JT Leroy | The Ghost Writer

Scamfluencers

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.1 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the early 2000s, an Appalachian-born sex worker named JT Leroy becomes a literary wunderkind. His gritty, buzzed-about novels and tragic backstory earn him celebrity fans like Courtney Love, Carrie Fisher, and Billy Corgan, and interest from filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Asia Argento. But there’s something that doesn’t quite add up about the mysterious young author behind the blonde wig and dark sunglasses. And it’s just a matter of time before people find out JT’s big secret: He’s just as fictional as his novels.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Primembers, you can listen to Scamplencers' ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.
0:06.0	Ahead's up to our listeners. This episode discusses eating disorders, body image issues, gender dysphoria, and abuse.
0:14.0	Please listen with care.
0:22.0	Sarah, do you remember that book? Go ask Alice. It was like this anti-drug memoir that came out in the 70s.
0:28.0	Yes, I remember reading it when I was like 12 on a family road trip. I spent like a trip from like Ottawa to Toronto reading most of it.
0:40.0	And I remember being like, okay, yes, I'm never doing drugs. And then I later found out it was fake.
0:46.0	Yeah, did it really impact you when you found out it wasn't a real story?
0:50.0	I remember being very upset.
0:52.0	And then I remember being like, of course it was. Was I stupid? Like you read parts of it and it's like, and then I didn't ask it and I wanted to kill myself.
1:02.0	I mean, we're children. It's not our fault.
1:06.0	Yeah, it's definitely good enough to fool children.
1:08.0	Yeah. Well, today I'm going to tell you about a book scam that wasn't just about a fake story or a fake author, but about a fully fabricated life.
1:20.0	One day in May of 2005, Laura Albert's phone rings.
1:26.0	She's probably in an office building in Santa Monica. She's a writer on HBO's hit series, Deadwood. And she probably tries to take the call quietly.
1:34.0	But 39-year-old Laura is hard to miss. She has dyed red hair and wears elaborate steam punky outfits.
1:41.0	The person on the other end of the phone call introduces himself as Stephen Beachy.
1:45.0	He's a magazine writer working on a story about a writer named J.T. LaRoy.
1:50.0	J.T. is a queer, gender-fluid kid in his early 20s who used to do sex work at a truck stop.
1:56.0	He's originally from Appalachia and his books have sold extremely well. One of them was adapted into a movie.
2:03.0	J.T. is also a bit of a literary celebrity. He's a reclusive presence whose rare public appearances only add to his mystery.
2:11.0	Laura Panics. She does not want to talk about J.T. LaRoy. Because J.T. is Laura. She made him up.
2:21.0	For years, she's been publishing acclaimed books under his name. They've been recommended by celebrities like Courtney Love and Lou Reed.
	...

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