- Do you mind if I take my shoes off? My feet are killing me. - [Interviewer] Oh you can take them off. - Thank you. - [Interviewer] Alright, Rebecca, where are you from originally? Where did you grow up? - I grew up in New York, I grew up partly in New York and partly in Paris for a few years. I've traveled all over. But I grew up on kind of lower east side, and then I moved to Brooklyn
for a bit as a foster kid so... - [Interviewer] Tell me
about your childhood. - You know, New York is very exciting, the colors, you know, really vibrant. It's not ani, you know what I mean? You're just living your life
a certain way, you know, like I went to school, and
then eventually I dropped out, and I kind of got into the party scene, and I tried my hand at modeling, I wanted to travel, kind
of like Ryan McGinley but then I realized I loved
the city too much, so... - [Interviewer] And how about
your family, your parents? - Oh, my parents are dead. - [Interviewer] Your parents are dead. - Yeah, they died, like
I was adopted kind of, and then I mostly bounced
around in foster homes. People didn't really want
me because I was trans. It was hard to find, like
they call it placement, you know what I mean, in the system, and as a kid, like I used to
get into a lot of trouble, do a lot of drugs, you know,
like they knew me for that, so, and eventually at
16 I just kind of like, fucked off I guess. - [Interviewer] So you've been living on the street for how long? - Since I was 16, so kind of
like, five, six years now. - So you're...
- I'm 22. Yeah. - [Interviewer] And where
do you stay right now? - Kind of all over because
I'm not really from LA. I had friends in Echo Park so I'm staying with them for a bit, and then I like being in east
LA because there's more space. Like I'm around Skid Row
because like its a great place to get a bang outfit, I
got this this morning. Found this entirely on the floor, and this cuff, which I love. But I like east LA because
there's more space, it's more expansive, and there's kind of a bit more greenery. Or like I'll of try and like
hike into Pasadena, and like... - [Interviewer] So you roam around? - Yeah, I guess. I mean I only really came to California because I wanted to go to Big Sur. I really, really have always
wanted to go to Big Sur since I was a kid. I spent more time in
Florida kind of originally because I was on the east
coast, I really like Florida. - [Interviewer] Where
do you sleep at night? - You know.
- Wherever? - Yeah, it's not really important to me, because if I'm asleep, I'm asleep. I guess I'm utilitarian, I don't know, I don't really care. If I can find a blanket,
I'm out, you know. - [Interviewer] And what
are you doing for money? - Sometimes I do sex work. Sometimes I do kind of
little modeling gigs. Sometimes I pan handle. You know, I just walk around
honestly and bum smokes, and find, I don't know, it's
not that I consider myself, I want to have fun. I don't want something to
get in the way of that. I'm not gonna enslave myself to have fun. I'm young while I'm young, you know, in two years I'll get an office temp job and get fat and move to the suburbs, I'm gonna be great for the
next 500 years of my life, you know, I have like two good
years of fresh young blood in me, you know, and it's
not easy in Hollywood to get a screen test as you
know, like a young trans kid and not get type cast, I guess, there aren't really roles
for anything like that, so that's not how I'm geared. But I'm just, I'm having a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun. Which I think intimidates a lot of people. - [Interviewer] What is your drug? - MDMA I guess. You can party away. I mean, if I can afford it. I smoke a lot of cigarettes. Cigarettes. - [Interviewer] Do you
get hassled on the street? - If I keep myself kind of... Yes and no. I don't really talk to other people unless I specifically get them, you know. Sure, but not really. Not how I would have presumed... Like in New York, you know,
people just say it like it is, you know what I mean, so I'll punch you right in the fucking face,
you know what I mean, you get raped, you get raped. Here in LA, there's a lot of
pretense, and a lot of CCTV, and a lot of people like,
oh, I don't want to, you know what I mean. So you kind of use that to your advantage. I guess that's the New
Yorker in me, I just... - [Interviewer] You've been raped before? - Why not, yeah, sure. I'm not a victim, people
get raped, you know. I'm happy I'm in one piece
and I didn't get my legs fucking chopped off after, you know. - [Interviewer] And so back
to your family, your parents, what happened to your parents? - Oh they died, they
died before I was born in a car crash or something, I don't know. - [Interviewer] They died
before you were born? - Oh, I mean, like before
I, it happened, anyway. I don't really want to,
if that's all right. - [Interviewer] Got it. Do you have any family,
siblings, anything like that? - I have like sisters,
you know what I mean? I have like, a lot of
sisters, like state to state. I have a lot of family,
I have more like a coven, I'm a witch, so, I have my coven. They're my family. - [Interviewer] Do you
ever talk to your family? - Oh, my coven?
Of course, all the time. Anytime I need that kind of, you know what I mean, it's there. I don't have to question
it, it's beyond family. You know, family, it's great. You know what I mean, the
American dream, mom and pops, and visit the grandparents, christmas, okay, all right, awesome. I need someone who's there for me when I'm having to explain to
a cop that I'm on my period and so therefore I can't do a blood draw, where is my vagina, okay
let's go to the hospital, you know what I mean, I have my witches. My witches are my family. My witches are all the
family I would ever need. - [Interviewer] Do you
have any friends, Rebecca? - Yeah.
