CHICAGO (Reuters) - Author James Frey confessed to Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he made up details about every character in his memoir 'A Million Little Pieces' and the talk show host apologized to her viewers, saying she felt 'duped.'
In 19 years in television 'I've never been in this position before,' said Winfrey, whose praise for Frey's book in September helped make it the top-selling book on nonfiction lists in the United States last year.
'I really feel duped,' Winfrey told Frey on her television show. She said he had betrayed millions of viewers.
Winfrey began by apologizing to viewers for a telephone call she made to CNN's 'Larry King Live' show on January 11, while King was interviewing Frey about the controversy. In the call Winfrey said that even though the facts were being questioned, the book 'still resonates with me' and called the controversy 'much ado about nothing.'
'I regret that phone call,' she told her viewers on Thursday. 'I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter and I am deeply sorry about that. That is not what I believe.'
Sitting with Frey in side-by-side easy chairs, Winfrey quizzed the author point-by-point about his book that described his drug-and-alcohol addiction and the people hurt by it.
'All the way through the book I altered details about every one of the characters,' Frey said 'Every one of the characters was altered,' including himself.
He spent two hours in jail, not 87 days, and the account of his breaking up with a woman who later committed suicide happened in a much shorter period of time, with their separation occurring while he was taking care of personal business in North Carolina, not while he was in jail, he said.
She committed suicide by slashing her wrists, he said, not by hanging herself.
Asked if The Smoking Gun Web site which first questioned the book had accurately characterized the discrepancies, Frey said 'I think most of what they wrote was pretty accurate,' adding they did 'a good job.'
The Smoking Gun said it could find no evidence of his having spent that much time in jail and that an auto accident he wrote about consisted of running his car up on a curb.
Frey said he had developed an image of himself for the book as 'being tougher than I was, badder than I was' as a 'coping mechanism.'
Winfrey asked if that was to make a better book or to make him a better person.
'Probably both,' he answered.
'To everyone who has challenged me on this issue of truth, you are absolutely right,' she said, adding that the inspiration the book brought to so many people had clouded her judgment.
Frey's book had been chosen by Winfrey for her reading club -- an honor which often turns books into best sellers. Published by Random House's Doubleday division, the book sold more than 1.77 million copies last year after being chosen by Winfrey.
On January 17 Winfrey chose Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel's 'Night' as her latest selection, sending the book, first published in the United States in 1960, to the top of best-seller lists.
Random House is a unit of German media conglomerate Bertelsman AG.
sarahthegreat
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
i don't take Oprahs word as gospel ( not saying anyone here does) so i still believe james frey.
SomethingBlu
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by smm2675
i don't take Oprahs word as gospel ( not saying anyone here does) so i still believe james frey.
Unfortunately, people do...for the most part anything she says goes (hence her whole beef debacle and her power on millions of readers). But there are always two sides to every story and I hate hearing stories like this. It sounds like she wanted to clear the air from her side and disconnect herself from him.
sarahthegreat
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by SomethingBlu
Posted by smm2675
i don't take Oprahs word as gospel ( not saying anyone here does) so i still believe james frey.
Unfortunately, people do...for the most part anything she says goes (hence her whole beef debacle and her power on millions of readers). But there are always two sides to every story and I hate hearing stories like this. It sounds like she wanted to clear the air from her side and disconnect herself from him.
i hear you, but i wish people would learn how to stand on their own 2 feet and make their own decisions.
i was reading books way before oprah 'made' it cool....
SomethingBlu
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by smm2675
Posted by SomethingBlu
Posted by smm2675
i don't take Oprahs word as gospel ( not saying anyone here does) so i still believe james frey.
Unfortunately, people do...for the most part anything she says goes (hence her whole beef debacle and her power on millions of readers). But there are always two sides to every story and I hate hearing stories like this. It sounds like she wanted to clear the air from her side and disconnect herself from him.
i hear you, but i wish people would learn how to stand on their own 2 feet and make their own decisions.
i was reading books way before oprah 'made' it cool....
I couldn't agree with you more. I remember when she was raving about One Hundred Years of Solitude I was like yeah, that was required reading in 5th grade in PR. Thanks for stating the obvious.
But I guess the good part is that she gets people to read, period.
sarahthegreat
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
i guess, but it bugs me that if she decides a book is good, then everyone HAS to read it...like in this case...but people read this in 2003 and there was no controversy then....
SomethingBlu
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by smm2675
i guess, but it bugs me that if she decides a book is good, then everyone HAS to read it...like in this case...but people read this in 2003 and there was no controversy then....
Pack mentality...
beautyq115
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
I watched and I just got annoyed when she was kind of like...yes I am so great for having this show! I mean she did admit that she did wrong but hello...she was endorcing him and defending him for a while!
I think the journalists from the Times were annoyed with her
Preshy7
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
he should not have called it a memoir- he should have called it a fiction based on a true story...
its too bad- the book was wonderful
GsCM4EVA
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Just a question..
Do you think maybe, JUST maybe, Oprah payed him off to tell 'the truth'? Cuz she didnt want to look like an AHole?
heidla
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
I'm watching a replay of Oprah and I find her absolutely appalling!!! I can understand the embarrassment, but watching this superiority complex play itself out is truly despicable. I wouldn't be surprised tomorrow if we all read that Mr. Frey has committed suicide or reverted to his old addictions. He made his past out to be more then it was, but he still has recovered from an addiction and should be applauded (just as anyone who does) for it. He wrote a novel that was published as a memoir, his memory, of his encounters. How reliable is a drug addicts memory going to be.
beautyq115
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by JeanineHubert
Just a question..
