Anatomy of Lies Dives Into the Wild True Story of a TV Writer Who Faked Having Cancer

As a seasoned movie buff with over three decades of binge-watching under my belt, I must say that Elisabeth Finch’s story is one that leaves me both bewildered and saddened. It’s like watching a gripping episode of a medical drama, but this time the protagonist isn’t a character on the screen—it’s the writer behind the scenes.

A female individual pretended to have cancer in order to secure employment, an unbelievable twist of events reminiscent of a storyline from the show “Grey’s Anatomy”. However, this isn’t just fiction; one writer on “Grey’s Anatomy” was caught doing exactly that.

I was captivated to learn that my account of events will be shared in the documentary series, “Anatomy of Lies,” premiering on Peacock on October 15th. This gripping tale is based on journalist Evgenia Peretz’s revealing 2022 exposé in Vanity Fair, which exposed my fabricated cancer battle and its far-reaching consequences. The series promises to delve into the intricate web of deceit that surrounded my actions, shedding light on how my lies were uncovered and the individuals whose lives were impacted by them.

Across three episodes inspired by an article, with Peretz and David Schisgall as directors and producers, individuals who knew Finch and her peers from the Grey’s Anatomy writing team reflect on the warning signs they failed to notice in retrospect.

Finch wasn’t personally interviewed for “Anatomy of Lies,“, yet excerpts from her social media posts are scattered throughout the show. Additionally, her voice is frequently heard across the series through clips from past video and audio interviews she had given. These sound bites prove to be ironic and quite enlightening: “I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t feel like a fraud,” she said, followed by statements such as “I take pride in not being a liar” and “if you’re venturing into questionable territory, just keep going.

Rise to fame

It is evident throughout the series that Finch has consistently been attracted to exploring themes of trauma through her writing. The narrative begins by delving into a play she penned during her high school years, which centered around a father who mistreated his daughter, causing her own mother to weep.

She attended the University of Southern California to study screenwriting, and afterwards, she worked on the HBO series True Blood. However, her ultimate goal was to work on Grey’s Anatomy. In a 2019 episode of The Writers Panel podcast, she shared that she was extremely passionate about Grey’s and had every single episode committed to memory in her mind. This sentiment is highlighted in the documentary.

In the year 2014, she managed to secure a position within the writing team of a certain production, following the wide acclaim her Elle article received in 2012. This piece recounted her experience with a rare type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, which she was diagnosed with in that same year.

On “Grey’s”, Finch gained recognition as an expert in crafting storylines related to cancer, and her peers observed her frequently snacking on crackers and taking regular breaks, seemingly due to discomfort they believed were side effects of cancer therapies.

In the script-writing phase for “Grey’s Anatomy”, she penned 13 episodes and supervised the production of 172. Finch authored an episode titled “Anybody Have a Map?” in 2018, where the character Catherine Avery (played by Debbie Allen) discovers she has chondrosarcoma, and contemplates the potential consequences of a surgery that might render her quadriplegic.

The book, “Anatomy of Lies,” devotes considerable time to individuals who allege that Finch harmed them throughout different stages of their lives. For instance, a college companion remembers an instance when Finch lashed out at her upon arriving at the Mayo Clinic, assuming she was there for cancer treatment.

Grey’s was the perfect place for Finch to focus on writing out traumatic plots—but even there, she could cross the line when it came to her colleagues. Former Grey’s Anatomy writer Kiley Donovan says in the series that she told Finch that her father was her mother’s rapist, and how Finch went on to write one of the most famous Grey’s Anatomy episodes about sexual assault. In “Silent All These Years,” the doctor Jo (Camilla Luddington) is triggered by a sexual assault patient and has flashbacks to her own mother telling her that she had been conceived in rape.

Overwhelmed by the pressure of drafting that particular episode, Finch decided to take some time off work and seek help at a mental health care center located in Arizona.

How Finch got caught

At the facility, Finch met Jen Beyer, a nurse and mother from Kansas recovering from an abusive marriage. They became fast friends. Over time, their friendship grew romantic, and they married in Feb. 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I found my relationship with someone becoming tense. In a revealing interview in the documentary, Beyer’s daughter Maya shared that she hadn’t attended school for an entire year—not even when schools resumed—as Finch was concerned that she might contract Covid and potentially harm us, due to his heightened fear of the virus.

It was Beyer who uncovered Finch’s lies.

Finch once expressed she developed PTSD after cleaning up the remnants of her friend following the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. However, on a certain day, Beyer browsed through Finch’s Facebook account and noticed that instead of being in Pittsburgh, she had posted pictures of herself enjoying at a party elsewhere.

While investigating online, she came across a picture of Finch with a bandage covering what should have been a chemotherapy port on her chest. However, Beyer had never observed a scar in that location before, which led her to conclude that Finch may not have had cancer after all.

According to Beyer, when she questioned Finch about the matter, Finch confessed that she had lied and showed no emotion. When Beyer inquired whether Finch knew someone at the Tree of Life synagogue, Finch denied knowing anyone there.

Once it became evident that Finch wouldn’t confess openly to everyone, Beyer composed an email to the creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes.

Donovan says that show employees nicknamed Finch the “trauma vampire.” She resigned in March 2022.

In the captivating documentary series, I found myself expressing my viewpoint as to why I took that decisive action: “I believe it’s crucial to strip her of the means to repeatedly inflict pain on others.” I suspect Finch clung to the nurse, me, because after all, a nurse should be able to discern whether or not someone is truly ill.

Why Elisabeth Finch lied so much

“I think it is an unquenchable thirst for attention,” Peretz tells TIME.

As a movie buff putting it in my own words: In a December 2022 chat with The Ankler, I, myself, confessed that my actions were regrettable and wrong – a mistake I’ve traced back to my 2007 knee replacement surgery. During the recovery phase, I found myself enjoying the attention and support from friends, which somehow led me down a path of dishonesty.

As everyone turned out to be incredible and wonderful in the time leading up to my surgeries, they provided tremendous support. Then, following my knee replacement surgery, I faced a challenging recovery period. Afterward, there was an unexpected silence as people were happy about my healing but didn’t know how to react. This left me without the usual support system. In response, I fell back on old habits and started lying or inventing stories to get attention and support, which is unfortunately how I coped with the situation.

2024-10-15 16:06