Grey’s Anatomy Writer Elisabeth Finch Fakes Cancer & Wrote Her “Story” Into the Show?
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. I am so happy to have you here today as we discuss yet another case. And if you're new, then welcome. I guess today is more of a story than a case. This is not going to be your typical true crime. Honestly, I needed a little bit of a break from true

true crime. But what I'm going to be talking about today is absolutely wild. It's a story that when I heard it, I knew I wanted to cover it. So every single one of you out there, I'm sure at one point in your life, you have told a lie. And most of us grow out of the lying as we get older. When I was a kid, I told several big lies. I was quite the storyteller. In first grade, I was being diagnosed with ADHD and I had to see the school counselor and talk to her during that process. And

I came up with a completely different life story because I thought my life was pretty boring. Another friend of mine had a much more interesting life. So I kind of took her life story and I told the counselor that my parents were getting divorced, that my mom picked me up from school with her boyfriend on a motorcycle, that my mom was pregnant. It was...

all lies. It was so embarrassing. My parents had to come in and explain that it was all made up. And then in third grade, I tried to convince my entire class that I needed glasses. And I started wearing fake Build-A-Bear glasses, which were way too small for my face. And in fifth grade, I tried to tell everyone in my class that I was an actress and I was going to be starring in a live action version of Anastasia.

And then my teacher found out and things got very awkward from there. But as a kid, you don't really know better. You know, you grow out of the lying as you get older, or at least most people do. Most people. But it's always fascinating to me when a grown-ass adult...

We'll make up a giant lie and commit to it hard and then convince everyone in their life of this lie, whether that's to gain personal satisfaction, to get sympathy, to further their career, maybe for financial gain. And today we're going to be talking about one of these liars, Elizabeth Finch.

She was a writer for Grey's Anatomy, and she would actually weave some of her lies into the storylines for the show. Now, I've covered some frauds and liars over the years. However, this one is different because this person didn't face any legal repercussions for what they did. And quite frankly, I'm not sure if what this person did constitutes any legal action, but I'm curious to hear what you think.

Before I continue here, I want to give a trigger warning that this is going to piss a lot of you off. We're going to be talking about cancer. And if any of you out there have battled cancer yourself or love someone who has battled or has lost their battle with cancer, this could be very upsetting to hear because now I'm going to start telling you about how Elizabeth faked having cancer.

So Elizabeth R. Finch was born in 1978 to a middle-class Jewish family in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Her parents, Joan and Robert, had one other child named Eric, and from what I can tell, she had a very, very normal and very loving upbringing. Growing up, Elizabeth was able to go to summer camp, have a bat mitzvah. She even got involved early on in her school's theater department.

She attended Cherry Hill East High School, which is where she began writing plays for the theater department, which only encouraged her dream to one day become a writer. After graduating high school, she went on to attend Carnegie Mellon. And while college is often described as some of the best years of your life, this was actually a really challenging time for Elizabeth. And there were some very serious things going on that really impacted her. One of those things being the fact that her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Elizabeth and her family really had to rally around helping her. And this is a quote from her about the ways that they did that. She said they quickly had to become experts in pharmacology, wig design, hip hospital lingo, and fashioning surreptitious means of throwing up in public places. And I'm using this direct quote for a very important reason, because this quote is Elizabeth herself admitting to her knowledge of the ins and outs of cancer, which becomes very

Very important to note for later on. And just so you guys know, before I move on, her mom did beat cancer, so that's great. But anyway, after graduating from Carnegie Mellon, Elizabeth attended film school at USC. Now, it's unclear whether or not she got any type of degree from USC. It's only been reported that she had a short stint

there but whether or not she graduated honestly doesn't really matter what's important to note is that while she was there she got the opportunity to be an assistant for Rick Cleveland and this is an opportunity that would kick start her career Rick Cleveland is an American TV writer and playwright and he's best known for his work on the HBO drama six feet under among a handful of other productions and getting to work as his assistant really got the

rolling for her own writing career. At some point while she was working for him, Rick's mom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and Elizabeth was able to really step in and support him. And this was something that set Elizabeth apart from the rest. She was really helpful when it came to researching information for Rick and knowing how to support him. But it wasn't long after this that Rick introduced Elizabeth to Alan Ball, who worked on Six Feet Under as well as True

blood. And you could say it was a pretty successful introduction because Alan ended up hiring her as a writer's assistant. But unfortunately for everyone, things took a pretty drastic turn six weeks later when the Writers Guild of America strike began. And it was during this strike that Elizabeth claims everything changed for her because rather than sitting around and waiting to get back to work, she wanted to make use of this time. So she picked up a backpack and decided to go hiking and

