Dorothy Karen "Cookie" Mueller was born on March 2, 1949, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Frank Lennert Mueller and Anne Mueller. She had two siblings, brother Michael and sister Judy, and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore. As a baby, Cookie acquired the nickname "Cookie" due to her early affection for cookies.
Throughout her childhood, Cookie embarked on road trips with her family, and her love for writing began at the age of eleven. Tragedy struck when her brother Michael passed away at the age of fourteen, which further encouraged Cookie to continue writing as a way to cope with her emotions.
In her teenage years, Cookie hung out with the hippie crowd and was known for dyeing her hair different colors. After saving up money by working at a small men's department store in Baltimore, Cookie moved to Haight-Asbury in San Francisco, California, to pursue a free-spirited lifestyle.
During this period, Cookie traveled extensively across the country, living with various groups of vagrants and temporarily settling in places such as Provincetown, Massachusetts; Pennsylvania; British Columbia, Italy; Jamaica; and San Francisco, California.
In 1969, Cookie met John Waters at the premiere of his film Mondo Trasho and went on to become a key member of his Dreamlanders ensemble. She acted in five of Waters' films and eventually moved to New York City, where she established herself as a writer, journalist, and columnist.
Cookie wrote the health column "Ask Dr. Mueller" for the East Village Eye, was an art critic for Details magazine, and published several collections of short prose, including the novella "Fan Mail, Frank Letters, and Crank Calls" and the memoir "Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black."
Tragically, Cookie died at the age of 40 on November 10, 1989, due to AIDS-related causes in New York City. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were interred in multiple locations around the world.
