NYT expose on The Tell by Amy Griffin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now she is being sued. This story is so strange.
[url]
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/nyregion/amy-griffin-the-tell-lawsuit.html[/url]

Amy Griffin, a best-selling memoirist, was sued on Wednesday by a former classmate who contends that Ms. Griffin’s story of being sexually abused — as she described in her book, “The Tell” — was based on assaults the classmate herself suffered at their Texas middle school in the 1980s.

The classmate, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in California, accusing Ms. Griffin of invasion of privacy, negligence and infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. The suit also names Sam Lansky, a ghostwriter who worked on “The Tell,” as well as Penguin Random House and The Dial Press, which published the book, as defendants.

The story isn’t strange. As harsh and biting and conservative as she may be, the commentator Maureen Callahan called this exactly.

Amy Griffin wanted to be Important apart from her VC spouse. She was not fulfilled by her “perfect” life and surface-level friendships. Her husband put money into MDMA and wanted to use and “explore” bondage with her, as likely as not to continue “exploration” he’d already done with a girlfriend or pro. It really freaked her out.

She took the pill and in a somewhat hallucinogenic state, presented the hideous abuse of a poorer Amarillo girl as what happened to her, and tried to write a book proposal about it. She failed at that and hired as a ghost the West Coast editor of a major publication.

She stole trauma from an actual traumatized woman and she will pay her off to make this go away. Any of her fancy friends still hanging with her are amoral. This entire fiasco is the rare total exposure of a rich person’s total soulless narcissism.

[Anonymous]

Before the suit was filed, these CBC panelists called bs on Griffin in the most Canadian polite way imaginable

[Anonymous]

Video referred to above:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pD0xadLvnTg&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read this and it isn’t good. So whatever you believe about the abuse (and I am in the camp of not believing) don’t bother with this book. I can’t believe all these people blurbed it and recommend it’s…. Legit bad. She sounds insufferable. She spends so long telling us how perfect she is and one of the big moments is about how she gave a party dress to a poor person. Eyeroll. Bad writing. Fake story. Irritating person. Skip the book.

Thank you. My TBR list thanks you also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now she is being sued. This story is so strange.
[url]
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/nyregion/amy-griffin-the-tell-lawsuit.html[/url]

Amy Griffin, a best-selling memoirist, was sued on Wednesday by a former classmate who contends that Ms. Griffin’s story of being sexually abused — as she described in her book, “The Tell” — was based on assaults the classmate herself suffered at their Texas middle school in the 1980s.

The classmate, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in California, accusing Ms. Griffin of invasion of privacy, negligence and infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. The suit also names Sam Lansky, a ghostwriter who worked on “The Tell,” as well as Penguin Random House and The Dial Press, which published the book, as defendants.

The story isn’t strange. As harsh and biting and conservative as she may be, the commentator Maureen Callahan called this exactly.

Amy Griffin wanted to be Important apart from her VC spouse. She was not fulfilled by her “perfect” life and surface-level friendships. Her husband put money into MDMA and wanted to use and “explore” bondage with her, as likely as not to continue “exploration” he’d already done with a girlfriend or pro. It really freaked her out.

She took the pill and in a somewhat hallucinogenic state, presented the hideous abuse of a poorer Amarillo girl as what happened to her, and tried to write a book proposal about it. She failed at that and hired as a ghost the West Coast editor of a major publication.

She stole trauma from an actual traumatized woman and she will pay her off to make this go away. Any of her fancy friends still hanging with her are amoral. This entire fiasco is the rare total exposure of a rich person’s total soulless narcissism.

Ugh!

[Anonymous]

Griffin does seem insufferable. I didn’t read the book because I read a very short excerpt somewhere and the way she presented herself (quite apart from the SA) seemed unreal. There was some snippet of dialogue that was completely unrealistic.

All that said, as someone with a history of SA I can understand the desire to get one’s story out there, to get it down in words and try to make yourself and others understand. (I don’t share that urge, but I get it). So, I disagree with the comments that Griffin must be some kind of attention seeking fabulist to have written this book.

I also think the former classmate who is suing her sounds sketchy. She’s suing for invasion of privacy but if she’d just kept her mouth shut she wouldn’t have been connected to this story at all. She outed herself, including letting her picture be taken. That makes no sense. Griffin may or may not be a liar, but this sounds like a money grab.