lucky'' and XoJane, wrote a column for ''Vice'', and has also written for ''Self'', ''Nylon'', and ''Glamour''. She is the author of the ''New York Times'' bestselling memoir ''How to Murder Your Life'', which was published in 2017.

==Early life and education== Marnell was born on September 10, 1982, in Washington, D.C. She was named after Caitlin Thomas. Her mother is a licensed clinical social worker and her father is a psychiatrist. At 15, Marnell began attending Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://twitter.com/Cat_Marnell/status/146639900102500352|title = Cat Marnell – Twitter|date = December 13, 2011|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = Twitter|publisher = Twitter|last = Marnell|first = Cat}}</ref> She was a strong student academically, but at 17 was expelled weeks before graduation. She finished high school at Emerson Preparatory School in Northwest Washington, D.C.

She then attended The New School in Greenwich Village, where she studied nonfiction writing.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://jezebel.com/here-is-cat-marnells-500k-book-proposal-471216637|title = Here Is Cat Marnell's $500K Book Proposal|date = April 8, 2013|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = Jezebel|publisher = Gawker Media|last = Sauers|first = Jenna}}</ref>

==Career== ===''Lucky''=== While attending The New School, Marnell interned at beauty magazines, eventually earning the title of beauty assistant at ''Lucky'' in 2007. She attended rehab in Connecticut for a month, and when she returned she was promoted to associate beauty editor. She worked at ''Lucky'' for two and a half years before quitting after failed attempts at sobriety. After overdosing on Xanax and Ambien<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marnell |first=Cat |title=How to Murder Your Life |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2017 |pages=203}}</ref> in her apartment and spending two weeks at Bellevue in 2011, she said she "vowed never, ever to lie to a job again: they could take me or leave me with my drug stuff."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/12/the-girl-who-wrote-about-drugs-cat-marnell-on-vice-addiction-more.html|title = The Girl Who Wrote About Drugs: Cat Marnell on Vice, Addiction & More|date = September 12, 2012|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = The Daily Beast|publisher = The Daily Beast Company|last = Dickson|first = Caitlin}}</ref>

===XoJane=== Shortly after being released, she was hired by Jane Pratt to become beauty and health director of XoJane. Her writing was "shrouded in irreverent yet deeply personal anecdotes" with frequent references to her drug use, hospitalizations, and mental illnesses.<ref name=":0" /> She first received widespread attention when she wrote about using emergency contraception as her primary birth control, which spread through Twitter.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/magazine/watching-a-spectacular-public-meltdown-with-just-a-hint-of-jealousy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title = Watching a Spectacular Public Meltdown With Just a Hint of Jealousy|last = Hepola|first = Sarah|date = August 8, 2012|work = The New York Times Magazine|access-date = November 11, 2014}}</ref> Her position was controversial – Anna David at The Fix wrote that Marnell "wins applause for her bravery" in speaking openly about drug use, while Hamilton Nolan at Gawker described her as a "dust-smoking suicidal narcissist downtown swinger beauty columnist".<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.thefix.com/content/fame-marnell-could-spell-disaster-10093|title = Fame Could Be a Cat-astrophe|date = September 12, 2012|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = The Fix|publisher = The Fix|last = David|first = Anna}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gawker.com/5924557/all-those-beauty-products-are-making-you-depressed |title=All Those Beauty Products Are Making You Depressed |date=September 9, 2012 |access-date=November 11, 2014 |website=Gawker |publisher=Gawker Media |last=Nolan |first=Hamilton |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112001715/http://gawker.com/5924557/all-those-beauty-products-are-making-you-depressed |archive-date=November 12, 2014 }}</ref>

===''Vice''=== Just days after her open letter, Marnell was hired by ''Vice'' for a column called "Amphetamine Logic". Described as darker than her previous work, it focused around Marnell's drug use and day-to-day life. In November, she went to rehab in Thailand on assignment for Vice but did not write anything.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9987995/Cat-Marnells-documented-drug-addiction-style-and-substance-galore.html|title = Style and substances: Cat Marnell's documented drug addiction|last = Morris|first = Alex|date = April 15, 2013|work = The Telegraph|access-date = November 11, 2014}}</ref> When she returned, she began taking drugs again and wrote final goodbye columns for ''Vice'' in September 2012 and January 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/amphetamine-logic-the-end-part-i-by-cat-marnell/|title = The End, Part One|date = September 6, 2012|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = VICE|publisher = VICE|last = Marnell|first = Cat}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/goodbye-to-all-that-the-end-for-now/|title = Goodbye to All That (the End for Now)|date = January 3, 2013|access-date = November 11, 2014|website = VICE|publisher = VICE|last = Marnell|first = Cat}}</ref> Altogether, she wrote 11 articles in the series.

===''How to Murder Your Life''=== Marnell's memoir, ''How to Murder Your Life'', was released in 2017 and became a ''New York Times'' bestseller.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baila |first1=Morgan |title=Cat Marnell Is Lonely All The Time, But Still Has A Lot To Say |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/10/8588941/cat-marnell-self-tanner-for-the-soul-interview |website=Refinery29 |access-date=29 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref> The book reflects on her battle between ambition and addiction.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Waldman |first1=Katy |title=Glamorous Wounds |url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/02/how-to-murder-your-life-by-cat-marnell-and-all-the-lives-i-want-by-alana-massey-reviewed.html |website=Slate |date=24 February 2017}}</ref>

Penelope Green wrote for ''The New York Times'' that the book was "as compelling — and as problematic — as [Marnell's] magazine writing: vivid, maddening, heartbreaking, very funny, chaotic and repetitive, as benders are".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Penelope |title=Cat Marnell, a Former Beauty Editor, on Her New Addiction Memoir (Published 2017) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/style/cat-marnell-addiction-memoir-how-to-murder-your-life.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 March 2025 |language=en |date=27 January 2017}}</ref>

==Audiobook== In October 2019 Marnell released ''Self-Tanner for the Soul'' <ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/books/cat-marnell-audiobook-self-tanner-soul.html|title = Cat Marnell Is Back From the Brink|date = October 16, 2019|work = New York Times}}</ref> with Audible, recounting her European escapades with XL Airways UK.

==See also== *Team Facelift *Lucky (magazine) *Nimrod Kamer

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marnell, Cat}} Category:American fashion journalists Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Washington, D.C. Category:The New School alumni