Screenwriter ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ lied about cancer for years, until one detail exposed all her lies

In 2012, Elisabeth Finch started as a screenwriter for the TV series The vampire diaries. That same year, she began telling family members, friends and colleagues that she had been diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Finch had to undergo chemotherapy immediately, she said. But that all turned out to be a lie.

Finch wrote several pieces about her alleged illness, which were published in the magazine, among others Elle. An article caught the attention of an executive at Shondaland, the production company founded by Grey’s anatomycreator Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes was reportedly impressed with the writer and offered her a writing position on the hospital series. (Read more below the photo)

Pity

Finch was considered the cancer expert within the team, he wrote Daily Mail. The woman used her own “experiences” as inspiration for several episodes.

Colleagues remember Finch feeling nauseous and gagging at work, “supposedly because of chemotherapy”. “She came to work with a shaved head and green skin,” says a former colleague. “We all felt sorry for her because she seemed very ill,” said another former colleague. Finch often called in sick “due to her medical situation” and regularly postponed deadlines. The writer also had a small, portable device for chemotherapy.

At her 40th birthday party in March 2018, the writer gave an emotional speech to colleagues, thanking all the people who helped her “get to 40.”

“We all felt sorry for her because she seemed very ill”

Ex-colleague

“She used her made-up cancer as a way to climb the ranks Grey’s anatomy and as a weapon against anyone who would speak out against her,” former Grey’s writer Mark Wilding told the British newspaper Daily Mail. (Read more below the photo)

Far-reaching lies

The lies continued. Finch told colleagues, among other things, that she had to have a kidney removed. She also claimed that her brother abused her as a child and that he took his own life.

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In October 2018, Finch said a friend died in a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She told colleagues that she had gone to the city “to help clean up body parts” so that her friend could be buried according to Jewish tradition. After the attack, the writer claimed that she had developed a hypersensitivity to references to weapons. People were no longer allowed to mention the words “guns” or “shoot” when Finch was around.

Later that year, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Finch wrote an article for it The Hollywood Reporter in which she alleged that she was harassed by a director of The vampire diaries. She declined to name the director. Her article has since been removed from the magazine’s website. The writer then claimed she had become pregnant and submitted another article Elle about the dilemma she faced in her career. (Read more below the photo)

Small detail

For years, Finch managed to fool those around her. The person who first became suspicious was Finch’s wife, Jennifer Beyer. The two had been dating since 2019. “I started looking at her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and comparing her stories to what she had posted online,” Beyer says. “I was scrolling as far as I could, and then suddenly I saw that there were posts on the date of the shooting. She wasn’t in Pittsburgh at the time. She was at a bar with her friends.”

In 2022, Beyer moved to Shonda Rhimes, who had already left Grey’s anatomyto warn her about Finch’s lies. Disney, which was then part of Shondaland, eventually launched an investigation. However, Finch did not want to give investigators access to her medical documents. She also refused to undergo an independent medical evaluation. Shortly after the investigation was completed, Finch himself resigned. She worked for eight years Grey’s anatomywrote thirteen episodes and produced 172.

Not long after she resigned, Finch released a statement admitting that she never had cancer. “The truth is there is no excuse, no justification,” we read. “Nothing can erase the trauma I caused. The fear, the pain, the anger, the tears, the time.” She also admitted that her brother never took his own life: he lives in Florida. (Read more below the photo)

The writer claimed that she started lying in 2007, when screenwriters – including Finch – from the American unions decided to strike. She hurt her knee while walking. She had a knee prosthesis. “Everyone was so kind and attentive leading up to the procedure,” she said. “And then my knee was replaced. It was a great recovery period, but suddenly there was a complete silence as everyone assumed I was cured. I had no support anymore, so I made something up because I needed attention. Things went from bad to worse. That’s where the lie started: in that silence.”

In 2024, a three-part documentary series called Anatomy of lies about her career and especially all the lies she spread. Beyer also speaks. The series can currently be viewed in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It remains to be seen whether it will soon be available to view in our country.