But things did not go as planned. In an article written by Elizabeth in 2014, which you're going to hear me reference quite a bit, Elizabeth explained that her hike was cut short because she got her foot caught in the roots of an oak tree and ended up with a very serious knee injury. This was obviously very painful, and she ended up needing four surgeries over four years. And by the end of all that, she was left with only 17%.

of her knee's natural cartilage. And I know that at this point, I've made it clear that Elizabeth is a liar. However, this part of her story is true. She really did injure her knee. However, I bring up this incident because it was this event that led to a chain reaction of lies that unfolded in the next couple of years. Well, actually, this was in 2007. So there were a couple of years when

without lies that we know of, before Elizabeth really got the ball rolling on all the big lies. So once the writer's strike passed, Elizabeth worked on True Blood from 2008 to 2010, where she eventually moved up from writer's assistant to junior writer. And from there, her career just continued to take off. She worked on a show called No Ordinary Family, and it

really didn't take off as a huge hit, but Elizabeth has been credited as writing two of its episodes. From there, she got the incredible opportunity to begin working on The CW's show, The Vampire Diaries, which I'm sure for any writer would feel like a very big accomplishment.

She landed this job in 2012 and quickly earned herself the nickname Vampire Girl from having worked on both True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. In 2013, before starting her second season of writing for The Vampire Diaries, Elizabeth claimed that she had to have another knee surgery. However, this one was different from the rest. Instead of waking up to doctors telling her that everything had been fixed, she woke up to bad news.

They told her that she had a rare form of bone cancer. According to her 2014 article in Elle magazine, she woke up from surgery to learn that a PET scan revealed she had stage 3 chondrosarcoma. Not only did she say that she had a tumor encroaching her spinal column, but she also

She also said she had a tumor on her knee that doctors removed during surgery. Now let's talk about chondrosarcoma because I'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of it. While this form of cancer is the second most common type of primary bone cancer in adults,

It's very rare for someone Elizabeth's age, which at this time was 35. Chondrosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that starts in the cartilage cells. And what makes it so tricky is it's resistant to chemotherapy.

Not only that, but because Elizabeth claimed to have a tumor growing on her spinal column, she said it was also extremely risky to undergo surgery because there was a very, very high risk of paralysis. But if there's one thing that you should know about Elizabeth or something that she wants you to know about her is that she is super independent. She literally says that as a baby, her first word was myself, which I found to be very interesting.

I'm sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit. So rather than seek the help and support of her friends and family, Elizabeth decided to fight this on her own. And she actually says that her mom was with her at the hospital when she had that knee surgery and that when she found out about the cancer and the tumor that they also removed on her knee, that she decided not to tell her mom and instead just tell her that everything went well. But the truth is, no doctor ever told her.

that she had cancer and there was no tumor on her knee or in her spinal column. And not only did she say that she was too independent to seek help from her friends and family in the beginning, but she also said that she defied her doctor's order to take an indefinite leave of work to give chemo her full attention. Instead, she says she powered through and went right back to work.

So according to Elizabeth, she was suffering from stage three chondrosarcoma, going through chemotherapy three times a week and working full time without telling anyone. ♪

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Welcome to another round of Boardroom or Miro Board. Today we talk retrospectives with Agile coach Maria. Let's go. First question. You've spent two hours in a team retro, but the only input you've heard is Dave's. Boardroom or Miro Board? Boardroom. In Miro, Dave can't hog the space because everyone can add thoughts anonymously, online at the same time. Correct. Next. You need the team to act on feedback fast. So you turn all those retro notes into Jira tasks. Miro all the way. In...

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And this went on for quite some time, according to her. She said that she believed adversity should be met with quiet dignity, which is how she claimed to have handled her diagnosis. And the only lies that she said she told were when people asked her why she was late to work, or why she was only eating saltine crackers, or why she appeared to look sick. But obviously, there was a much bigger plan in place for Elizabeth, and she didn't plan on keeping this lie to herself forever because she

Why would you come up with such an elaborate lie just to keep it for yourself? So eventually she decided it was time to start telling people. She told people one by one and that sympathy that she was craving started flooding in. It started with her agent and then her boss and

And then four months later, she told her friends and family. And I figure it was probably the same story every time. She got herself tested for the BRCA gene after her mom battled cancer, found out she tested positive, and things were fine up until she had knee surgery and learned that her doctor found a tumor.

