Emily J Fox

Writer Emily J Fox is brilliant and funny. She has a wonderfully open and inviting personality and she is a great listener.  I loved her from the minute we met. Learn about what inspires this powerhouse and how she ended up writing a bestselling book about the current First Family.

How did your writing career begin? Were there any major obstacles you faced? How did you handle them?

I was born nosy and I’ve been obsessed with news since I was a kid. Growing up, I would put a thermometer under a lamp to fake sick and convince my mom I needed to stay home from school so that I could watch the news. When friends would go ice skating on Friday nights, I would sometimes skip out so I could be home in time to watch 20/20 and Dateline. And I used to stare at people in restaurants so that I could read lips and figure out what they were saying to each other, just out of curiosity (I may still do this). So I had all the makings of being a reporter. A million internships, creative writing classes as an undergraduate, and a masters in journalism sort of sealed the deal.

What inspires you?

It is fairly hard to be uninspired as a reporter. From voter fraud or threats to our democracy, climate change or children being detained at the border, abuses of power or the powerless finding a voice, potential corruption or collusion or a constitutional crisis thrown in for good measure, there is a torrent of what would ordinarily be stories of a lifetime to cover. Only, instead of them coming once in a lifetime, they seem to come once every day (sometimes, on any given Friday afternoon, all at once!).

Why did you decide to write a book about the Trump Family?

At first, I turned the idea down. I had been covering the family throughout the campaign, and a wise literary agent approached me with the idea about a month before the election. I ghosted her after the meeting, because, like everyone else did, I figured that he would lose the election and no one would much care about the family after that. And then he won. I woke up the morning after election day and wrote the patient agent an email saying: let’s do this. It turns out, people did care about them, rightfully so, because they ended up being at the center of just about everything for the last two years.

What is your definition of beauty?

I think everyone is at their most beautiful when they’re doing something to take care of themselves, whether it’s after they stand up for themselves at work or finish a work out or wash off their Masque Vivant. The sort of confidence it gives you manifests itself physically. At least that’s what I tell myself before I stand up for myself/go into a workout/take the time to put on a mask.

Do you have any favorite products/beauty tips?

Time with you is my ultimate beauty tip, of course. In your absence, I cling to my P50. I would trade an appendage for it.

Tell us a secret that nobody else knows.

My job requires me to keep a lot of secrets.  You and  Alec, often get the inside track on particularly juicy news days….