By Andrew Dalton
Associated Press
June 16, 2026 - 9:11 am
LOS ANGELES — Author Amy Griffin sued a erstwhile classmate for defamation connected Monday, saying the woman’s statements successful a New York Times communicative and a consequent suit alleging Griffin appropriated her stories of intersexual maltreatment for her bestselling 2025 memoir “The Tell” are mendacious successful “every element.”
Griffin’s lawsuit, filed successful national tribunal successful Nevada, says that successful 2025 her erstwhile mediate schoolhouse classmate “told The New York Times — and done it, the satellite — that Amy Griffin is simply a fraud and a thief.”
The suit says that successful the woman’s telling, “Mrs. Griffin stole the rape of different pistillate and built a bestseller connected it.”
A Times spokesperson said the suit misrepresents its communicative and reporting. The erstwhile classmate said her relationship volition beryllium existent successful court.
In “The Tell,” a deed that became an Oprah’s Book Club selection, Griffin, a task capitalist and memoirist, recounts being sexually abused arsenic a kid by a teacher astatine her mediate schoolhouse successful Amarillo, Texas, and writes that years aboriginal she recovered memories of the acquisition by undergoing therapy utilizing the psychedelic cause MDMA.
The Times communicative published six months aft the publication included stories from a classmate who said immoderate of Griffin’s experiences were eerily akin to her own. Then successful March the pistillate filed a suit successful California authorities court, which Griffin is warring and seeking to person dismissed.
The Associated Press doesn’t typically sanction radical who accidental they person been sexually abused unless they travel guardant publically oregon different consent. The pistillate who sued Griffin filed her suit arsenic Jane Doe, and her sanction did not look successful the Times story.
Griffin says documentation backs her successful each aspect
Griffin’s suit says the astir indispensable information is that she enactment her relationship of her maltreatment successful penning successful 2020, and successful 2021 she provided different elaborate and documented relationship successful an interrogation with the Amarillo Police Department. Both accounts lucifer up with the book, and some came earlier Griffin is alleged to person extracted the woman’s maltreatment communicative by having idiosyncratic posing arsenic a endowment cause telephone her successful 2022, according to the lawsuit. The statute of limitations prevented the transgression probe from moving forward.
Griffin’s suit says the pistillate falsely claimed to beryllium different mediate schoolhouse classmate who appears successful “The Tell” nether the pseudonym “Claudia,” whose gathering with the writer is recounted successful the book. The suit Griffin had not talked to the pistillate successful much than 35 years, had ne'er been portion of the aforesaid religion younker radical arsenic alleged, and was demonstrably not successful the Palm Springs country successful 2019 — oregon the years earlier oregon aft — erstwhile the pistillate claims the 2 of them met for coffee.
Griffin’s suit says the java store speech with “Claudia” took spot thousands of miles distant successful the beingness of a collaborator, and that the pistillate successful the Times communicative had been incapable to nutrient immoderate grounds the gathering with her had taken place.
Accuser says this is an effort to soundlessness her
In an email to The Associated Press sent done her lawyers, the pistillate said the shame and humiliation from her intersexual battle were unimaginable and she was “violated each implicit again aft speechmaking astir my ain experiences successful Amy’s book.”
“Despite trying to stay anonymous, Amy has present chosen to usage her immense wealthiness and power to effort and soundlessness me,” the email said. “She has had her lawyers place maine publically arsenic good arsenic writer me. I americium shocked and disappointed that she would take to instrumentality this route, particularly since she herself knows the truth.”
Griffin’s suit seeks a declaration that the allegations that she stole the woman’s maltreatment stories are false, on with fiscal damages to beryllium determined astatine trial.
New York Times stands by its reporting and story
Griffin’s lawsuit, portion not naming the Times arsenic a defendant, is harshly captious of the paper, saying it “deemed the communicative excessively bully to scrutinize” contempt Griffin’s lawyers making it wide the woman’s relationship was “demonstrably false.”
Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said successful an email to the AP that the suit and related filings “repeatedly misrepresent The New York Times communicative and its reporting,” and that the nonfiction “is markedly antithetic successful cardinal aspects enactment forth” successful some women’s lawsuits.
Rhoades points retired that galore of the allegations Griffin is pushing backmost against did not look successful the Times’ story, including that the pistillate they spoke to was “Claudia,” oregon that a idiosyncratic posing arsenic a endowment cause connected Griffin’s behalf called to get her stories of abuse.
And Rhoades said the Times communicative did not accidental Griffin “misappropriated” the woman’s story, and she said claims that the reporters did not vet their communicative are false, and that they “engaged extensively with Ms. Griffin’s ineligible representatives anterior to work including meticulous information checking.”
“Our communicative was astir a publishing phenomenon, the reliability of memories recovered portion nether the power of MDMA and the interaction of a bestselling memoir connected the author’s hometown,” Rhoades said. “Our reporters’ lone docket was to prosecute the facts, including corroboration of accounts from each sources.”
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