Housemates JULIA FOX and RICHIE SHAZAM on MOVING IN together, the beauty of CHOSEN FAMILIES, and what it means to MAKE A HOME

In January 2023, Julia Fox posted a tour of the Manhattan apartment she was living in with her young son, Valentino, to TikTok, and it immediately went viral.

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The space in the video-a small and cluttered two-bedroom- came as a surprise to fans who had become accustomed to seeing photos of Fox wearing elaborate designer looks at high-profile events. Some followers roasted her for how "regular" the place appeared, while others praised her for her transparency around what single parenthood looks like for so many New Yorkers. (Fox and Valentino's father split in 2020.) What most viewers didn't know was that Fox had been working to save up enough money to buy a more permanent home for herself and her son. Four months later, it was revealed that she had copurchased a 19th-century brownstone in Harlem for $2.9 million with her best friend since high school, the model, photographer, and filmmaker Richie Shazam. The two planned to live in it together with Valentino and Shazam's boyfriend, Ben Draghi, a composer and filmmaker.

For both Fox and Shazam, purchasing the brownstone was about much more than securing a physical space for themselves and the people close to them, having each experienced tumultuous childhoods and even homelessness at times. Fox, who catapulted to fame following her scene-stealing role in the Safdie brothers' 2019 film, Uncut Gems, grew up in New York City with her father, eventually setting out on her own at the age of 17. Shazam, who is trans, was raised in Queens in a strict Guyanese immigrant family; her mother, who was one of her greatest supporters, passed away while she was in high school, and her relationship with her father was fraught.

As teenagers, Fox and Shazam met at a party and quickly found home in each other. Their lives and careers have been inextricably intertwined ever since-through their clubbing days, the loss of some of their best friends to drugs, their journeys getting sober, Fox's pregnancy, Shazam's transition, and now joint homeownership.