Tracey Emin Autobiography

Write an autobiography? With her wild art and her even wilder life, Tracey Emin is the perfect subject. She has been alone for nearly three years — she is planning a party for the anniversary — since her relationship with her fellow YBA Mat Collishaw broke up. She makes a joke out of it, then her head drops and she stares at her fingers. The worst moment comes when I ask about having a baby. A dose of gonorrhoea years ago had led to her doctor telling her she would never conceive. Then she did, and she had an abortion. I ask her if she can have a baby now. “No,” she says impatiently, “I can’t, because I don’t f*** anyone. How could I have a baby?” Once, she appeared on television so drunk, she knew nothing about it the next morning, until her friends started ringing and she saw the papers. She had staggered off the set muttering something about having to call her mum. But she has given up spirits, chocolate, cigarettes, coffee. She says she has hardly had a drink since she passed her driving test six weeks ago: “It’s all part of the big change.” She goes to bed at 9pm and is wide awake at 3am. Tracey is clean, responsible. For the full story - click the title Irish Art