This is going to be a departure from my normally light and breezy posts, if you don't like it please wait a couple hours until some juicy gossip post goes up.

Oprah and the rest of the world has fallen for A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I also have read this book. Due to my close proximity to recovering alcoholics, I found much of the book hard to take. His claim that alcoholism and drug addiction is a choice and not a disease, is not only wrong as proven by medical science which has classified it as a disease, but a gross lie that will help further perpetuate the idea most of the world has that an alcoholic is mearly a person who has no self control. He also claimed that 12 step programs were crap. Not according to the many love ones I know who have found sobriety through these programs when they couldn't go a day without drinking or using. I don't believe that 12 step programs are the only way to get sober, but to say they don't do anything since they aren't diseases, is an irresponcible statement.

Imagine my not a all surprise when I was looking at the Smoking Gun and found their in depth exclusive A Million Little Lies that came out on January 8, 2006. James Frey has exaggerated and out and out lied about almost everything in his book.

BlogNYC says it best:

Sounds like little Miss Oprah got duped, and made a lying preppy boy who says the 12 step program is bullshit and that addiction is a choice not a disease, really fucking rich in the process.

Make sure you go read The Smoking Gun's version, it goes into much more detail and actually chronicles interviews with Frey himself as well as law enforcement and acquaintances of Frey's and point out every step of the way how Frey just makes shit up.

That, my friends, is the definition of an asshat.

****Lulu has brought to my attention that Oprah and her people need to be held accountable as well. Nice research Oprah, nice research. I will continue my not reading of your book club books. (I have read many books that eventually find their way on your list, and when it was a good one it makes me sad for the book.)

Well, there's the breakup of Chad Lowe and Hillary Swank that was announced on Regis and Kelly today.

There's last weeks MSN article on Lindsey Lohands admission that she had eating disorders, etc...

...there's a million other young female celebs who've come out of the closet with their eating disorders, addictions, etc...

I was thinking of compiling them into one big "what's wrong with the world already this new year?" rant on my blog, but was hoping you or Popo would get up to speed b/c y'all do it so much better.

I don't intend for my blog to be full of celeb gossip (although I include the interesting bits now and then) because it's alot to keep up with and I enjoy reading the creativity of others much more than my own pithy attempts.

Lulu just did a post on this revelation, too. I haven't read the book, and only know what it's about through your sites. I'm guessing his writing career is pretty much over...

Jennifer- Yeah, I already posted about La Lohan's admissions and I did a post on all of the breakups pre Chad and Hil.

Babyjewels-I am glad his career is over. Asshat!

I love you Hizzle, I honestly love you.

Considering he was trying to get lawyers to stop The Smoking Gun, I'm not too sure about that.

Just call it fiction. I think that all of our perceptions can be off. We are all prone to exaggeration. But he is a liar. I hope no one buys another book he owns. (yeah, a futile hope)

Um, I mean another book he writes. Or as I like to call it, makes up shit and lies with written word.

I'm going to side with lulu here. We all exagerate what we write everyday. I think the the legal stuff was one of the least interesting things about the book. I'm not an alcoholic, but I've got an addictive personality, and his personal thoughts about trying to quit drinking and drugs was what I found so compelling in the book.

I understand that Tim, but trust me, I know of many complelling brave stories about struggeling with ones addictions. They just happen to be true. I would have no problem with this if he had said this was fiction.

Wow. It puts a whole new spin on everything.
I have to go check out the Smoking Gun stuff right now. I'll be back.

That really doesn't seem like a good reason, Lulu. I love you, you know this, but that is like saying it would be ok for me to lie and say I have a business degree on a job app, because when I had my Art major on there I couldn't get a job in the sales industry.

Wow. I'm reading the Smoking Gun thing right now and it's unbelievable.

What seems the most appalling is how many people have become disciples of Frey's trials and eventual "recovery process."

Yeah, the letter to his readers made me sick. He said he wrote the book to memorialize his dead friends from treatment and describes how he thinks that addicts think they are victims and that really they are weak and just make bad decisions. Then he goes on to say that 12 step programs tell you to turn you life over to a power greater than yourself, but really you just need to learn to make better decisions.

Now it is all a lie. Try recovering from that, folks.

The lies about the train crash that killed those two girls is also terrible. Their families suffered enough when they lost their children, do they really need it to be rehashed by a complete liar?

I agree that it is bullshit. In addition to addiction being a disease (as defined by the medical associations of every country), it has been proven that some people are genetically predisposed to be more vulnerable to addiction. How does he account for the fact that Native Americans carry a gene that makes it at least ten times more likely to become addicts?

He's full of shit. I have many a friend who went through the 12 steps, and it is true that they help you to gain self-control, but 12 step also acknowledges that addicts are addicts for life.

