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Disgraced Grey's Anatomy Writer's Friends Say She "Fooled Us All" with Cancer, Abortion Lies
Elisabeth Finch, once a respected TV writer for shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, was exposed for spinning a web lies, as detailed in a new Peacock docuseries.
Anatomy of Lies, a new three-part series from Peacock, picks through the laundry list of lies reportedly told by once-famed TV writer Elisabeth Finch.
Based on the 2022 Vanity Fair article Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Anatomy of Lies tells how a New Jersey-born writer fooled loved ones and peers to gain sympathy, often taking the real-life tragedies of those around her and making them her own. None of it, however, would be exposed until after Elisabeth Finch’s writing success in hit shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and more.
“Essentially, I think she probably saw her life like a TV series,” former classmate and writer Matt Graham said. “It was gripping, and for years, it fooled Hollywood. It fooled us all.”
Keep reading to learn about the major untruths exposed in Anatomy of Lies, available only on Peacock.
Elisabeth Finch claimed she had cancer
In 2014, Finch told those around her that she was undergoing treatment for Chondrosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer that left the writer with little hope of a positive outcome. She wrote about her brave fight against the disease in a 2014 Elle article, pulling on the heartstrings of many, including Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler and Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, the latter even helped Finch — then an established writer — land a writing and production position with the hit ABC show.
Later in her career, Grey’s Anatomy colleagues told Anatomy of Lies they noticed Finch would wear a headscarf — purportedly a result of hair loss from chemotherapy — at a time when there was discussion about taking Finch off the show.
“As time went on, she would look more unwell with quite a bit of makeup on, which I figured had to be because she was trying to look less green from the chemo,” said her co-writer, Andy Reaser.
A second Grey’s Anatomy writer, Kiley Donovan, told Anatomy of Lies that Finch was spotted with what looked like a medical port on her chest. It would later be revealed the so-called port was merely an accessory in her big cancer lie, a lie that became a popular storyline in the show.
Elisabeth Finch's Reports of Mistreatment on Set of The Vampire Diaries
In 2018, at the heels of the #MeToo movement, Finch penned an article in The Hollywood Reporter (the article was removed from its website in December 2022). In the piece, she accused a director from The Vampire Diaries of verbally abusing her by calling her a “nagging c*nt.” She also alleged he made “lewd jokes about actresses’ bodies” and gave unwanted hugs and massages.
Finch refused to name the director, and co-workers voiced their surprise over the claims.
Donovan said Finch seemed to want to be “an important voice.”
“I started to notice that whenever there was something being talked about in the zeitgeist or the news, Finch always seemed to have a connection to it or her own personal experience or story,” she told Anatomy of Lies.
Finch has never publicly retracted her statements about the unnamed director.
Elisabeth Finch said she had life-saving abortion
Later in 2018, Finch came forward and gave a story that, against all odds, she became pregnant while still undergoing chemotherapy. In video obtained and published by Anatomy of Lies, Finch had this to say: “If I took my cancer medication, the fetus likely wouldn’t survive, and if I stopped taking my cancer medication, I wouldn’t survive.”
She wrote about the “impossible decision” to have an abortion in Elle, which, according to Donovan, got her a lot of attention.
Finch herself would confess to lying about the abortion while undergoing chemotherapy, as featured in The Ankler.
Elisabeth Finch reportedly lied about involvement in a mass shooting
On Oct. 27, 2018, Robert Bowers went into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire on the Jewish congregation, ultimately killing 11 and wounding seven others in what would be the deadliest antisemite attack in the United States, according to Department of Justice. Colleagues said once news of the attack broke, Finch rushed out of the office and texted to say she was flying to Pittsburgh, as it was purportedly her one-time place of worship.
Finch wrote on social media that she “spent sunup to sundown cleaning up what was left” of a friend, which didn’t make sense to some, especially since it was then an active crime scene swarming with F.B.I. agents.
“Somebody did say to her, ‘I can’t believe you’ve been through all this stuff,’” Grey’s Anatomy writer Mark Wilding told Anatomy of Lies. “And Finchie’s response was, ‘I can’t believe it either.’”
It would later be confirmed through social media posts that Finch never flew to Pittsburgh.
Elisabeth Finch accused her brother of “brutal” assault, says friends
In May 2019, Finch entered a rehabilitation center in Arizona — a move that simultaneously mirrored one of her Grey’s Anatomy storylines — seeking treatment for P.T.S.D. for the trauma she claimed to have following the Pittsburgh shooting. There she met her future wife, Jenn Beyer.