And of course, she probably told her harrowing story of battling it alone for months, and I can only imagine the adrenaline rush she felt when her co-workers and loved ones showered her with support and admiration. I'm especially curious how her co-workers felt when they found out in June of 2012 that

And they found out from their boss because Elizabeth was going to be taking a six-week leave of absence that month to undergo an intensive drug protocol at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. And according to her, this intensive drug protocol was extra important because if it didn't work, her chances of survival were extremely low. And during the time that she was supposedly undergoing this treatment, a friend of hers who lived in Minnesota was nice enough to let her stay at his apartment

apartment while he lived elsewhere for six weeks. I mean, that's a pretty good friend. And what's really crazy is this friend would actually take her to and from every appointment. However, of course, Elizabeth didn't allow him to go inside with her.

And during this time, she was magically keeping up with work while also undergoing this serious treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Here's a quote from Elizabeth about the treatment. I watched the producer's cuts under a fog of Demerol. Punched up dialogue about vampire-werewolf hybrids with a shunt in my spine. Yes, I was down 17 pounds. Ball.

vomiting relentlessly, but I was still living alone, still stubborn as hell, still working. Somehow, I still felt like myself. And by some strange miracle, as Elizabeth would say, the treatment worked and she wouldn't have to undergo a surgery that could possibly paralyze her and her chances of survival were now a lot higher. And with that great news, she returned to Los Angeles and claims to have continued treatment there. And in the following weeks,

Elizabeth's cancer became harder to hide. She began wearing scarfs over her balding head, bandages over her chemotherapy port scars, and made frequent trips to the bathroom to rid herself of chemo-induced nausea. When people would ask her why she wasn't accepting the help of her parents, Elizabeth would say,

She explained that they were overbearing and impossible to be around. Again, doubling down on the fact that she was independent and could do this on her own. And it wasn't just the help of her parents she refused. She also refused the help of her brother, Eric, who was a doctor down in Florida. And of course, when he wanted to talk to her doctors about her treatment plan...

she wouldn't let him. And what I found particularly interesting is that many people who knew Elizabeth during this time said that it was her independence that was most admirable to them. The fact that she was that sick and still maintaining a solid career was very impressive to people. And

It continued to appear that way for many, many years. But this story isn't just about Elizabeth faking her own cancer. It's about how she used that lie and many other lies that I'm going to get into here soon to

to propel her own career forward. So while she was working on The Vampire Diaries, it was no secret to people who knew her that her ultimate dream job was to work for shows like Parenthood or Grey's Anatomy. And as luck would have it, Elizabeth ended up landing her dream job in the writer's room for Grey's Anatomy. Actually, I take that back.

It wasn't luck that landed her there at all. It was her 2014 Elle magazine article detailing her journey with a rare and fatal bone cancer and how she battled it alongside maintaining her career. One section reads, "'Turns out there's no pamphlet on how to be a single 30-something woman with cancer.'"

Every oncologist I met insisted that I should freeze my eggs before chemo. When I told them that I wasn't going to waste my time protecting the hypothetical children that I'd never had any intention of having, they seemed befuddled. And when I defied Dr. Kryptek's order to take an indefinite leave of absence from work, he thought chemo deserved my sole attention. He doubted my commitment to getting well.

I mean, who is going to read that article and think anything other than Elizabeth is a badass. She is brave. She is a rock star. And that's exactly what the development executive producer over at Shondaland thought. And for those of you who don't know, Shondaland is the production company for Shonda Rhimes, who has created many hit shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Private Practice. I've seen all of those shows and I was...

always a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy. I started watching it in fourth grade and I gave up around the 13th season because it was getting a little too dramatic for me and honestly traumatic because I got a little sick of having all of the characters I loved die in tragic ways.

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What?

Welcome to another round of Drawing Board or Miro Board. Today, we talk brainstorms with UX designer Brian. Let's go. First question. You thought you'd see everyone's idea in the team brainstorm, but you've got a grand total of one. Drawing Board or Miro Board? Drawing Board. In Miro, the team can add ideas now or later. And with Privacy Mode, we can keep them anonymous until they're good to share. Correct.

And

And he's wild. For a limited time, visit miro.com slash brainstorm now and get a free business plan trial to unlock even more brainstorming tools like private mode and voting. That's miro.com slash brainstorm now. Grey's Anatomy is definitely the most successful and longest running Shondaland show. I believe it is still on.

