Elizabeth Wurtzel, journalist and author of Prozac Nation, dead at 52

Writer of bestselling memoir about clinical depression died from metastatic breast cancer on Tuesday

Elizabeth Wurtzel, journalist and author of bestselling memoir Prozac Nation, has died at the age of 52.

Writer David Samuels, Wurtzel’s friend since childhood, told the New York Times that Wurtzel had died from metastatic breast cancer in Manhattan on Tuesday. Wurtzel, who tested positively for the BRCA genetic mutation, was an vocal advocate for BRCA testing in her journalism, all the while maintaining a defiant attitude in the face of pity. Writing in the Guardian in 2018, she noted: “I hate it when people say that they are sorry about my cancer. Really? Have they met me? I am not someone that you feel sorry for. I am the original mean girl. I now have stage-four upgrade privileges. I can go right to the front. But it’s always been like this. I am a line-cutter. Which is to say, I was precocious. I was early for history.”

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