Anatomy of Lies is a three-part documentary on Peacock that unravels the sinister lies that alleged grifter Elisabeth Finch spewed to further her personal interests.
The docuseries was recently released on Peacock and draws heavily from the investigative pieces produced by Vanity Fair which first brought to light the enormity of former Grey's Anatomy writer and co-executive producer Elisabeth Finch's lies which she consistently spun throughout her career.
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After her fabulist nature had been exposed, Elisabeth Finch was disgraced and exiled to live a solitary life. Anatomy of Lies has once again brought her to the limelight with her story serving as a cautionary tale to the bigwigs of Hollywood, advising them against believing anyone's story at face value.
A detailed report by The Ankler had previously taken an incisive look into the fabric of Finch's lies, including the bombastic lies of her struggle against cancer, her pregnancy, and the like. This was followed by widespread curiosity about Finch's life.
Here are six shocking details about Elisabeth Finch's life and these would help you understand how she was able to pull off such an act of deceit for so many years, cheating both Hollywood as well as her near and dear ones.
Anatomy of Lies: Elisabeth Finch's act of deceit
1) Elisabeth Finch lied about her cancer
Even though Elisabeth Finch regularly shaved her head, took breaks from the writer's room of Grey's Anatomy to vomit frequently, and wore the scars from chemotherapy as a badge for everyone to see, she had to admit later on that all of that was an elaborate hoax she had designed to gather everyone's attention.
Also false were her claims that the chemotherapy had caused one of her kidneys to fail and also made her unfit for pregnancy, as described in Anatomy of Lies.
2) Elisabeth Finch poached imaginary incidents from her life and that of others to develop storylines
In a rare instance of art imitating life, it often turned out that while Elisabeth was working with Shona Rhimes on the popular show Grey's Anatomy, she would often place the characters of the script in situations that would mimic her own imaginary struggles, as described on Anatomy of Lies.
Even while she wasn't writing the show, she was writing articles for various reputed publications like Elle and The Hollywood Reporter, which were written as story treatments rather than informative pieces.
Eventually, after repeating her lies numerous times those around Finch started believing them to be true and Shonda Rhimes greenlit the move to develop characters based on Finch, for example, the character of Dr. Catherine Avery, played by Debbie Allen.
3) Elisabeth Finch duped her ex-wife
According to Anatomy of Lies, Finch had checked herself into an Arizona mental health facility that specializes in treating women suffering from a host of disorders, the chief among them being trauma, in 2019.
It was there that she met her now ex-wife Jennifer Beyer who was also a survivor and was recovering from an abusive marriage. Eventually, Finch fell in love with Beyer and they were in a relationship. Beyer, however, soon realized the treacherous lies and spoke to Finch's employers at Disney.
4) Elisabeth Finch was put on administrative leave
Following the unraveling of her lies, Finch was first put on administrative leave by Shonda Rhimes and Disney. Once the allegations against her were proven to be true, she resigned from the writer's room and once again checked herself into the mental health facility in Arizona.
5) Elisabeth Finch lied about her brother's death
According to Anatomy of Lies, Finch once mentioned that the reason behind her absence from the show was her brother's tragic death by suicide. The truth however is that her brother Eric is well alive and healthy.
6) Elisabeth Finch also lied about her involvement in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting
Back in 2018, a terrorist attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh claimed the lives of eleven people. In what seems like a woeful pattern, Finch was once again absent from the show during this time and lied about the fact that she had to fly to Pittsburgh to collect the remains of one of the victims who was a friend of hers.
Anatomy of Lies is currently streaming on Peacock.
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