Cat Marnell kept busy after she fled New York to travel through Europe.
The “How to Murder Your Life” author, ex-magazine editor and admitted drug addict packed all of her belongings and moved to Europe “indefinitely” in June 2017, but found herself out of money relatively quickly.
“I was all good until I got to Matera, Italy. I was so tired and hot and I had this huge suitcase that I packed all wrong,” Marnell, 36, told The Cut. “I was a big idiot. I had two debit cards, and you’re supposed to keep them in separate places, but I didn’t and I lost them both at once. It was a nightmare. It was a whole month before I could get a card again. In the meantime, I had $700 cash and that was it, plus the train ticket that included a ferry ride.
“So I took the ferry from Italy to Albania, and I had to sleep on the ferry deck, literally under the rescue boat,” she explained. “I woke up covered in salt. When I got to Albania I was so scared.”
Marnell found a hostel for $9 per night, but her room didn’t have air conditioning so she slept on the roof.
“I got woken up in the morning by all these dogs having an orgy in the town square, and the call to prayer in the mosque, and I was laying there thinking, ‘This is the craziest s–t ever.’ But I was very at peace, in this weird way, and I had never really experienced that in hotels,” revealed the former health and beauty director at xoJane. “Ever since then, I’ve been much more open to weird stuff. I sleep on boats. I sleep in tree houses. I’ve gone full hobo.
“When I get low on money, I just go to a cheaper country.”
Marnell also admitted that she hadn’t paid taxes in years and owed at least $125,000. Her father paid for a tax attorney to help her out, but she’s been paying it back with a payment plan of $600 per month. Her days of drastic spending are over, she told the publication, but did admit what she bought when she got her first book advance.
“I rented that magic loft in Tribeca then I bought a bunch of nice furniture. I got one of those massive marble tables from White on White, and an Icarus Wing light, and this other Italian lamp that would change colors. I bought an embroidered pillow for $4,000,” she said.
“Then I overdosed on heroin the same day.”
As for substance abuse today, she said, “I don’t want to talk about drugs, but I’ve really cleaned that up.” She also said, “I came down to earth, in general, when I finally went away to rehab in Thailand. I went so I could write the book. … Writing a book, you just can’t be high. You have to regulate. You have to take medication. You have to sleep. I was writing every day. It took years, but at the end of it, I was a much more grounded person.”