Do you think maybe, JUST maybe, Oprah payed him off to tell 'the truth'? Cuz she didnt want to look like an AHole?
This is a true possiblity
beautyq115
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by heidla
I'm watching a replay of Oprah and I find her absolutely appalling!!! I can understand the embarrassment, but watching this superiority complex play itself out is truly despicable. I wouldn't be surprised tomorrow if we all read that Mr. Frey has committed suicide or reverted to his old addictions. He made his past out to be more then it was, but he still has recovered from an addiction and should be applauded (just as anyone who does) for it. He wrote a novel that was published as a memoir, his memory, of his encounters. How reliable is a drug addicts memory going to be.
That would really be sad...didn't he make some remark about wishing there was a gun backstage so he could end it or something??
Mrs. Powell
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
All I am going to say is that the guy is damn liar. He is a pathological liar.
All I am going to say is that the guy is damn liar. He is a pathological liar.
He did go through a lot and I agree he did lie but did you read the book, doesn't change the fact that it is EXCELLENT!!
Mrs. Powell
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by lilqtny
Posted by Mrs. Powell
All I am going to say is that the guy is damn liar. He is a pathological liar.
He did go through a lot and I agree he did lie but did you read the book, doesn't change the fact that it is EXCELLENT!!
Not saying that his book might not be excellent. I did not read his book but I did watch the interview with Oprah and of course his stories were very much fabricated. I do not understand why he did have to fabricate all those stories. Even the incident where he claimed that is girlfriend I think killed herself and on the in the interview with Oprah he came out and told her that is girlfriend did not kill herself but rather slit her wrist. I don't think anyone is trying to say that is book is not excellent but people are concerned with why did he fabricate these stories and then calling his book a memoir. What would have happened if he did not get caught? People would be believing that this guy actually been through alot.
heidla
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by Mrs. Powell
Posted by lilqtny
Posted by Mrs. Powell
All I am going to say is that the guy is damn liar. He is a pathological liar.
He did go through a lot and I agree he did lie but did you read the book, doesn't change the fact that it is EXCELLENT!!
Not saying that his book might not be excellent. I did not read his book but I did watch the interview with Oprah and of course his stories were very much fabricated. I do not understand why he did have to fabricate all those stories. Even the incident where he claimed that is girlfriend I think killed herself and on the in the interview with Oprah he came out and told her that is girlfriend did not kill herself but rather slit her wrist. I don't think anyone is trying to say that is book is not excellent but people are concerned with why did he fabricate these stories and then calling his book a memoir. What would have happened if he did not get caught? People would be believing that this guy actually been through alot.
I might be mistaken, but when I was watching the interview, or shall I say queen Oprah bullying Frey, my understanding was that his ex did commit suicide, but he changed the method that she used.
Yes, what would have happened if none of this came out. Millions of people would have read an inspiring book and maybe appreciate where they are in life. I have no issue with that personally. He embellished, he lied, but the point is that he is a talented writer. Maybe his method of getting his novel published was poor, but the end result was still a great work.
sarahthegreat
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
ultimately the book was based on fact...he embellished things. should he have? probably not, but for Oprah to sit in judgment of him is ridiculous. who died and made her god?? she sickenes me and i could care less what book shes wants me to read.
i agree w/heilda, he is coming from a bad place and is still struggling w/addiction but he is clean and he should be applauded for that.
Mrs. Powell
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
The book is a good book. I think Oprah felt duped and betrayed because he fabricated key parts of his book. Also the fact that she was defending him when people started saying that his book is a fabrication. He should not have called his book a memoir at all. Oprah was not the one who tell him to write lies so why is she been the bad one here?
JanuaryBride06
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by Mrs. Powell
The book is a good book. I think Oprah felt duped and betrayed because he fabricated key parts of his book. Also the fact that she was defending him when people started saying that his book is a fabrication. He should not have called his book a memoir at all. Oprah was not the one who tell him to write lies so why is she been the bad one here?
Because Oprah praised the book and is now trashing the author because of her association with him. She doesn't care about his lies - she cares about how it affects her rep with her viewers.
No one is saying that Frey's not the bad one in this. Should he have lied? No. But last I checked, Oprah's a TALK SHOW HOST- that's it! Am I one of the few who has absolutely no interest in what she reads/wears/uses/says?
Mrs. Powell
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Re: Frey admits fictions, Oprah apologizes
Posted by JanuaryBride06
Posted by Mrs. Powell
The book is a good book. I think Oprah felt duped and betrayed because he fabricated key parts of his book. Also the fact that she was defending him when people started saying that his book is a fabrication. He should not have called his book a memoir at all. Oprah was not the one who tell him to write lies so why is she been the bad one here?
Because Oprah praised the book and is now trashing the author because of her association with him. She doesn't care about his lies - she cares about how it affects her rep with her viewers.
No one is saying that Frey's not the bad one in this. Should he have lied? No. But last I checked, Oprah's a TALK SHOW HOST- that's it! Am I one of the few who has absolutely no interest in what she reads/wears/uses/says?
Not that I really care about what she reads, wears, uses, or says but rather this guy should not have fabricated lies that is all I am saying. He should have made his book a non-fiction rather than a memoir. Oprah is a talk show host who has done a lot for millions of people and give boost to people such as Frey.
