The story blowing up around Oprah and…
If Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow are peddling a memoir from their billionaire investor pal, who has a mind-blowing story of self-actualization — possibly just possibly, there’s a little more to the story.
We realized just how a lot more this week, in a blockbuster New York Times piece that dug into the narrative behind Amy Griffin’s bestselling memoir, “The Tell.”
And the article is much more compelling than the e book itself.
Amy Griffin’s best promoting memoir “The Tell” has been feted by all her celeb buddies, including Mariska Hargitay. Getty Images for Amy Griffin
Since Griffin’s tome was launched in March, she’s been on a whirlwind tour, interviewed and exalted by celeb buddies, like Mariska Hargitay and Martha Stewart. Not to point out fawning options in many publications.
Barrymore, on her daytime show, held Griffin’s hand for an uncomfortable seven plus minutes as she gushed that the e book was a “literary masterpiece” (!) and could be a “catalyst to others finding the bravery to come out with their truths.”
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In “The Tell,” Griffin — who through her G9 Ventures invests in feminine based manufacturers like Goop, Spanx and Bumble — recounts a harrowing story of violent childhood inappropriate abuse she allegedly endured at the palms of a instructor.
However, her recollections had been recovered during therapy periods while under the affect of the drug MDMA — a follow that is against the law and was rejected by the FDA last 12 months.
(Griffin and her hedge-funder husband, John Griffin have funded trials into therapeutic MDMA use through their basis).
Oprah Winfrey selected “The Tell” for her influential e book membership and held an interview with a viewers of readers. CBS News
The illegality is an element of a disclaimer Winfrey makes in the start of a sit-down interview with Griffin to welcome the new creator into her vaunted e book membership. The two spoke in entrance of an viewers of middle-aged ladies, who appeared to be experiencing a contact high from the therapized language pumped out by the pair.
Predictably, the e book — which Griffin was reportedly paid practically $1 million to write — turned a New York Times bestseller and a staple in the suburban mothers’ studying diet this summer time.
“A jigsaw puzzle took place over my head,” writes Griffin referring to the belief of her violent trauma, which gave her more understanding of her life, her selections, and her unrelenting pursuit of perfection.
But how real had been those neatly becoming puzzle items, given their source?
The Times spent three months investigating. They spoke to people in Amarillo, Texas, where Griffin, whose household owned a chain of comfort shops, grew up in an idyllic setting.
In Amy Griffin’s new memoir “The Tell” she writes about speaking unlawful MDMA assisted therapy and having repressed recollections that she was inappropriately assaulted as a baby by a instructor. Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
And they uncovered large holes in her story and highlighted the moral points about basing such severe accusations on recovered recollections.
MDMA advocate Rick Doblin, who linked Griffin with her therapist, told the paper most recollections that floor under these circumstances are often “symbolic.”
“You have to be somewhat dubious, I guess, about recovered memories,” he said.
Amy Griffin is buddies with energy celebriites like Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow. Getty Images for Social Studies
She sought to convey the man she accused to justice, but it was past the statute of limitations. In a troubling twist, Griffin writes an attorney told her not to disclose to police that the recollections occurred while utilizing unlawful psychedelics.
However, the alleged attacker didn’t get off free. Though the instructor is given a pretend identify in the e book, people acknowledged him from Griffin’s descriptions anyway. Her relations also reportedly shared his identify around city, and in the e book proposal despatched out to publishers, the instructor’s real identify was used.
Yet he has a squeaky clean file, and no other alleged victims have emerged since the e book was printed. Furthermore, they reported he wasn’t told about the e book or accusations before it was printed.
Now retired, no one has seen the person around city for months.
Griffin, who has been sitting for pleasant interviews for months, declined to communicate to the Times. Her lawyer bristled at the paper sending pages of questions.
Jenna Bush Hager and Savannah Guthrie pose with their pal Amy Griffin. Getty Images for Amy Griffin
Though she wasn’t ready to pursue the case criminally, she told Winfrey that her journey was in unburdening herself to others, taking this “tragedy and turned it into this tapestry of relationships.”
Memoirs are hardly ever fact checked. Who may overlook Winfrey’s one time pet James Frey who fabricated elements of “A Million Little Pieces.” In 2015, The Post’s Isabel Vincent uncovered a number of outright lies in “Primates of Park Avenue” by socialite Wednesday Martin.
But many take them as goal fact – and as impetus to change their own lives. How many ladies ditched their jobs and jumped on a airplane after studying “Eat, Pray, Love”?
And how many, in search of therapeutic or discovering their own trauma, will comply with Griffin’s path?
As more layers are peeled back, this begins to really feel less like a memoir and more like a reckless celeb infomercial for psychedelics.
We can’t know if Griffin disturbing account is true or not.
But maybe in our own quests for success, we shouldn’t be so keen to gobble up what is served to us by billionaire buyers and pampered celebrities businesswomen as gospel.
Take small bites and wash it down with a good glass of cynicism.
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