# Autobiographies/Memoirs With Deliberate Factual Misstatements Or Lies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702 "2010-01-05T01:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/21 "2010-01-05T04:34:40Z")
Chuck Barris-_Confessions of a Dangerous Mind_. I refuse to believe that he wore that hat in every episode. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/22 "2010-01-05T04:46:36Z")
Do autobiographies that are intended to deceive, and state that they do rather upfront, count? If so, I’d mention [Graham Chapman: A Liar’s Autobiography, Vol. VI](http://www.methuen.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/559) - Chapman weaves the truth and fiction pretty skillfully, and he led such an unusual life that it’s kinda hard to tell where he’s embellishing and where he’s being honest. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/23 "2010-01-05T04:55:16Z")
Bebe Buell’s [“Rebel Heart: An American Rock and Roll Journey”](http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Heart-American-Rock-Journey/product-reviews/0312301553/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1) is generally considered to be one of the least reliable and most self-serving autobiographies ever published. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/24 "2010-01-05T05:34:32Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > ## BMax, Justin\_Bailey-----Thank you both for the info about two books that I have read and wondered about… > > BMax, just so I am clear, the same woman (B. Sparks) wrote both Go Ask Alice and Jay’s Journal, correct? Yep. Wikipedia lists a bibliography of her works: > [@](#): > > ``` > * Go Ask Alice (1971) > * Jay's Journal (1978) > * It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager (1994) > * Almost Lost: The True Story of an Anonymous Teenager's Life on the Streets (1996) > * Annie's Baby : The Diary of Anonymous, a Pregnant Teenager (1998) > * Treacherous Love : The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2000) > * Kim : Empty Inside : The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2002) > * Finding Katie: The Diary of Anonymous, A Teenager in Foster Care (2005) > > ``` > > [edit] Other works > > ``` > * Voices: The Stories of Four Troubled Teenagers as Told in Personal Interviews to Beatrice Sparks (1978) > * The Kalamity Kids (scripts) (1991) > > ``` All of which are the same type of hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/25 "2010-01-05T06:31:04Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I know what you are saying and I do agree with you—memories are subjective by nature and subject to change as well. > > That said, I would bet that in my two examples, both Dylan and Burroughs completely made stuff up that never happened at all, rather than just simplifying or interpreting. > > Of course, I may be totally mistaken, and both men are telling the actual, factual truth, at least as they recall it… > > (if so I will be sure to give Bob a heartfelt apology the next time he calls) 😉 Fair enough, I was just rambling with my own thoughts on autobiography rather than answering the question, anyway. For what it’s worth, I read Bob’s book and felt that parts of it were pretty questionable, too. To answer the question, Billy Thorpe’s “Sex & Thugs & Rock & Roll” gets the prize for the “autobiography” with the lowest factual content. Instead of writing about his life, he wrote a crime thriller with himself as the protagonist. If you can imagine Phillip Marlowe as an Australian pop star in the mid-sixties, you’ve pretty much got it. It’s not a bad read, but I was and am astonished that it’s classified as “autobiography”. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/26 "2010-01-05T07:45:10Z")
Joan Fontaine wrote a book thirty years ago called “No Bed of Roses” that some said would have been better titled “No Shred of Truth”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/27 "2010-01-05T07:57:23Z")
**How to Talk Dirty and Influence People** by Lenny Bruce. He lies about his drug use, his marriage, his family life and his career–yet paradoxically, this may be the most honest showbiz autobiography I’ve ever read, and the funniest. ---
**Author:** ![valleyofthedolls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a4c791/32.png) [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/28 "2010-01-05T08:36:37Z")
Wikipedia has a whole list of them here: > **[Fake memoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_memoirs)** > > Fake memoirs form a category of literary forgery in which a wholly or partially fabricated autobiography, memoir or journal of an individual is presented as fact. In some cases, the purported author of the work is also a fabrication. > In recent years, there have been a number of such memoirs published by major publishers, some that were well received critically and became best-sellers, that have subsequently proven to have been partially or completely fabricated. A number of recent fake memoirs ... Also: Papillon by Henry Charriere Ben Mezrich’s books (Bringing Down the House etc.). They aren’t really memoirs but are billed as true stories. They are heavily embellished. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/29 "2010-01-05T09:04:46Z")
I apologise for being vague here. My Google skills have not helped. I recall a story where either of the following happened: [ol] [li]Jay Leno paid some money to another celebrity to include an incident which happened to the other celebrity in Jay’s autobiography, or[/li][li]Some other celebrity paid Jay Leno to include an incident which happened to Jay in the other celebrity’s autobiography.[/li][/ol] (I think it’s the former.) When I read it I was absolutely appalled. If I’m reading an autobiography I really don’t want made up stuff included. The worst part of the story was that this seemed like a natural thing to do. Sorry, I want to read about your life, no matter how mundane - not someone else’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/30 "2010-01-05T10:33:47Z")
