Media and Publishing Ethics

A woman identified as Jane Doe has filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing author and venture capitalist Amy Griffin of lifting detailed descriptions of her childhood sexual abuse and repackaging them as Griffin’s own memories in the bestselling 2025 memoir "The Tell." The suit alleges that episodes Griffin attributes to MDMA-assisted therapy recollections of abuse by a middle-school teacher in Amarillo, Texas actually mirror Doe’s assaults by a different teacher at a school dance and in a school bathroom, including a borrowed dress allegedly returned to Griffin with bodily fluids and a church youth group confession Griffin attended. Doe is suing Griffin, her publishers and a ghostwriter for intrusion, invasion of privacy, publication of private facts, negligence and emotional distress, seeking damages to be set at trial. Griffin’s attorney Thomas A. Clare calls the claims "absurd" and blames a prior New York Times investigation for "manufacturing" a false narrative, while the Times stands by its reporting and notes Doe first learned of the book when its reporters contacted her. The case puts fresh legal and ethical heat on a memoir that was an Oprah’s Book Club pick and heavily promoted by celebrities, and it taps into wider public skepticism about trauma memoirs built on recovered memories and psychedelic-assisted therapy.