COHEN, Ezra D.

[Deleted]

Ezra Dashiell Cohen was born on November 3rd 1992, making him twenty-two. He was raised by his parents, Adam and Lauren Cohen, in his hometown of Darien, Connecticut. Though infamous for his father's transgressions and his short-lived participation on the reality TV show Real Housewives of New York, Ezra has recently forged a name for himself as a portrait artist, focusing on the families of his father's victims.  Ezra is currently based in Boston, though he splits his time between there and New York. ...................................................... ...................................................... ...................................................... ...................................................... 6 victims. 6 visits. 6 portraits. Congrats on your exhibit, Ezra. Six portraits, each of a family member of one of your father's victims.. it must have been hard for you-- Not as hard as it was for them. -- No, no, of course not. Can you tell us a little more about how you came up with the idea? What was your creative process? To be honest, I never thought they'd agree to it. I'm going to be honest and admit that this started from a purely selfish place. I'm not sure if I've admitted this in public before, but for the first ten years... I didn't visit my dad at all. I wanted nothing to do with him. And it got to the point that I realized not seeing him wasn't allowing me to avoid him, if anything it was bigging him up, creating him into this monster of mythical proportions. That's not to say he isn't that, though. But yeah, I decided I had to visit him to get some sort of a grip on the situation. And it was through talking to him - I won't go into detail about that, I won't give him the satisfaction - but it was through talking to him, and hearing the monstrous things he was saying, that I realized if I was gonna get any sort of a hold on the emotional aspect of it, the emotional enormity of it, I was going to have to speak to his victims. Because the ones he left behind are victims just as much as the ones he claimed. So you reached out to them? Actually, one reached out to me first. Piper Donaldson, the girl in the first portrait. She's the sister of Jessica Donaldson, allegedly my father's first victim. She'd seen me on TV. Ah. Was she angry? Is she the reason you quit the show? Yes and no. Yes, she's the reason, but no, she wasn't angry and she didn't ask me to. She was curious, more than anything. That sounds glib, but I mean... she was looking for answers, she was lost, and I think she could see that I was lost too.  You two live together now, is that correct? Is that important? Well, no, but-- Piper and I are very close now. She reached out to the others on my behalf, we thought it would be more sensitive that way. I'm very grateful to her. For helping you? For saving me. ...................................................... ...................................................... • #MN - Ezra? He's a weird one. He's my classmate from way back, we've known each other since elementary school, and I think he's avoiding me. I feel pretty awkward about how things are between us now, since I haven't spoken to him since the incident. If I had one piece of advice for him it would be to open up more, it can't be good to bottle shit up. He's always been closed off. I feel like I could have made an effort, but it's all so grim. I hope he knows that I'd be happy to hang out. • #PR - Ezra? He's my roomie, first and foremost. He's my crutch, we've known each other since his father killed my sister, more or less, and I think he's very aware of that. I feel pretty good about how things are between us now, since I told him it's not his fault. If I had one piece of advice for him it would be to let go. He's always been very sweet to me. I feel like I make other people uncomfortable talking about him, but it's none of their business. I hope he knows that I'm glad he's in my life. • #HC - Ezra? He's the supporting character to a bigger character. He's my brother, we've known each other since childhood, and I think he's unfortunate. I feel pretty crap about how things are between us now, since I deleted him from my facebook. If I had one piece of advice for him it would be to leave it alone and to stop romanticizing it. He's always been in the limelight. I feel like I need the distance from him and the rest of them, but it's sometimes draining. I hope he knows that it'll never be normal and there's no use trying. ...................................................... ...................................................... Sorry to say it, but there's no way of answering that. It's not even like I think there's a universal response - what it's like for me is totally different from what it's like for the kids of some other killer, or even my own brother and sister. In fact, I never really realized how different we all are from each other until this happened. Because for Holden, you'd think nothing had happened. I guess we all became ourselves x a thousand. Penny became brutally upbeat, painfully so. Holden became unbearably selfish and withdrawn. Me... I dithered. To be honest, I didn't know how to feel about it for years. I couldn't process it at all, and I went through life dumbly, numb to it all. My mom convinced me to go on Real Housewives with her, and I said ok. Penny told me I should go to art school, and I said ok. Holden told me to man up, and eventually, eventually, I said ok to that too. 'Cause it was him judging me that finally made me stop being such a pussy about it all. I hadn't visited my dad in almost a decade, and far from that helping, it meant I was stunted that whole time. Living in this weird limbo where everything I did was completely defined by what he did, but never drawing attention to it, it wasn't until I finally went and faced him that I could find some closure.  Don't get me wrong, the first few visits were rough. Easily the hardest thing I've ever done is go back and see him that second week running, when the first one had been so awful. He knows exactly how to upset me, and Jesus, he was working overtime to try and do just that. But even then, even though I came out of that first encounter and was genuinely diagnosed with PTSD, I realized how petty he was, and how much control he'd exerted over me purely by my letting him.  I'm much better now. Art helps, talking helps, and putting some distance between myself and my mom really helps. I should have listened to Holden sooner. ...................................................... ...................................................... LEX . JACK VANDERHART . [in]FAMOUS ......................................................