Cazzie David Shares The ‘high-stakes’ Mindset That Inspired Her New Book, ‘delusions'

It’s not that Cazzie David always wanted to become a writer. The way she sees it, there just weren’t any other options. “I genuinely couldn’t do anything else,” says David, 31. “I was told that my personality lent itself very well to writing, and that it might be the only way I could survive or be happy in the world.” It makes sense that the writer and actor has a way with words; her dad is Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David, after all. “It was an unbelievable privilege to growup surrounded by comedy giants,” she says. “That definitely helped me find my own comedic voice.”

From a young age, she’s been inspired by “women who transcended different mediums,” such as Elaine May, Nora Ephron, Lena Dunham, and Dorothy Parker. “You can easily identify their work because their voices are so strong,” says David, who has infused her own deadpan delivery into a wide range of creative efforts. She wrote and starred in the web series Eighty-Sixed in 2017; published her book of New York Times–bestselling essays, No One Asked For This, in 2020; appeared in the third season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy in 2022; and co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the film I Love You Forever in 2024. Along the way, she wasn’t fazed by what people might expect of Larry David’s kid. “I think I was too young to actually understand that kind of pressure,” she says. “And I don’t know if that helped me or hurt me, to be honest.”

While her dad reads all of her work, David doesn’t ask him for career guidance often. “It’s kind of like getting dating advice from a supermodel, because it doesn’t apply to my experience,” she says. “He’ll say, Don’t take the notes, just quit—they won’t want you to walk away. And it’s like, No, they will be absolutely fine with me walking away.” In one particularly moving moment, she received Montblanc’s cosmos-inspired Starwalker Metal ballpoint pen as a gift from her father. David, who collects pens, writes by hand whenever she needs “to get away” from her phone or computer. “It felt encouraging, and I just started crying on the spot,” she says of first seeing the treasured item, which boasts a sleek platinum-coated design and a blue translucent dome. “There’s nothing easier to lose than a pen, so I don’t ever use it because I’m too scared to lose it. Even though it is also the only pen I have now, considering I have lost all the others.”

Although David never planned to put another book out into the world—“I handle rejection badly; for me, the pinnacle of success is just not being humiliated”—she simply had too much material not to. She writes “whenever something sparks a crippling neurosis,” and her second collection of essays, Delusions (St. Martin’s Press), chronicles the full year leading up to her 30th birthday. “Even though I didn’t have the maturity or wisdom to make any life-changing decisions, I found that time to be really high-stakes,” she says. “There’s immense pressure to find not just a partner, but a life partner. To question career choices. To cling to a youthful appearance. To decide whetheror not to freeze your eggs. To wonder if you even want to have a baby, or if that’s something you’ve been told you’re supposed to want. It’s just a very interesting time, especially as a woman.” Out March 3, Delusions has already earned one important stamp of approval: “My dad seemed to enjoy it,” says David. “Although I don’t think he can be trusted, because he’s blinded by love.”