Fake it till you make

How James Frey lied his way into fame and felt Oprah's rage

George Pillari
August 22, 2024

Read time 1m40s

James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces, a memoir. The book detailed Frey’s experiences with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as his life of crime. He shows up at home one day in his early twenties and is such a mess, his parents check him into a detox and rehabilitation clinic. Most of the book describes Frey’s time in rehab and his subsequent time in prison, all in graphic detail.

Credit: James Frey

The book did not do much when it was first published, but that changed when Frey caught lightning in a bottle: Oprah Winfrey added it to Oprah’s book club and Frey as a guest on her show. Sales of the book took off and it was on top of best-seller lists for months. Oprah teared up talking to Frey on her show. Millions purchased the book. Movie deals were in the works. Frey was a star.

Frey was also a liar.

After his appearance on Oprah, the website The Smoking Gun did some fact-checking of arrest records, hospitalizations, and other salacious details in the book. Many facets of the story did not check out and the website challenged him. Soon thereafter, Frey and his publisher Random House, had to admit that the book was not the truthful memoir as it was originally marketed, but it was a fabrication based on some of the facts of Frey’s life.

Frey had to go back on Oprah to explain himself. Oprah was pissed. She extracted confessions from Frey and his publisher of the falsified nature of the story. Readers were allowed to return the book for a full refund from Random House and all future copies had author’s and publisher’s notes informing readers that the book was a work of fiction. Ironically, Frey first pitched a version of the book as a novel and no publishing house would take it.

Other than making millions and becoming a household name from his bullshit story, what happened to Frey? After Random House kicked him out, A Million Little Pieces was made into a movie and his next book (yes, a novel this time) was immediately picked up by another publisher. Frey’s profile only grew.

Credit: LinkedIn

This post was excerpted from The Seven Deadly Stupidities: Using Other People’s Failures to Make Better Decisions, now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Trusting the Media is one of the The Seven Deadly Stupidities.