The controversial author of Prozac Nation — who popularized confessional-style memoirs and opened up the national conversation around depression — died on Jan. 7 at the age of 52. Her husband, Jim Freed, confirmed to The Washington Post that she'd been battling metastatic breast cancer, which then spread to her brain. She died due to complications from leptomeningeal disease in Manhattan, according to the newspaper.
Wurtzel was just 26 when Prozac Nation — a hyper-personal account of her struggles with depression, her dependency on drugs, and her sex life — was published, and indelibly shaped the future of the memoir genre. Friends and fans paid tribute to the author, who went on to write several more books including Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women (1998) and More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction (2001). Ronan Farrow shared a heartfelt tribute which encouraged fans to get tested for the BRCA gene, which she advocated for after her breast cancer diagnosis.