January 26 In History: Oprah Winfrey Confronts James Frey, The Memoirist Who Lies

Operah Winfrey (Sumber: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - On January 26, 2006, during a live daytime television talk show, Oprah Winfrey confronted writer James Frey about the fabrication of a memoir entitled A Million Little Pieces. The memoir contains descriptions of addiction and recovery, which was voted Oprah's Book Club of choice in September 2005.

A Million Little Pieces, published in 2003, is James Frey's first book. In it, Frey graphically depicts her horrific experiences with addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Frey explained that because of his addiction, he was admitted to a rehabilitation center when he was in his early 20s. After Oprah Winfrey chose A Million Little Pieces as her hit book, the memoir rose to the bestseller list, following in the footsteps of Oprah's many previous book selections.

Launching History, Tuesday, January 26, in early January 2006, The Smoking Gun website published disclosure of court records claiming police reports and interviews with various sources, which showed that Frey had faked and exaggerated the story in A Million Little Pieces. Her biggest lie lies in the part of her criminal past and Frey's time in prison. Everything was dramatized.

On January 11, 2006, Frey and her mother appeared on the show Larry King Live to defend A Million Little Pieces. Oprah Winfrey was called to the show to express support for the author. However, two weeks later, on January 26, when Frey appeared on The Oprah Winfrey, he faced tough questions from Oprah, whose attitude has changed.

At that time, Oprah started a live program by telling him, “It's hard for me to talk to you because I feel really cheated. But more importantly, I feel like you betrayed millions of readers. "

Frey confessed to Winfrey that he had changed and embellished the details of the story, including the fact that he was only in prison for a few hours, not the 87 days described in his book. When Oprah asked Frey about the most memorable incident from the book, in which Frey told of getting root canal treatment without anesthesia, Frey admitted he couldn't remember whether the dentist had used Novocain or not.

On the show Oprah confirmed that she contacted the publisher of A Million Little Pieces. However, contacted staff revealed possible inaccuracies in the book. And the publishing company endorsed Frey's story as a non-fiction work.

Frey's forgery sparked a national debate about the definition of a memoir. In the aftermath of the controversy, he got canceled by his literary agent. Its publishers settled a class action lawsuit filed by readers claiming they had been scammed.

In October 2006, a tentative legal settlement was reached. Frey and its publisher, Doubleday are required to provide refunds to readers who feel cheated when buying books classified as memoirs. Meanwhile, A Million Little Pieces was then published with a "note for readers."

In it, Frey apologizes to any readers who have been disappointed by the actions of his actions and says: This is one of my mistakes that I deeply regret, writing about people I created in my mind to help me cope with them and not people who had direct experience.

However, the book is still selling well. At that time, more than 3.5 million copies were sold. A Million Little Pieces made it to number 24 on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list. The scandal did not mark the end of Frey's career. He has continued to publish novels, including Bright Shiny Morning (2008) and The Final Testament of the Holy Bible (2011).

When Oprah concluded the final week of her television show five years later, Oprah invited Frey back to apologize. According to Frey, Oprah recently apologized to him and said she was aware of her "ambush" of Frey because of her hurt ego and feelings of being personally betrayed.