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Alex Kuczynski
Born
Alexandra Louise Kuczynski

(1970-12-06) December 6, 1970 (age 53)
Lima, Peru
EducationBarnard College (BA)
Occupation(s)Journalist, writer
Parent
RelativesJohn Casey (uncle)
Joseph E. Casey (grandfather)
Maxime Hans Kuczyński (grandfather)

Alexandra Louise Kuczynski (born December 6, 1970) is a Peruvian reporter, who has written for the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, and is the author of the award-winning 2006 book Beauty Junkies about the cosmetic surgery industry. The book was translated into ten languages.

Biography

Her father, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Lima,[1] is an economist and politician, who was the 66th President of Peru. Her mother is Jane Dudley Casey, daughter of Joseph E. Casey, member of the U.S. House for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district. Kuczynski's paternal grandfather was physician specializing in tropical diseases Maxime Hans Kuczyński, a Jewish emigrant from Germany, who founded the first leper colony in South America.[2] Her maternal uncle is novelist and translator John Casey and her paternal first cousin once removed is French film director and screenwriter Jean-Luc Godard.

After graduating from Barnard College in 1990, she became a journalist with the New York Observer and then the New York Times. On September 10, 2001, she was transferred by Howell Raines from media reporter to the style section, where Kuczynski would write "the sort of pop-feature pieces that would appeal to the Times national audience."[3] She has been described as "a giddy blast. She always would have 10 ideas at story meetings and eight of them would be terrible and two would be brilliant."[4] Under her byline, the word "horny" first appeared in the Times, in reference to a story about female Viagra; she later said, "I wear that as a badge of honor."[5]

Kuczynski married investor Charles Porter Stevenson Jr. in 2002, with whom she has two children.[1] He initiated divorce proceedings against her in 2019.[6] She is estimated to have a net worth of $75 million.

In 2006, she authored a book about the growth of the cosmetic surgery business:[7] Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession with Plastic Surgery (ISBN 978-0-385-50853-7). Reviewers have noted that readers of the book "may take a pass after reading this exposé about extreme makeovers."[8] Kuczynski concluded, "Looks are the new feminism, an activism of aesthetics. As vulgar and shallow as it sounds, looks matter more than they ever have—especially for women. When Eleanor Roosevelt was asked if she had any regrets in life, she said that she had one: she wished she had been prettier."[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Alex Kuczynski, Charles Stevenson Jr". The New York Times. December 1, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  2. ^ "Peru president, son of Jewish refugee, tells Trump he prefers 'bridges to walls'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  3. ^ Auletta, Ken (2004). Backstory: inside the business of news. Penguin Group. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-59420-000-7. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  4. ^ New York Observer (2009). The Kingdom of New York: Knights, Knaves, Billionaires, and Beauties in the City of Big Shots. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-169540-7. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  5. ^ "As a Grown-up, Alex Kuczynski Learned That People Are Both Gay and Retarded". New York Magazine. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  6. ^ Vincent, Isabel (September 5, 2020). "New York Times writer blindsided by divorce from hedge fund hubby". Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  7. ^ Levin, Judith (2008). Obesity and Self-Image. Rosen Publishing Group. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-4042-1768-3. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  8. ^ Hammond, Margo; Heltzel, Ellen (2008). Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures. Da Capo Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7382-1229-6. Retrieved October 24, 2010. Alex Kuczynski.
  9. ^ Berry, Bonnie (2008). The power of looks: social stratification of physical appearance. Ashgate Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7546-4758-4. Retrieved October 24, 2010.

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