Writing, Credits, Relationships
In his book Shock Value, John Waters credits Mueller with the title for his 1974 film Female Trouble. When she was hospitalized for pelvic inflammatory disease in Provincetown, Waters and Mink Stole visited Mueller. "What happened, Cook?" Waters asked. "Just a little female trouble, hon," she replied.
From 1976 up until her death, she remained a close friend, artistic collaborator, and photographic subject of Nan Goldin. Goldin created and widely exhibited The Cookie Portfolio 1976-1989, a series of fifteen portraits, after Mueller's death. One photograph, "Cookie and Vittorio's Wedding" (1986), documents Mueller's wedding to Vittorio Scarpati, an Italian artist and jewelry designer from Naples who died of AIDS just seven weeks before Mueller.
Mueller wrote the health column "Ask Dr. Mueller" for the East Village Eye and later served as art critic for Details. Mueller's books, Ask Doctor Mueller (1996), a collection of her writings; Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black (1990), a memoir; and Garden of Ashes (Hanuman Books, 1990) are cult classics. Other works include the novella Fan Mail, Frank Letters and Crank Calls (Hanuman Books, 1988) and several collections of short prose.
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