- You do? Where did you meet these friends? - [Rebecca] Anywhere. - [Interviewer] Just on the street? - [Rebecca] Why not? It's not like that, you know,
people have a presumption, I guess I'm wired a little differently, I don't know, I travel, so I meet people, up, down, I don't know. I stayed at the standard before. But the one in New York, not in LA. The one in LA just... The rooms are really, really
small, and it's fixated, did a shit ton of molly,
and I ended up in Queens. Under a bridge for four days. - [Interviewer] And you
prefer LA to New York? - [Rebecca] No. But I didn't know that until I came here. I really though I was going to like, like I understand the city, I guess it's just because
I'm not like, working, I'm not like, looking for a script, and I'm more of a model than an actress, so I'm not, immediately, you know, anybody who has to sell family
oriented, which I understand, are like the studio says to resign you. So I had to find like an
indie, like grudge-rocky. No I definitely prefer New York. But I love LA, I'm here. And it's different. Modern LA is different. There isn't as much, like I don't know, people seem to really detest
a certain sort of glamor, so people want to be more,
kind of like New York, but laid back, and it's nice. - [Interviewer] How do you
think living on the street has affected you? - A great...
I have muscles now. I can think on my feet more
and I'm way more resourceful than I ever thought I could,
and I don't give half a shit, which I never thought
was ever gonna happen, I never thought I'd love myself. It just made me realize, like fuck yeah, hey man, pull your shit together, and like, I'm just like grabbing things, literally, like off, like
I literally just grabbed this lipstick and this wig, I saw this wig literally on a pile of trash
clothes and I was just like, intercept the person living in the tent, intercept, they may have a knife, but understand that there
is so much stuff here, grab the wig and run, bitch. And literally like, I'm in my J.Lo moment. Start a rad J.Lo impersonator in Reno. I fucking love it, because why not? I'm free, I guess. I'm young, and a model, and I'm free. No really, I fucking love
it, I really, really love it. I'm not suffering the way
people want me to suffer. Like yeah I get hungry, yeah
I get freaking irritated, I want a cigarette, fine,
oh, I'm broke, okay. But like, I'm really not, like things aren't, this
isn't Darfur, you know. These are very expansive times. - [Interviewer] And so,
where do you like, eat? What do you do for food? - If I'm really hungry,
like if I'm to that point, I'll sit outside a
McDonald's and just be like, can someone buy me something? Or you can drop in and get
food places, I don't know. It's LA, no one really eats, right. You kind of just ask someone for the rest of their fucking sweet cream or something. You can ask people for leftovers. I don't like, again, at that
point it's not about necessity, like I'm not, you know, this
isn't Detroit, you know, like there are things around here, there are resources around here, there are people around
here, you know what I mean. There are celebrities
around here who can chitchat very nicely for a cigarette, I guess. One story I love, I met
Adwoa Aboah on the beach, she was shooting for W magazine, seven in the fucking morning, and I was like coming down hard, I had just gotten out of
a rave, I ran up to her, I'm like Adwoa, I fucking
love you, she gives me a hug, she gives me a smoke, security, I'm like, I'm glad I got that experience. And thank you for that. I guess I love, I fucking love... I keep trying to meet Troy Spelling but Tori Spelling is very hard to find. I love Tori Spelling, I love Rachel Zoe... - [Interviewer] So you're down here on Skid Row today for what? - Oh, for clothes, I come
to Skid Row for clothes. I come to Skid Row for clothes and then I go downtown for cigarettes, and then from there I kind
of start to meander around for whatever it is, eventually
I just get lost, you know. I know Skid Row clothes, downtown smokes. Skid Row, you don't get
a smoke from anyone, no one fucking likes you,
no one wants to like you, you don't know them, they don't know you, good for you, grab shit off the floor, put it on, look at yourself, go downtown, immediately attempt to schmooze. - [Interviewer] All right Rebecca, thank you so much for talking to me. - [Rebecca] Thank you, thanks Mark, yeah. - [Interviewer] Good luck out there. - [Rebecca] Thanks, yeah. Did I just get paid 40 bucks? - [Interviewer] You did. - [Rebecca] You're not gonna
give me an iTunes gift are you, please, cause I really don't
know where to go to cash those. They still give those out. Thank you Mark. Thank you so much for this opportunity. - [Interviewer] You're
really beautiful, actually. You photograph beautifully. - [Rebecca] I've shot before,
I shot for Marc Jacobs once. I don't know, I don't feel like I'm
very beautiful, honestly. I feel like I'm, you know,
you know like how people, like the weird one, you know what I mean? Like the one with the little
fucking giant forehead? I feel like that. - [Interviewer] What do you
want to be when you grow up? - [Rebecca] I want to be an Olsen. - [Interviewer] A what? - [Rebecca] I'm obsessed
with the Olsen twins. I wish I could be like them
one day, they're so cool. They're the coolest ever. And I love how they dress,
they're very fashionable.
