Ex-‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Writer Apologizes For Years Of Mind-Boggling Scams After Being Featured In ‘Anatomy of Lies’ Docuseries
Elisabeth Finch has issued a statement following the Peacock premiere of Anatomy of Lies, a three-part docuseries about how she parlayed years of lies about her own life to become a writer for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
The docuseries, which debuted on the Peacock streaming platform on Tuesday, dove into how Finch pretended to have cancer after her TV writing career hit a plateau. But after penning online articles about her fake health issues — beginning with a rare bone cancer — she started getting the attention of all the shows in Hollywood who had previously passed her over for work. One of those shows was Grey’s Anatomy, but when she presented this tragic cancer struggle combined with a mission of strength and resilience, the production took notice and hired her.
But her lies only increased. Eventually, she lied about having to go through an abortion while she was receiving cancer treatment. She also lied about knowing someone who was killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue. When the #MeToo movement happened, she wrote in The Hollywood Reporter about an unnamed director on The Vampire Diaries who sexually harassed her. (That article was later removed from the site.) If that wasn’t enough, she checked herself into in-patient psychiatric treatment claiming she had PTSD from the shooting aftermath. There, she met a vulnerable woman she’d eventually marry — after mimicking her symptoms of PTSD.
Many of Finch’s fabricated life stories inspired episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, including the 2015 episode about a victim of sexual assault, “Silent All These Years.” The documentary included a note that Finch claimed the episode was inspired by the Senate Judiciary hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh. Her cancer storyline was used for a character played by Debbie Allen.
Finch’s story fell apart when her wife, Jennifer Beyer, approached Vanity Fair with Finch’s pattern of dishonesty. Finch was placed on leave from Grey’s Anatomy and eventually resigned.
Now that Finch’s story has reached its biggest audience yet, she spoke out in an Instagram post (with comments turned off), apologizing for everything. It reads, in part:
I’ve given no one any reason to believe a word I say. I lied about so much; things so many people have been devastated by in real life. “I’m sorry” feels like the smallest words compared to what I’ve done, yet they are the truest. …
The truth is, there is no excuse, no justification — nothing will ever make my lies to anyone okay. Nothing erases the trauma I caused — the fear, the pain, the anger, the tears, the time. And nothing matters more to me than holding myself accountable in every way. I will continue to repair whatever damage I can and ensure I am not the worst things I’ve done. I recognize all of this will take time for people to believe.
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Evgenia Peretz, who wrote the Vanity Fair exposé and was a co-producer on Anatomy of Lies, told Variety on Tuesday: “We have heard snippets of her reaching out to people still inquiring about jobs. We have heard she has something in the works about her life.”
Watch the trailer for Anatomy of Lies via Peacock on YouTube.