And I don't know if they have plans of stopping. But anyway, she is a very, very big deal. And so for anyone on her team to take notice of Elizabeth meant a lot. Shonda herself actually met with Elizabeth after she was pitched as a potential hire for season 10 of Grey's Anatomy. And she said that she was impressed with both her article and her tenacity, which, as we know, were both based on lies. And as we know, Elizabeth got the job.

But, and this was super interesting to me, a few seasons into working there, she was actually let go. This happened when Krista Vernoff, Grey's Anatomy's showrunner, did a blind writing test and only kept the writers that she felt shared her vision. And apparently, Elizabeth didn't share that vision. But,

and this is an even bigger but, she was rehired after someone advocated on her behalf because of her miraculous cancer story and her tenacity for work. Had she not crafted this lie, I'm not sure she would have been rehired. I'm not sure if she would have been hired to begin with, considering it was her L article that got her the job in the first place. And this was just the beginning of how she used her lie for her own benefit.

Elizabeth was one of 17 people working in the writer's room for Grey's Anatomy and was the only person in that room who identified with having a disability. Even though two other writers had been previously diagnosed with cancer, she was the only one who was actively living with it. And because of this, she was given benefits that nobody else had.

such as a more comfortable chair, special considerations for deadlines, even more talking rights in the writer's room. There have been people who worked there that said that the writer's room was very chaotic and loud, people talking over each other. But when Elizabeth talked, she was given the floor and no one would dare interrupt

her. People who worked there didn't want to interrupt her or overshadow her because she was sick. And they actually said, and this is a quote, that they were worried about doing that because her words could be her last words. They said that she wore her cancer on her sleeve and that she would frequently tell stories about everything that she's been able to overcome. And

And what was interesting and probably not realized until after the fact is that Elizabeth's bouts of sickness would always seem to coincide with major deadlines. Even though she did get a lot of leeway when it came to deadlines, there were times that she would bring in other writers to help her finish projects.

However, only her name would be credited for the work. But honestly, regardless of all of this, her co-workers were happy to help. They felt lucky to know her, to have her in their lives. And it may seem kind of crazy to us, considering we know the truth that she was lying this entire time, but at the time, it doesn't seem like anyone thought twice about it. I mean, people really viewed her as a walking miracle just for living with such a fatal cancer, not to mention working full-time.

time and kicking ass while doing so. She even told people that she was the only one in her clinical trial to survive.

So yeah, people were amazed by her. And not just people she knew, but fans across the country. In addition to the article she wrote back in 2014, Elizabeth began writing more pieces for Elle, The Hollywood Reporter, and Shondaland.com, detailing her journey and courage. And not only was this great exposure for the episodes she was writing and producing, but a great way to gain attention and sympathy for her so-called diagnosis. And let me tell you, the lies that she was spinning were dark.

At one point, Elizabeth told people that she was pregnant while in active treatment, and she had to make the heart-wrenching decision of whether or not to keep the baby. She said that she had two choices, either stop the treatment and carry the baby to term, but risk dying herself, or

or get an abortion. And she claims that she chose abortion. In 2017, Elizabeth said that she desperately needed a double kidney transplant. And she posted on Facebook that after two hospital trips and two weeks of hell, she finally received one healthy kidney from a donor.

She even told a coworker that her new kidney came from actress Anna Paquin, who she had met while working on True Blood. Then in 2018, the Lies started taking on a life of their own. In March of that year, she hosted this big 40th birthday party for herself, and she had it in a big warehouse.

And pulled out all the stops, catered, DJ, you name it. This was a major celebration of not only her birthday, but the remission of her cancer. And during the party, she addressed the crowd and said that two of her doctors from the Mayo Clinic were there, but that they didn't want to be identified. And looking back on this, there were several people there who said that maybe

many were confused about why these doctors didn't want to be identified. And people were looking around, trying to figure out who they were. And no luck, probably because they didn't exist. And later that year, Elizabeth came up with her next big lie. After the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, she said that not only was a close friend of hers from college killed in that shooting, but that she'd actually flown out to Pittsburgh herself once.

And with the permission of the literal FBI, she was able to help clean up her friend's remains. And not even a day after she shared the news that she had lost a friend in the shooting, she was tweeting, please do not send me photos of the man who murdered my friend. And that's just disgusting on so many levels. I mean, especially to the people who actually suffered and lost loved ones in that tragedy.

