Bestselling Author Amy Griffen Sued Amid Allegations of "Stealing" Her Memoir's Plot

Bestselling author Amy Griffin is facing an unusual lawsuit following the release of her memoir, The Tell.

The book, released in early 2025, was supposed to be a retrospective on her unusual life, including memories she claims she didn't access until she was an adult.

But she faces a lawsuit now, as someone claims that the tales she told in her memoir are not exactly as they seem. Here's a look at the bizarre lawsuit against the young suspected billionaire, explained.

It's not unusual for people to dispute things published in memoirs. Usually, people are embarrassed about their past actions and upset that someone laid those actions bare for the world.

But Amy's memoir is coming with a whole different kind of dispute, and it's a weird one.

According to Amy's book, which was published by Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Spanx billionaire Sarah Blakely, Law & Order’s Mariska Hargitay, and the CBS Mornings show, along with Oprah herself, she had forgotten key elements of her childhood. Until, that is, she took MDMA in her forties and claims it came roaring back.

Included in those memories, Amy wrote, was a tale of being assaulted by a teacher at school in Texas during the 1980s.

But a woman from her past, unnamed in the lawsuit, claims that Amy stole the tale from her own life. According to The Daily Beast, the lawsuit alleges that "The Tell constitutes neither a genuine nor harmless memoir,” and that the stories contained in it don't even belong to Amy.

The unnamed woman grew up with Amy in Texas. The issue with the memoir came about, she alleges, after she received a call from someone claiming to be a Hollywood agent who said her life would make an interesting movie.

The purported agent spoke with the woman for hours, gathering details of several key incidents involving sexual abuse from the aforementioned teacher, and the details provided were specific. Details which, the woman claims, appeared in Amy's memoir, presented as her own experience.

Amy's power and wealth come from her marriage to a hedge fund investor and her own investment career, as well as the fact that she grew up with a father who was a retail CEO.

Considering the fact that she's only 49, she earned that money in a fairly short amount of time. While it's hard to estimate her net worth, many sources suggest she has achieved billionaire status, including the Daily Beast.

Amy is prepared to fight the lawsuit, according to the Daily Beast. Her lawyer has said, "After two New York Times reporters instigated this whole situation by bringing the book to her attention, the Plaintiff made her own choice to publicize her narrative to a global audience by acting as the principal source for (and being photographed in) a New York Times article. We look forward to exposing these meritless claims in court, as well as the deeply flawed New York Times reporting that is at the center of it.”