A former Grey’s Anatomy writer has issued a public apology for faking a rare form of cancer for eight years following the release of a new docuseries that chronicles her trail of deceit and manipulation. Elisabeth Finch served as a writer on the Shonda Rhimes medical drama for 13 episodes starting in 2014, and produced 172 episodes before her departure in 2022, even appearing on-screen as Nurse Elizabeth in the Season 15 episode “Silent All These Years.” The three-part docuseries titled Anatomy of Lies hit Peacock on October 15, prompting renewed interest in her story, which led to her statement.
In an Instagram post yesterday, Finch says that “sorry” doesn’t begin to explain how she feels over this whole mess, claiming that she “trapped herself in an addiction of lies.” That’s the understatement of the year, considering she went so far as to tape a catheter to her arm at one point, and shave her head to make it appear to others as if she were being treated for advanced chondrosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that affects roughly 1 in 200,000 people in the United States. Finch would go on to say that she has “no justifications” for her actions, and that she has been undergoing mental health treatment to hopefully make sense of why she unleashed her web of lies in the first place. Check out her apology post below.
Elisabeth Finch’s Lies Were Not Limited to Her Fake Cancer
As if this bizarre story couldn’t get any crazier, an exposé released by Vanity Fair in 2022 revealed even more heinous trickery on Finch’s part, claiming that she also lied about being present at the aftermath of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018 to pick up “what was left of her friend.” Furthermore, she told everyone that her abusive brother tried to end his own life but was unsuccessful, leading to her having to take him off life support. In reality, her sibling is alive and well and resides in Florida. How messed up is that?
Anatomy of Lies features interviews with Grey’s Anatomy writers, as well as Finch’s estranged wife Jennifer Byer, and two of her kids. It’s co-directed by Evgenia Peretz (the writer of the Vanity Fair piece), and her husband, filmmaker David Schisgall, whose credits include 2011’s Our Idiot Brother, and the 2007 documentary Very Young Girls. Noticeably absent from the docuseries is Finch herself, which, Peretz told Variety, affected how the overall story was presented.
“At a certain point, we didn’t want this to be — and it really couldn’t be without Elisabeth — a documentary about this person’s affliction, and why they are like this. It really had to be framed as something that shows the result of what this person did to all these people and how they deal with it.”
Related
20 Short and Suspenseful Docuseries Perfect for Bingeing
All of these short docuseries will have you chasing that “just one more episode” feeling.
The unbelievable story of Finch is streaming now on Peacock, but that might not be the end of the story, as Peretz also revealed that “something is in the works” by the disgraced writer, meaning she could be looking to capitalize on all the attention by selling the rights to her story for either a book, or possible film adaptation. The thought of her cashing in on all of this only adds to this outlandish tale, but as we’ve come to expect from stories like this, we can’t say we’re surprised.