It's hard to even wrap your mind around making up a lie like that. But her bullshit doesn't stop there. Because why would it? So season 15 of Grey's Anatomy aired in September of 2018, which is actually about a month before the Tree of Life synagogue massacre. Elizabeth, who was one of the writers and producers for that season, was credited as writing the episode, Anybody Have a Map, which is season 15, episode 7.

I had tuned out of Grey's Anatomy by this point, so I did not see this episode, but here is what I found after looking it up, for those of you who may not have seen it. In the episode, Dr. Corsic, who must have come on in the later seasons, and Dr. Meredith Grey receive a call from Dr. Catherine Avery. Dr. Avery tells them that she has a special patient that needs their attention, and she wants them to fly down to her new medical center to review the patient's case.

Well, when they get there, they learn that she, Catherine Avery, is the patient. After a few additional scans, it's revealed that the tumor encroaching her spinal column is chondrosarcoma, and the likelihood of paralysis is extremely high if operated on.

It's so serious, in fact, that in this episode, Dr. Korosek says that even he, an expert in the field, has no idea how to remove the tumor without killing or paralyzing her. Sound familiar? And the episode ends with an ominous yet inspiring quote about exceptions to the rule.

Outliers, miracles, really just insinuating that Dr. Avery, inspired by Elizabeth, is that exception, a person that defied the odds. Here's a little clip of her talking about making that episode. And the Catherine storyline was very personal to me because I am someone who is living with cancer and it's something that I've never seen on television where someone was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer and then goes on, goes through cancer

quite a bit of hell, but then also gets to go back to their lives and live in a more chronic condition. And honestly, one of the most ridiculous parts about all of this is that Elizabeth told her coworkers that it was too triggering to write this episode. But when they offered to help her or write it for her, she said, no, no, no, this is my story. It should come from me. And as a side note, whenever it came to writing about cancer, as it often did being a hospital show like Grey's Anatomy,

Elizabeth owned that territory and no one else felt like they could give their input. Like I said before, two other people that worked there had survived cancer, but because she was the only one actively living with it, she was the one dominating conversations about how to use it in a storyline. Elizabeth even used her cancer story to enter a competition for female writers who were trying to bring change to the world. How much shittier can she even get? That is one big pile of shit.

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Elizabeth would use Twitter for sympathy on many occasions, including when she tweeted at Delta Airlines saying they forced her, a cancer patient, to check her bag and then proceeded to lose her luggage with all her medication inside. There was also a tweet that read, I've officially run out of ways to politely say this. Stop tweeting me miracle cancer cures. It's no longer well-meaning. It's exhausting and insulting and presumptuous AF.

And obviously when she would tweet things like this, she would get a ton of support and she was eating it up. And she also wasn't done using her personal experiences to drive storylines for Grey's Anatomy. In another episode from season 15 called Silent All These Years, Elizabeth came up with the idea for Dr. Joe Wilson to learn that she was the product of rape.

The entire episode, which has been highly recognized for its incredible impact on viewers, follows Jo finding out that her birth mother was sexually assaulted and that assault resulted in her birth. Also in this episode, you see the impact Jo makes on a woman who comes into the Grace Sloan Memorial Hospital after she had been raped.

Now, I'm not going to spell out the entire episode, but I do recommend you watch it for many reasons. One being that I think it's an incredibly powerful story about believing women who experience rape, but also because Elizabeth makes a feature at the end of the episode.

She doesn't have any lines or anything, but she was one of the nurses in the ending scene, which I'm sure was a way for production to thank her for her contribution to the show. Here's a clip of her talking about that episode. Well, speaking of great work, Elizabeth, one episode that you wrote this season just really...

hit fans in the heart and it was called Silent All These Years. It was the one that dealt with the rape kits and the sexual assault aftermath. Can you talk a little bit about the creative process behind such a powerful episode?

Well, three years ago I went through what they called a story tour that was through the Writers Guild that they offered and a small group of us went to tour through the Raid Treatment Center in Santa Monica, UCLA, which is what is looked at as the gold standard both nationally and I think internationally as well for how they treat victims of sexual assault.

I went thinking at some point I might come up with an idea for it and I there were a couple moments that stuck in my brain that I couldn't shake and let go and when we when Krista started working here um she you know we started working around the same time as the Kavanaugh hearing started to to

to be put everywhere. And the idea of wanting to talk about consent and have those conversations about as dynamic as possible, those conversations about how long lasting it could be, what the impact is, how we take care of people who are survivors, how we listen to survivors. And it just seemed like

the perfect time to put it all together. Now, as for how this relates to her life, Elizabeth told her fellow writers that Joe's story was actually modeled after the story of a close friend of hers. And during the process of writing this episode, Elizabeth frequently found herself too triggered to write and would often have to have other writers step in to help her. Yet once again, her name was the only one correct.

