What You Should Know About CHERYL STRAYED

ET CETERA

IN THE DETAILS

A PANOPLY OF ECCENTRIC BIOGRAPHICAL DATA RE: THE WILD-LY SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR

At the age of 26, devastated by her mother's untimely death from lung cancer and reeling from her divorce, Cheryl Strayed embarked on a solo, three-month, 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Despite being a novice backpacker, with no radio, no phone, no credit cards, and very little money, Strayed survived. The resulting 2012 memoir, Wild, which traces her physical and emotional battles through the Pacific Northwest, landed her on the New York Times best-seller list, where she has been ever since. With this month's film adaptation of her literary blockbuster—'written by Nick Hornby, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, and co-produced by Reese Witherspoon (who stars as Strayed)—her epic journey continues. Twenty years after her initial expedition, the 46-year-old author, who is as warm and fiercely honest in person as she is on the page, assesses the landscape.

SHE AND her husband of 15 years, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, live in Portland, Oregon, with their two children, Carver (named for the writer Raymond), 10, and Bobbi (named after Cheryl's mom), 9, in a 1914 Prairie Craftsman home purchased in 2013. They jokingly refer to it as "the house that Wild built," and it's true. They paid cash.

SHE SPENT two and a half years writing Wild. In between teaching creative writing and tending to her two small children, she used her kitchen table as a desk. On occasion, she'd seek refuge in various hotel rooms just to write for a day or two.

SHE ATTRIBUTES her impressive attention to detail to being a Virgo: "I've always been able to remember tiny facts—the name of someone's mother mentioned in passing, birthdays, the thing we were eating when we had that conversation. It's unsettling to some."

FIVE MONTHS before Wild was published, in March 2012, Reese Witherspoon was given an advance copy. Although Strayed isn't superstitious, she lit a candle in her bedroom, and "every time I would pass it I would say in a whispered tone, Reese..." Three days later, Witherspoon, eager to both produce and star in a film adaptation, called to say she wanted to option the book.

THREE MONTHS after Wild was published, Oprah had her come-toCheryl moment as well, announcing the resurrection of her beloved Book Club in order to share the gospel of Wild.

STRAYED HAS an iPhone 5 on which she receives regular calls and texts from both Witherspoon and Winfrey, whom she now considers gal pals.

SHE ALSO owns a brown 2004 Honda Ac_ cord. "It's the only car I've ever had."

ON THE trail, Strayed read 13 books—including Lolita and As I Lay Dying—each morning burning the pages she had read to lighten her load. Two books escaped the flames: she left Dubliners against a tree just north of the California border and carried The Dream of a Common Language, a collection of poems by Adrienne Rich, for the full journey.

HER BACKPACK from the trail is nicknamed "Monster." At its heaviest, it weighed nearly 70 pounds, at its lightest a mere 50. Faithfully re-created for the film, "Monster"—now empty of her tent, water pump, flashlight, books, "Better than Milk" mix, and talismanic black feather— currently resides in Strayed's basement.

IN HER formative years, she worked not only as a janitor's assistant at her high school waxing floors but also as a waitress at the Daily Queen in McGregor, Minnesota, where she grew up with her two siblings and mom. "I've made a lot of Blizzards and I'm still pretty sure I could put a curl on top of your solt-scrvc cone like a pro," Strayed says.

HENCE, HER biggest pet peeve: "Being rude to the waitstaff or housekeeping."

SHE IS a champion of promiscuity. "I think it's a great idea for various points in your life," says Strayed, who estimates her number of sex partners to be "around 30," including one farmhand she met on the trail.

HER NASCENT sexuality was shaped by the Victorian-era erotic classic Tie Pearl, a compilation of serialized porn stories, which she pinched from her mother as a teenager. They were "horribly dirty— the duchess and the pool boy ... people got whipped and caned."

HER COCKTAIL of choice is "a quality margarita with salt."

A BELOVED possession: "The copy of Black Beauty my mom read to us when we were kids. The unabridged, un-Disneyfied version."

SHE HAS conquered her fear of heights, bears, snakes, and the LIIG t dark, but she does have limits. "I have never jumped from a plane and I have no interest."

AND ALTHOUGH she can appreciate the aesthetic beauty of a perfectly turned high heel, "I honestly think the real liberation of women is profoundly connected to the shoes we wear," Strayed says. "Until we as a gender refuse to wear any shoe that would be uncomfortable to walk a mile in, we're perfectly screwed."

@vf.com TO READ THE EXTENDED INTERVIEW, GO TO VF.COM/ DEC2014.

SHE LOST boots and toenails on the trail, and so her idea of the height of luxury: "Having my feet rubbed while drinking champagne."

ON THE last day of shooting for the film, Strayed returned for the first time to the place where she began her hike in 1995. She made a cameo as the driver who dropped off a younger version of herself as she sets off for the P.C.T.

WHEN SHE asked Witherspoon for acting tips, the Academy Award-winning actress teased, "Just don't fuck it up."

STRAYED'S ONE line, delivered to her former self as she starts her journey: "Good luck." She nailed it. ELISSA SCHAPPELL

SHE'S ACHAMPION OF PORMISCUITY.