Jong-Fast was born on August 19, 1978 in Stamford, Connecticut,[2] to novelist Erica Jong[3] and author Jonathan Fast, and is the granddaughter of writer Howard Fast.[4] She was raised in a Jewish family, though she has mentioned that her nanny "raised [her] Catholic," despite not partaking in the sacraments.[5] Her parents divorced during her childhood, and she was raised as an only child[6] in Manhattan.[7] Jong-Fast struggled with substance abuse as a teenager, becoming alcoholic and addicted to cocaine. After going to rehab at age 19, she has remained sober for 27 years as of May 2025.[8]
Jong-Fast is the author of two novels, Normal Girl[10] and The Social Climber's Handbook,[11] and three memoirs, Girl [Maladjusted],[11]The Sex Doctors in the Basement,[12][13] and How to Lose Your Mother.[14]
In December 2019, Jong-Fast became an editor-at-large at The Daily Beast, hosting the podcast The New Abnormal.[21] In November 2021, she became a contributing writer at The Atlantic,[22] and the writer of its Wait, What? newsletter.[23] In 2022, she joined Vanity Fair as a special correspondent and began hosting the Fast PoliticsiHeart Media podcast. In January 2024, she joined MSNBC as a political analyst.[24]
Critical acclaim
In 2025, Viking Books published Jong-Fast's third memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, about the writer's relationship with her mother, Erica Jong, and the latter's struggles with dementia.
How to Lose Your Mother became a New York Times Bestseller within three weeks,[25] with The New York Times describing the memoir as a "score-settling marathon at times, but also like a loving elegy."[26]The Washington Post praised How to Lose Your Mother as a "transformative work of alchemy" with "lines so good you won't just want to underline them, you will want to cut them out to share."[27]Oprah Magazine called How to Lose Your Mother "hilarious and heartbreaking" and "the story of a singular mother-daughter relationship that will resonate with anyone who grew up playing second fiddle to a parent’s passions."[28]
↑ Jong-Fast, Molly (2006). "Tell Me About Your Mother". In Ellenson, Ruth Andrew (ed.). The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt. New York: Plume. p.19. ISBN978-0-452-28748-8. I guess I should give you a little family history. We are Jews.
↑ Alter, Alexandra (May 31, 2025). "The Devastating Book Erica Jong Always Knew Her Daughter Would Write". The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2025. Now 46 years old and 27 years sober, Ms. Jong-Fast has escaped from her mother's long shadow and become a quasi-celebrity in her own right. As a teenager, Ms. Jong-Fast started drinking heavily and did "mountains of cocaine." When she was 19, she told her mother she needed to go to rehab. In her memoir, she describes how Ms. Jong at first said she was being melodramatic before agreeing she needed help. Shortly after, mother and daughter flew to Minnesota, where Ms. Jong-Fast spent a month at a rehab facility.
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