Many writers apparently suggested that Jo's character in future episodes should go to a mental health facility to help her work through her trauma. And just take a guess as to who you think then checked herself into treatment. That's right, Elizabeth. But here is what is insane. She checked herself into treatment under the name Jo. As

as in the character in Grey's Anatomy. She told her bosses at work that she was experiencing PTSD due to the Tree of Life synagogue massacre and that she needed mental health treatment and they let her go. And it only gets wilder from here. In January of 2019, while in treatment in Arizona, Elizabeth, who was posing as a woman named Jo, met another woman in treatment for PTSD named Jennifer.

I don't want to completely go over all of Jennifer's trauma because it is her story and it's a true story. And it's not fair to her or her kids to have all that on full display. But I will tell you the parts that

that relate to how Elizabeth exploited her. Jennifer was at this facility after her 18-year marriage came to an end. Her ex-husband abused her badly, and she was suffering PTSD as a result. And about six months into treatment, Jennifer was introduced to Joe, a.k.a. Elizabeth.

And the two of them hit it off right away. And it was actually Elizabeth who helped pull Jennifer out of a very dark place. People who worked there said that it was the first time that they really saw Jennifer smile and laugh.

and that they were very happy that these two women were helping each other. The two of them even became roommates inside the facility. And over time, Elizabeth started to remember details about her childhood that she had forgotten, including that her brother, Eric, who I've mentioned, he's the doctor in Florida,

abused her. And what's really interesting about this abuse that she claims to have experienced is it's very similar to the abuse that Jennifer had experienced from her ex-husband. So as the weeks and months went on, Elizabeth and Jennifer became closer and closer. And at this point, Jennifer is still under the impression that this woman she is becoming close with is named Jo. And Elizabeth has no intention of telling her her real name. And not just that, but

Interestingly enough, she also never mentioned to Jennifer that she had cancer. But Elizabeth knew that she couldn't keep this up for much longer because eventually her family was going to come visit her. And the truth about her name was going to get out. So Elizabeth decides that she is going to tell Jennifer, but she comes up with this story that...

The reason she's been going by Joe is because she is a high profile writer and she doesn't want it to get out to the public that she's in a mental health facility. So then she has to convince her parents to call her Joe while she's there because the rest of the facility thinks that her name is Joe as well.

And they buy it. But what was weird to Jennifer is when she talked to Elizabeth's family, they seemed shocked to hear that Elizabeth was saying that she was abused by her brother, Eric. And then Jennifer, on the other hand, was shocked when she found out from Elizabeth's mother that Elizabeth had cancer. So obviously, Jennifer confronts her about this. And Elizabeth tells her that, yes, I have cancer. However, I didn't want to talk about it.

Probably because Jennifer is a nurse and would see right through her lies. But anyway, by July of 2019, Elizabeth is ready to leave treatment and return to L.A. But Jennifer was still struggling, especially because her abusive ex-husband had custody of her five children.

So, being the generous person that she is, Elizabeth invites Jennifer to come stay with her in LA, and the two of them end up falling in love. During early parts of their relationship, Elizabeth flew to Kansas, where Jennifer lived, to be there for her court dates to get custody of her kids. She did this a few times, but one of the times was different, because right before the hearing, they found out that Jennifer's ex-husband had committed suicide.

And I only bring this up because it's an extremely intimate and important part of Jennifer's story that Elizabeth completely ripped off and used as her own. While in Kansas, Elizabeth wrote a letter to her fellow writers at Grey's Anatomy. Hey all, I've been absent and coming back tomorrow. I just don't know who's looped in to what. And I'd rather put it out there so no one is in the dark or feeling eggshell-y.

I've gone because my brother died by suicide. He was on life support for a short while, but ultimately did not survive. I say this not because I need or want anything from anyone. I'm not a delicate flower or whatever. I just want people to know I'm still here, still part of the team. I intended to just power through my episode shoot, but I recognized I needed to just take a bit of time away to process.

Missed y'all. And to be clear, Elizabeth's brother Eric was completely fine. He was alive and well, living in Florida as a doctor. But of course, that didn't stop Elizabeth from stealing Jennifer's trauma and trying to use it as her own. And this is...

crazy. But she even later said that because he was a doctor, he knew exactly where to shoot himself so that he wouldn't die, which would force her to be the one to pull the plug on him, which is what she said was his final act of vindictiveness. Now, you might be wondering, what did Elizabeth tell Jennifer about her brother? Because clearly, she can't pawn off Jennifer's own story to Jennifer herself.

