While Hollywood has its fair share of wild stories, learning that a former writer for Grey’s Anatomy not only faked a cancer diagnosis but had created a full-blown web of outlandish lies is still pretty unexpected. According to Buzzfeed News, the announcement that former Grey’s Anatomy writer Elisabeth Finch lied about a medical diagnosis first gained traction back in March after The Ankler reported that Disney was investigating the Shondaland writer for potentially faking her medical history.

In 2012, Finch had stated that she’d been diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. The writer also said that the chemotherapy had caused her to lose her kidney, a part of her leg, and forced her to have an abortion. During that time, Finch also played a nurse on Grey’s Anatomy. To validate her claims about cancer, she shaved her head and taped a fake catheter to her arm to make it look like she was receiving chemo treatment.

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But faking a cancer diagnosis wasn’t the only falsehood that Finch told. That same year that Finch appeared onscreen, she also told co-workers that one of her close friends had been killed during a terrorist attack at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh (11 people died due to the real-life attack). Then in 2019, the former Grey’s writer said that her older brother, Eric, had died by suicide, a claim she used as an excuse for being absent from the Grey’s writers’ room. “I’ve been gone bc my brother died by suicide,” she wrote at the time. “He was on life support for a short while but ultimately did not survive.”

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After Sticking With her Initial Claims, Elisabeth Finch Finally Admitted She’d Lied About Having Cancer.

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However, nine months into the initial investigation of Finch’s statements, the writer finally admitted that she’d lied about parts of her life. Speaking with The Ankler, Finch said, “I told a lie when I was 34 years old and it was the biggest mistake of my life,” Finch stated. “It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and got buried deeper and deeper inside me.” She then said, “I’ve never had any form of cancer.”

The outlet also reported that Finch’s claim about losing a close friend during the terrorist attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue was fabricated. She did not personally know any of the deceased victims. Similarly, Finch’s claim that her brother had died by suicide was also revealed to be false. Her brother, Eric, is, in fact, alive and currently works in Florida.

Finch said, “I know it’s absolutely wrong what I did. I lied and there’s no excuse for it. But there’s context for it. The best way I can explain it is when you experience a level of trauma a lot of people adopt a maladaptive coping mechanism. Some people drink to hide or forget things. Drug addicts try to alter their reality. Some people cut. I lied. That was my coping and my way to feel safe and seen and heard.”