A disturbing clip has revealed the sheer extent of the Grey’s Anatomy writer who faked cancer went to when convincing people on set that she was sick.
Writer and co-producer Elisabeth Finch was exposed for her web of lies back in 2022 in a Vanity Fair exposé.
Not only did Finch claim to have survived a rare form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, but she also lied about suffering the loss of a kidney and part of her leg.
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She deceived her friends, family, Grey’s Anatomy co-workers, and even her own wife.
A brand-new docu-series titled Anatomy of Lies, which just aired on Peacock yesterday (15 October), explores Finch's deception, which spanned for eight years.
In the clip just below, Finch's ex-colleague, fellow writer Andy Reaser, opened up about the 'betrayal' he felt over the extreme lengths she went to convince others of the fake diagnosis. Watch here:
Finch, who joined the popular ABC medical drama back in 2014, writing 13 episodes and producing a further 172, was placed on administrative leave following the release of the exposé, and later resigned from the Grey's Anatomy team after admitting to lying.
In the clip, Reaser can be heard saying: "The thing is, it was so confusing.
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"You have to move through eight years of interactions to even wrap your head around it and I’m not even sure that I still fully have."
Comparing Finch's deception to 'performance art', he revealed: "She was showing up to work with a shaved head and a, you know, a greenish hue.
"She looked like she lived in a microwave."
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According to Reaser, Finch was also even changing her diet and staging 'puke breaks' from her alleged chemotherapy.
"She was eating these saltines and drinking ginger ale and going to the bathroom to take puke breaks from her chemo," he carried on.
"It’s just so hard to imagine that someone could commit that strongly to that and it seems so much harder to me than just doing your job well."
After being caught, Finch finally admitted she 'never had any form of cancer' and confessed to the Ankler that her lies 'got bigger and bigger and bigger and got buried deeper and deeper inside me'.
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"I know it’s absolutely wrong what I did," she said. "I lied and there’s no excuse for it."
Attempting to explain the reason for the near-decade of lies, the writer claimed: "The best way I can explain it is when you experience a level of trauma, a lot of people adopt a maladaptive coping mechanism.
"I lied. That was my coping and my way to feel safe and seen and heard."
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Opening up about the fallout following the exposé, Finch shared: "I wish I had a grid that would show who’s not talking to me because they can’t [legally].
"Who’s not talking to me because they don’t know what to say. Who’s not talking to me because they’re p*ssed off."
And it wasn't just colleagues who were shocked by Finch's actions, as even her loved ones dubbed her a 'monster' and 'fraud'.
"Family and friends who called me 'a monster' and 'a fraud' and said that’s all I’ll ever be known for and soon, more truth would come out," she lamented.
Anatomy of Lies is currently available to stream on Peacock now.
Topics: Grey's Anatomy, TV And Film, Documentaries, Cancer, Health, Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle