‘She Told More Lies to the Public’: Oprah Winfrey Blasted by Disgraced Author James Frey Over 2006 Interview About Lying In His Memoir
A bestselling author from Oprah Winfrey’s past is finally speaking out decades after her investigation into a scandal that nearly ended his career.
Winfrey, 71, endorsed James Frey’s best-selling “A Million Little Pieces” by selecting his 2003 memoir for her highly publicized Oprah’s Book Club.
Many praised the well-written book until January 2006 when The Smoking Gun published an exposé titled “A Million Little Lies,” which exposed Frey for fabricating details of his purported criminal history. The outlet’s six-week investigation also discovered that Frey, 55, exaggerated his involvement in a deadly train accident.
Just weeks after the Smoking Gun’s report was published, Winfrey sat down with Frey on an episode of her self-titled daytime talk show in front of a live audience.
“I have to say it is difficult for me to talk to you because I feel really duped,” Winfrey told Frey. “But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers.”
She stated, “My judgment was clouded because so many people seemed to have gotten so much out of it. But now I feel that you conned us all. Do you?”
Frey responded at the time, “I don’t feel like I conned everyone,” claiming “A Million Little Pieces” was essentially about his real battle to overcome drug addiction and alcoholism.”
But the damage was done and the fallout led to Frey being dropped by his literary agent and publisher. And Random House Publishing had to settle a class-action lawsuit.
ACTORS ON ACTORS
JAMES FREY + OPRAH WINFREY
DEC. 7 pic.twitter.com/VBNh7Rrlxn— caleb (@calebstark) December 5, 2022
Frey is back with a new nonfiction book titled “Next to Heaven.” While promoting his latest Authors Equity-published work, the Ohio native reflected on his falling-out with Winfrey.
“It’s the brutal hypocrisy of it,” Frey said about Oprah in a New York Times interview. “She told more lies to the public times a thousand than I ever have. And I’ll leave it at that.”
Frey didn’t hold back in expressing his lingering resentment toward Winfrey, even after the media maven’s 2011 public apology.
“You might be the most influential lady in this world, you won’t stop me. I will lower my head and I will walk forward and I’ll keep throwing punches until I die. You can’t stop me,” Frey proclaimed.
His heated remarks against Winfrey ignited online reactions as the 20-year-old literary scandal became a hot-button topic once again.
“How is Oprah positioned as the villain? It’s a really bizarre take. Huh?” one responder asked on the New York Times’ Instagram page. Another person declared, “Oprah didn’t ‘shame’ him. He lied and showed up on her show, where he finally had to own it. Nothing to do with Oprah.”
A third wrote, “I’m disappointed in how this piece is framed to make Oprah, a Black woman, who did nothing but seek the truth, a villain. It’s actually really shameful. This is a page right out of an old playbook. Same old trope.”
Frey had defenders on the social media app as well. A fan of “A Million Little Pieces” wrote, “I love that book, could CARE LESS if he made it up.”
A similar post read, “Love his first book, and I will be purchasing the next!”
Winfrey and Frey supposedly cleared the air in 2011. The Harpo Productions founder invited the disgraced author back on her show to reconcile their issues.
Before openly expressing regret for how she handled Frey during his public shaming over the “A Million Little Pieces” falsehoods, Winfrey revealed she had apologized to him privately.
“We had a nice conversation, and I really appreciated it, and I was surprised by it. I thought it was big of you, and I thought it was cool,” Frey said to Winfrey about her behind-the-scenes mea culpa.
He further praised the OWN founder and took responsibility for his own actions by saying, “You’ve done nothing wrong, but be really generous and cool with me, and whatever happened, happened because I created that situation. If anything, you deserve the apology more than I deserve one.”
In response, Winfrey clarified, “Well, thank you for saying that, but my apology is not for what I said, it’s for the way that I said it.” She added, “What people saw was my lack of compassion, so I apologize for my lack of compassion.”
Frey has written numerous books since 2003. His bibliography contains publications such as “My Friend Leonard” in 2005, “The Calling” in 2014, and “Katerina” in 2018. “Next to Heaven” is set for release on June 17.