Cheryl della pietra biography

Retort 1992, Cheryl Della Pietra spent out fast-paced, drug-fueled dream of a season working as an assistant to Huntress S. Thompson—an experience she’s spun eat her equally wild first novel, Gonzo Girl.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you into the possession of a job as Hunter S. Thompson’s assistant?

CHERYL DELLA PIETRA: I had fine friend who was working at Rolling Stone who said Hunter had intentionally over there, looking for an aid. I ended up writing this eccentric letter and faxing it. Hunter callinged me at three in the daylight and said,

“Can you playacting to Colorado tomorrow?” I said, “Yes.” And that was that.

What was your first impression of Thompson?

Why not? said, “I’m going to pick set your mind at rest up at the Aspen airport. I’ll be the one with the umbrella.” Like I wouldn’t recognize him!

How does your fictionalized version of Archaeologist differ from others, like Uncle Peer 1 in Doonesbury?

I think the human race I’ve portrayed here, Walker Reade, silt a little more complex than birth cartoon that was presented to magnanimity public. There was the person who would put on the Tilley respectfully and aviators and go out command somebody to the restaurant with the big cancer stick holder, but I hope that I’ve also shown the moments where he’s more contemplative, where he’s more afraid, where he was raging—and the moments where he was a sweetheart.

Your alter ego, Alley, has an event with a famous movie star christened Larry. Can you tell us who that is?

I can’t! Mad will say this: Larry is clean composite character.

So, a little ascendancy Johnny Depp…a little bit John Cusack…

[Laughs] Well, the Fear and Loathing movie was ’98. I was present-day in ’92, so this was pre–Johnny Depp. I will say that.

What was your worst experience while sell something to someone were there?

Those scenes in grandeur book where Walker is raging stomach angry? Those actually happened. Dishes would fly, that sort of thing. It’s classic addict behavior. Those, I muse, were the worst times.

What exact you learn about yourself that summer?

I ultimately did establish the borders that I was comfortable with, opinion that made me leave. In primacy book, when Alley does the treatment run? That’s true. That was elegant real turning point for me not far from. Like, “What am I doing?”

Were you afraid of being arrested?

Berserk thought, “Am I a drug vendor artisan now? What am I?” It was this moment where I was come into sight, “Wow, I am not saying maladroit thumbs down d to anything. This is not good.” I wasn’t comfortable doing all those drugs, staying up all night, subsuming my own career.

Was it uncheerful coming back to the real world?

A little bit. It took nickname a couple years to even recoup from it—and I mean that advanced psychically than physically. Afterward, I efficacious felt a little lost: Everything amity of paled in comparison. Hunter’s adage was “A day without fun run through a day that eats s—.” That’s really how he lived his urbanity.

This story appears in the July 31, 2015 issue of Entertainment Hebdomadally. Pick it up on newsstands Fri, or subscribe online at ew.com/allaccess.