So she made up something different. She told her that Eric was a highly dangerous person who had been threatening her and that he lived in the Philippines. And then to ease Jennifer's fears of him hurting them, she told her that he wasn't allowed to legally return to the United States without her being notified first. And it was awful.

all a load of bullshit. And I can't really blame people for believing her. I mean, she was highly convincing, so much so that she convinced Jennifer to marry her, all the while not knowing that she was completely exploiting her story and pawning it off as her own.

back at work. She proposed to her on Thanksgiving 2019, and they eventually got married in February of 2020. But thankfully, the cracks in Elizabeth's lies started to show. Around Christmas time in 2019, one of Jennifer's children was cast in The Nutcracker, and this was a really big deal, so she threw this big party. But during the party, Elizabeth said she was experiencing terrible pain

pain. And so the two of them went to the hospital. But while they were there, Jennifer thought it was very strange that Elizabeth never once mentioned to a doctor or nurse that she had cancer or that she only had one kidney. So Jennifer herself actually jumped in and started telling doctors about her medical history. And doctors looked at her and said, uh, her kidneys are completely fine.

Now, at this point, she's somewhat brushed it off, but...

It was all in the back of her mind. And then in 2020, we all know what happened, COVID hit, and everyone in Elizabeth's life was worried about her health. But for some reason, Elizabeth didn't seem as worried as the others, which made no sense considering she was allegedly still living with a very serious cancer, and getting COVID could kill her. And that's when Jennifer decided to go down the rabbit hole of her wife's Twitter, and the lies started to reveal themselves.

It started with October 27th, 2018, the day of the massacre in Pittsburgh.

Even though Elizabeth claimed to be deeply impacted by this event and claimed to have cleaned up her friends' remains, her Twitter tells a different story. That day and the days after, Elizabeth had been out with friends, not even remotely close to Pittsburgh. She continued scrolling and found pictures that Elizabeth had posted while she was going through chemotherapy. And then she noticed something. Her head appeared to be bald, yet she still had eyebrows and eyelashes. Jennifer may be a nurse, but I think it's

pretty common knowledge that when you're going through chemo, you lose all of your hair, including your eyebrows and eyelashes, not just the hair on your head. Then she saw pictures on Twitter where Elizabeth was wearing a bandage to cover a scar from her chemotherapy port. But Jennifer knew her wife's body and knew that there was no scar that needed to be covered. I mean, why have a bandage to cover a scar that doesn't exist?

And at that point, she knew she had to go to Elizabeth with her concerns. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to ChumbaCasino.com. It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba Casino has over 100 online casino-style games all online.

Absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now at ChumpaCasino.com. Sponsored by Chumpa Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. Jennifer decided to approach the topic casually, hoping that a more gentle approach would get her more answers.

So she decided to ask Elizabeth what medications she was taking. And at first, Elizabeth tried to tell her that telling her that would be too triggering, which doesn't really make sense because she is her wife.

But eventually she decided to tell her. And this is where Elizabeth really messed up. She started telling Jennifer her medications. And one of the medications really stood out to Jennifer because she knew that no doctor would ever prescribe it to her because it's known to cause kidney failure. And she only had one kidney.

kidney. To be clear, Elizabeth did have two kidneys, but that is the story that she is telling. And at this point, it was all too much for Jennifer to ignore. So she decides to ask Elizabeth straight up, what is going on? And that's when Elizabeth started to tell her. I say started because

She didn't tell Jennifer the full truth all at once, of course. Instead, she told Jennifer that she did have cancer at one time in her life, but she recovered after going through chemo. She said that she loved the attention that she got from being sick and that the lies just started to spiral.

Then Jennifer confronted Elizabeth about her brother's suicide. She said that she knew that that wasn't true and that she also knew he wasn't this dangerous person living in the Philippines, as she said, and she knew that she was trying to pawn her story off as her own.