In Chuck Yeager’s biography he claims while flying with Neil Armstrong over the desert practicing touch and go landings Armstrong insisted trying to land against Yeager’s warnings the dry lake bed was too wet. When the landing was attempted they promptly got stuck in mud and had to be “rescued”. Armstrong has always claimed it was Yeager who insisted on trying the landing not Niel. I don’t know if this is a deliberate lie or just bad memory. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/31 "2010-01-05T11:17:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Chuck Barris-_Confessions of a Dangerous Mind_. I refuse to believe that he wore that hat in every episode. Yet you do believe that he’d get a phone call, fly down to Central America and assassinate somebody, then back to the Gong Show. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/32 "2010-01-05T11:42:48Z")
Mike Warnke’s THE SATAN SELLER and Lauren Stratford’s SATAN’S UNDERGROUND. I win. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/33 "2010-01-05T16:39:41Z")
Not sure if it’s deliberate or deep denial, but Patty Duke’s _Call Me Anna._ Specifically regarding her son Sean Astin’s parentage, Duke claimed her brief second marriage was never consummated. DNA later showed that Michael Tell was indeed Sean’s biological father. (I felt vindicated by that revelation since I remember Duke and Tell in a cuddly appearance on Merv Griffin and never bought her story. I also remember Desi Arnaz IV claiming he could be the sperm source.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/34 "2010-01-05T16:45:17Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Oh, those of us who grew up in the Seventies were often required to read “Go Ask Alice,” which was supposedly the autobiography of a teenage girl who was hooked on drugs. > > Nope- the whole book was a fraud. It was one of our recommended books in middle school, and I was born in '84! Ugh. When I found out a few years later through snopes, I didn’t actually say anything to anyone but I wish I had. STILL pisses me off, though. As for mine–I read Ronnie Spector’s autobio where she says she had no idea that Phil Spector was married when she started her affair with him, but later says she met his wife after he’d divorced her and the ex-wife was all forgiving and nice to her. Darlene Love, in her own autobio, seems to doubt this, and in a separate bio of Phil Spector, someone describes a scene where the wife walked in on Phil and Ronnie embracing in Phil’s office and got really angry. As much as I love Ronnie I think this whole forgiveness/absolution from the ex-wife is a fabrication. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/35 "2010-01-05T16:46:04Z")
There was a woman who won the Nobel Prize for her autobiography [_I, Rigoberto Menchu_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoberta_Mench%C3%BA) that turned out to be more than slightly off the mark. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/36 "2010-01-05T17:21:35Z")
Just thought of another one. [Frank Harris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Harris)’s _My Life and Loves_, a notorious multivolume autobiography published in the early 1920s that spends most of its time detailing Harris’s fornication prowess with nymphets, widows, teachers, you name it. Basically it implies that this pervy little mustaschio’d dude was sexing it up all over Europe – oh, in addition to being integral in the life and career of Oscar Wilde and other major historical figures. Apparently Victorian literary society would have dried up without Harris. Harris did play a role in Wilde’s life, but he almost certainly exaggerated his influence a great deal. The books are fun to read, though; I have all four volumes and they’re a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/37 "2010-01-05T17:23:55Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Just thought of another one. [Frank Harris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Harris)’s _My Life and Loves_, a notorious multivolume autobiography published in the early 1920s that spends most of its time detailing Harris’s fornication prowess with nymphets, widows, teachers, you name it. Basically it implies that this pervy little mustaschio’d dude was sexing it up all over Europe – oh, in addition to being integral in the life and career of Oscar Wilde and other major historical figures. Apparently Victorian literary society would have dried up without Harris. > > Harris did play a role in Wilde’s life, but he almost certainly exaggerated his influence a great deal. The books are fun to read, though; I have all four volumes and they’re a hoot. Ooh, he sounds like the early 1900s Forrest Gump. But hornier. With a mustache. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/38 "2010-01-05T17:41:09Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Ooh, he sounds like the early 1900s Forrest Gump. But hornier. With a mustache. Ha! Now I’m imagining a Forrest Gump who’s inclined to describe in graphic detail the dimensions and aesthetical value of his partners’ genitalia. 🙂 (Seriously, it’s definitely worth a read, especially if you’re into Victorian funtimes! It’s available on [Archive.org](http://www.archive.org/details/mylifeloves01harrrich) - look in the left sidebar for links to PDF, Kindle, and other formats.) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/39 "2010-01-05T18:28:45Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > I apologise for being vague here. My Google skills have not helped. I recall a story where either of the following happened: > [ol] > [li]Jay Leno paid some money to another celebrity to include an incident which happened to the other celebrity in Jay’s autobiography, or[/li][li]Some other celebrity paid Jay Leno to include an incident which happened to Jay in the other celebrity’s autobiography.[/li][/ol] > (I think it’s the former.) > > When I read it I was absolutely appalled. If I’m reading an autobiography I really don’t want made up stuff included. The worst part of the story was that this seemed like a natural thing to do. Sorry, I want to read about your life, no matter how mundane - not someone else’s life. They spoofed this on Seinfeld. Mr. Peterman buys stories off Kramer to use in his autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702/40 "2010-01-05T18:41:49Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > **How to Talk Dirty and Influence People** by Lenny Bruce. He lies about his drug use, his marriage, his family life and his career–yet paradoxically, this may be the most honest showbiz autobiography I’ve ever read, and the funniest. Aw. I read this years ago, and really liked it. Which parts are the lies? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobiographies-memoirs-with-deliberate-factual-misstatements-or-lies/523702.md?page=3)