She invited her longtime friend, Aurora Lee Passin, to visit her at the treatment center.
“She greets me, and she wants to take a walk, and then she tells me her brother used to beat the sh-t out of her,” Passin told Anatomy of Lies. “I was gobsmacked. I’d never heard a bad thing about Eric.”
Passin said she only ever heard good things about the brother until Finch said she was “brutally assaulted” by him as a child. Finch had the realization in therapy, claiming the alleged abuse — and not the synagogue shooting — was the actual underlying cause of her P.T.S.D. Soon, Finch appeared to receive threatening letters from her brother.
According to Beyer, the woman behind exposing Finch’s lies, Finch allegedly admitted that her brother never abused her and that Finch wrote the letters herself.
Finch has never publicly retracted allegations against her brother.
Elisabeth Finch allegedly faked her brother’s suicide
Those who knew Finch best said her lies reflected the tragedies of those around her. On Sept. 5, 2019, as her relationship with Beyer began to blossom, Beyer learned her estranged husband died by suicide while en route to Finch’s L.A.-based office.
Grey’s Anatomy writer Kiley Donovan said she watched Finch and Beyer soon leave the office in a hurry and assumed it was related to Finch’s purported cancer.
“Later, I’d asked some colleagues, ‘Is she O.K.? Is she dying?’” said Donovan. “It was like, ‘She’s O.K., her brother’s in the hospital, he tried to kill himself and he’s on life support.’”
According to Andy Reaser, Finch later sent an email to her colleagues, explaining her brother — a doctor — shot himself and had to undergo emergency surgery. Eventually, Finch told the others, she had to make the heartbreaking decision to remove her sibling from life support.
However, this would be one of many of her lies as Elisabeth Finch’s brother is still alive, according to the documentary.
Elisabeth Finch claimed false Emmy win
Finch moved to Kansas to be with Beyer and Beyer’s five children, though still employed as a writer for Grey’s Anatomy. Finch told Beyer’s daughter, Maya, that she was “kinda sad” that she chose to be with her new family in Kansas instead of at the Emmy Awards.
“She said, ‘I was supposed to get one, and I turned it down,’” Maya told Anatomy of Lies. “’It was a red-carpet event, and everyone’s texting and asking where I am.’ And then she started crying.”
According to Maya, Finch said she preferred staying with her loved ones in Kansas. But to remedy Finch’s missing out, Maya created a video of her dancing “to cheer her up,” which was obtained and published by Anatomy of Lies.
Finch's Grey’s Anatomy colleagues told producers Finch was never nominated for an Emmy.
Elisabeth Finch said Anna Paquin donated her kidney to save her life
In 2017, Finch claimed chemotherapy caused enough damage to her body that she required a kidney transplant, according to Grey’s Anatomy writers. Finch allegedly said the Academy Award-winning actress and True Blood star Anna Paquin — described by Finch as a close friend — offered to donate one of hers, but indicated Paquin wanted to keep the information under wraps, according to Mark Winding.
“When she went to get her surgery, Finchie had a friend texting people at Grey’s about how the surgery was going, on Finchie’s phone,” Winding told Anatomy of Lies.
Two years later, after Finch sought treatment for a kidney stone, Beyer — then unaware of the purported transplant by Paquin and under the belief that Finch only had one working kidney — suspected Finch lied about her kidneys.
“After the scan, it wasn’t long before the doctor came back, and he looked straight at me and — plural — used the word[s], ‘Her kidneys look fine' … When you love somebody, you ignore red flags until they’re hitting you in the head,” said Beyer.
Beyer said Finch had no scars to support claims of either a kidney transplant or a chemotherapy port.
Elisabeth Finch apologizes on social media
Following the premiere of Anatomy of Lies, Finch released a statement on Instagram, apologizing for the lies she told and sharing that she has sought mental health treatment in recent years.
"The truth is, there is no excuse, no justification — 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," she wrote, in part. "And nothing matters more to me than holding myself accountable in every way. I will continue to repair whatever damage I can and ensure I am not the worst things I’ve done. I recognize all of this will take time for people to believe."
Learn more about Elisabeth Finch in Anatomy of Lies, streaming now on Peacock.
Originally published Oct 15, 2024.