Now, Jennifer wasn't going to just confront Elizabeth with all this and then just drop it. She wanted her to tell the truth to all of her family, coworkers, and friends. So Elizabeth told their close friends, who, keep in mind, were friends with Jennifer first, and they didn't seem that

bothered by her lies. They still viewed Elizabeth as this hero for how she helped Jennifer during such a difficult time in her life. And understandably, this made Jennifer feel crazy. She thought it was time to talk to her therapist and sort out how she was feeling about everything and whatnot, which is a

total normal response. But then she found out that Elizabeth started seeing the same therapist as her, and she felt like she took her therapist. And that made Jennifer worry even more, because the thing is, Jennifer's therapist was the person who reported to the Department of Child and Family Services about her well-being. When her husband took his life, Jennifer had to start going to therapy because she got custody of the kids, and the state needed to make sure that she was

mentally okay to have custody of the kids. So when she found out Elizabeth, a known liar, was seeing the same therapist as her, she was concerned that maybe Elizabeth was telling her things that could keep her from having custody of her kids. Now, I don't know if she did end up lying or anything like that, but Elizabeth should have seen another therapist, point blank period. It is so weird that she went to the same therapist.

I also bring this up because there's an episode of Grey's Anatomy where Jo went to see a therapist who happened to have the same name as Jennifer's therapist, where she, Jo, talked about her abusive ex-husband who has since died. Literally Jennifer's exact story. Now for the next few weeks, Jennifer really struggled and even contemplated taking her own life.

But she quickly realized that she couldn't give up, so she went back into mental health treatment with the intention of getting stronger for the sake of her kids. She and Elizabeth did a week-long intensive marriage therapy and came to the conclusion that if they wanted things to work out between them, Elizabeth needed to come clean fully. And even though Elizabeth agreed to do this, she dragged her feet for months. She slowly started to tell people one by one about her lies, but...

Of course, she managed to not tell anyone at work. This obviously upset Jennifer because Elizabeth wasn't living up to her end of the deal. And then Elizabeth ends up filing for divorce. Now, this is just my guess, but I'm thinking that she probably would rather have gone through a divorce than

than to have to tell her co-workers that she had been lying about everything all this time. So in February of 2022, Jennifer was so pissed about everything she had found out about that she ends up sending a large chain email telling people who Elizabeth worked with that they needed to stop believing her stories and how she's taking the stories of survivors.

And included in the people who received this message was Krista Vernoff, the showrunner for Grey's Anatomy. And not long after this, it looked like people finally started catching on to the truth. Elizabeth's co-workers started to dig into her lies and realized that nothing she said was true. And Disney, an affiliate of Shondaland...

opened an official investigation into Elizabeth in March of 2022 and announced that she was being put on administrative leave. And during this time, Elizabeth refused to hand over medical documentation to substantiate her claims and refused to have an evaluation by a doctor supplied by the company. And following her administrative leave, Elizabeth ended up formally resigning. And because of that, the investigation into her lies was closed.

And I know that sounds abrupt, but that's kind of how it was. As soon as the truth started to come out, she said, I'm done. And that was it. The investigation ended. And keep in mind, this was an internal investigation by the company and no legal action was ever taken against her. And there really can't

be. I mean, besides taking advantage of her friends, family, and coworkers and hurting them emotionally, she didn't use any resources of any hospitals or the police. She didn't raise any money. She didn't do anything that can be held against her legally. And I know that's not a very satisfying end to this story. I mean, she did have to suffer a lot of personal consequences and humiliation, but she

I'm sure a lot of you wish more could be done. I do want to mention that Elizabeth has spoken out saying that what she did was wrong. She said that the lie began in 2007 after she hurt her knee hiking and that part of the story was true, but everything else was not. Once her knee was healed and people were moving on from helping her, she realized she wanted that attention back.

So the lies started and then they just grew and grew and grew. In a statement, she said, I know it's absolutely wrong what I did. I lied and there's no excuse for it, but there's context for it. The best way I can explain it is when you experience a level of trauma, a lot of people adopt a maladaptive coping mechanism. Some people drink to hide or forget things. Drug addicts try and alter their reality. Some people cut.

I lied. That was my coping and my way to feel safe, seen, and heard. Elizabeth has admitted to shaving her head, to using makeup to make herself appear more sick, to faking bouts of nausea at inopportune times.

many people who supported her feel very taken advantage of. And a lot of them think that she is going to eventually try and get herself a book deal in the upcoming months or years. This whole thing just blows my mind. Like I said, it fascinates me when an adult, a grown-ass adult, will make up so many lies, so many elaborate lies, and commit fully, man. I mean, it's insane.

It's just hard to even wrap your mind around. And I am certainly curious to hear your thoughts on all of this. I know this wasn't my typical true crime episode, but it was a story I just really wanted to share because it is just mind-blowing. ♪

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.

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