I can easily believe she is in tricky financial circumstances. Break up, expensive house, patchy freelance writing career, health issues, single parent - yep that's going to mean something has to go.
Writing pays the bills for very very few people. Most people, even household names, that you might think of as writers as one kind or another actually make it work by having some kind of "steady job" as well - like teaching writing in a college or university. Or a more lucrative freelance arm of their portfolio - the most media friendly ones can do TV appearances or get influencer money and that kind of thing.
(Ironically, part of the reason why writing pays so little now is because so much free and cheap entertainment is available instead - eg that scandal sheets that are twitter and other soc med)
She could easily be paying £2.5 to rent a nice house, say (I don't know, I haven't seen her soc med or know where she lives so I am guessing). 2.5k per month net x 94/100 (it's 94% of her income now) = £28200, add 20% for tax (allowing for personal allowance and basic rate etc) means she would be grossing £33840 for the year, which is pretty good for a patchily employed writer. (Actually, she may be making more than that over a year and still struggling similarly with existing tax bills, debts etc) So on that basis there would be something like £160 left over after rent, covering council tax, bills, food, transport etc... of course she's struggling and that would feel pretty desperate after you've done it for months.
Yes you would be selling things (especially if you had got carried away in the past and acquired some expensive stuff), yes you would be looking for a steady job and a reliable wage in retail or whatever, yes you would need to downsize. No you can't have a lovely house and garden and a big fridge and room to have the things that are comfortable and convenient for a family like a bedroom of your own each, a nice big kitchen, a garden, space to have people over. Yes it would be hard to think about giving those up when you thought you had worked towards better, no it isn't great to be essentially cutting back to bedsit basics when you had allowed yourself to feel a bit more established and comfortable as a "successful" adult.
(not enjoying writing this, as it is starting to feel very close to home, for personal reasons...)
Being freelance is fun, but this is why so many people have got boring old jobs that they have to go to every day and put up with things and people they don't like and who are less talented than them but are allowed to boss them around.
Many people (ahem) who do have boring old jobs struggle anyway.
This is not to offer an opinion on her overwrought writing style.
Anyway people who are famous are not necessarily rich or comfortable, is what I am saying. Why?
- writing doesn't pay
- housing costs are atrocious, especially if you rent or didn't buy some years ago and want some space
- cost of living is way out of line with what people still somehow seem to think of as as "decent" money
- Being single with a child is tough