Why was she living like a bum?

She was lazy and depressed, she didn't want to clean.

I know, that apartment was so nasty. In one of the outtakes on the DVD when they are looking under the bed at all of the cat feces, Lee picks up a cat turd and eats it, LOL. Too bad that scene was left out. I think the actors were doing it as a joke, but I thought it could also be because Lee was so insane and an alcoholic that she'd do things like that for real.

She was smart and educated; nevertheless, she was a drunk, a bitch, a crook, and a pig. Other than that, a very likable person.

The two things are unrelated.