I fucking hate that guy. He only wrote the book to make money, not to prove anything. He is a piece of shit. I hope someone dumps napalm on his house. (plus, I hate Oprah and her fucking book list. In my archives, I have a post called, Fuck Oprah's Books)

Sorry for the long comment.

No kidding. When I read that the girls mother read this book because people in her home town told her they thought this guy wrote about the accident that killed her daughter, wow.

apparently he had exaggerated part of the book for dramatic purposes, but still it seems a little off. Who knows, I've never read the book and though I know people have enjoyed it, it's not on my list of things I just have to read.

I don’t understand why he lied about the accident, nor do I really understand why he lied about anything. The accident lie is wrong, but the other lies I don’t really care about. I started drinking when I was 12 years old and all of my friends had been drinking for a year or two before me. Me, and all my friends have been in trouble with the law because of our drinking. We all used to drink as often and as much as we could. We’d steal to get it on a regular basis. I’ve had friends that dealt drugs, I have friends that are alcoholics. I have friends that felt themselves becoming alcoholics and made the decision to stop drinking because of what it was doing to their lives. Without giving themselves to a higher power. I’m sure I could tell a lot of unembellished stories that could be very interesting and make me and my friends all look very bad. It was stupid of Frey to lie about his stories, but in my opinion it doesn’t change the fact that he was a drunk, a drug addict, and a criminal. The institution he went to was supposedly the most successful in the world, but only 15% of people reformed using the 12 steps. I think he’s completely entitled to his opinion of alcoholism since he lived through it. Alcoholism may be proven to be a disease, but science doesn’t explain everything. When someone is given 3 months to live, but somehow beats cancer completely, in just about every case it’s because they fought and didn’t give in to the doctor’s prognosis. Frey is allowed to say whatever he wants about something he went through just like you an I are allowed to say whatever we want. Just my 2 cents.

Tim, I totally agree that anyone who goes through the cycles of addiction and comes out of it on the other side a better person has every right to share their story and tell others what worked for them -- whether it was a 12 step program or not.

My issue with Frey is that he embellished his story with so many lies that it's hard to tell what's true and what's not. And people are reading his book like it's some sort of recovering addict's bible and trying to learn from it, when a lot of what he put into it simply isn't true. Who knows if he was as bad as he maintains he was in the story? Who

If Frey were simply selling the book for entertainment purposes, it would be one thing, because regardless of whether or not it's true, it's definitely entertaining.

But he's started marketing it as something else -- and he's preaching to other addicts about his own, often fabricated story. I don't know that anyone should try to model their own recovery after a recovery that may or may not be the stuff of fiction.

How do we even know he was an alcoholic or addict? He lied about such big things I have trouble believing anything.

I have friends that went to treatment and they weren't addicts/alcoholics and they got into the little amount of trouble with the law it was proven he got into. He shopped the book around as fiction first.

I'm glad your friends are ok. Most alcoholics die still drinking. The fact that even 15% get sober is better than it used to be. There is a huge difference between heavy drinking (most college students) and full blown alcoholism. I started drinking at 12 too...

Wow, I can't believe we can all type stuff that doesn't involve sarcasm and poop jokes!

This blog is like a bad episode of Dr. Phil today.

poop!

Popo-you verbalised my point much better than I could. I get really upset about this stuff. Tim, anyone can share their story. But this guy shared a made up story and claimed it as his own. He was irresponcible because people trusted that he was honest. All the things that can be proven, are false. He wasn't some outcast kid growing up. He didn't get into big trouble with the law.

I find it very convienant that every person in the book he went to treatment with is dead.

People trusted him. People who are struggling with addiction read his book and hoped that if it worked for him, it would work for them. They were lied to and we can never know how much. These are people's lives.

Hizzle, I heard there was also a bull involved. Which makes you Bestial with a capital B.

Is he a Scientologist, per chance? (Given his stance on 12 step programs and addictions and all.)

No Lulu, and thank you for bringing this to the forefront. I believe she is the devil and I was wrong for not saying that she should totally get slammed for perpetuating this liar. I mean really, you would have thought they would have taken a bit of time to discover that.

Rit, just wanted to let you know that NPR featured this story yesterday, and they interviewed the Smoking Gun's editor. He says that, in the course of thier research, they found little fact in the book. He would imbellish little things like 5 hours in jail to 90 days in jail reading to an illiterate inmate. Just wanted to let you know that NPR copied off your post.

Yeah, NPR has to stop that or giive credit where credit is due.

Oprah so needs to own up to this...I am getting so sick of her holier than thou bullshit she wears like a freaking blanket. This and the whole Hermes thing makes me sick. And to think I used to like watching her...