Featured Image Credit: Peacock/Michael Desmond/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Topics: Grey's Anatomy, TV And Film, Documentaries, Cancer, Health, Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Grey's Anatomy, TV And Film, Documentaries, Cancer, Health, Celebrity
The Grey’s Anatomy writer who faked cancer and convinced people on set she was ill for nearly a decade has issued an apology.
Back in 2022, writer and co-producer Elisabeth Finch was exposed for her web of lies after claiming to have survived a rare form of bone cancer, deceiving her friends, family, Grey’s Anatomy co-workers, and even her own wife.
A documentary titled, Anatomy of Lies, has since been released exploring Finch's 'betrayal' and the extreme lengths she went to convince others of the fake diagnosis.
Check out the official trailer here:
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Finch began writing for Grey's Anatomy in 2014, and revealed her chondrosarcoma diagnosis to multiple publications. She also claimed to have lost a kidney and had to undergo an abortion as a result of the chemotherapy treatment.
However, in 2022, Vanity Fair ran an exposé on her claims - which revealed that none of it was true.
Since the doc's release yesterday (15 October), Finch has taken to Instagram where she shared a lengthy statement with her followers.
It begins: "I've given no one any reason to believe a word I say. I lied about so much; things so many people have been devastated by in real life.
"'I'm sorry' feels like the smallest words compared to what I've done, yet they are the truest."
She continued: "I trapped myself in the addiction of lies, betraying and traumatising my closest family, friends, and colleagues.
"I'm making amends and expressing my genuine remorse as best I can when people are ready. And I've accepted the fact that some may never be."
Revealing that she's been receiving mental health treatment for 'nearly three years', Finch added: "I work hard every day to sustain a life where the truth matters more than anything."
Opening up about her marriage with her wife, Jennifer Dawn, the writer went on to confess the 'biggest mistake' of her life.
"The truth is, I married a woman with whom I fell deeply, truly in love. Jennifer Dawn had five kids I came to love as my own quickly, fiercely, unconditionally -- and still do to this day," she wrote. "Days into us first dating, she got down on one knee and proposed with pieces of lavender strung together into a ring.
"The biggest mistake of my life (alongside lying about cancer in the first place) was saying 'yes' to Jennifer's proposal before I was honest with her."
Admitting there was 'no excuse' and 'no justification', Finch acknowledged: "Nothing will ever make my lies to anyone okay. Nothing erases the trauma I caused - the fear, the pain, the anger, the tears, the time.
"And nothing matters more to me than holding myself accountable in every way."
Finch rounded off the statement assuring that she would 'continue to repair whatever damage I can and ensure I am not the worst things I've done'.
She concluded: "I recognise all of this will take time for people to believe.
"I will work and wait as long as it takes."
Following the release of the Vanity Fair article, Finch was placed on administrative leave before later resigning from the Grey's Anatomy team after admitting to lying.
Anatomy of Lies is currently available to stream on Peacock now.