A woman who attended the same Amarillo, Texas, middle school as bestselling author Amy Griffin is suing her, alleging that the stories of childhood sexual abuse in Griffin’s memoir The Tell actually happened to her and not to the writer.
The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, says she and Griffin first met around 1988 or 1989 at Stephen F. Austin Middle School and were also members of the same church youth group.
Jane Doe claims she is the person described as “Claudia,” a pseudonym used multiple times in the book.
Doe alleges that Griffin unlawfully used her identity, likeness, and private information in the memoir. According to the suit, two specific assaults detailed in the book occurred to her: one in a school closet by a teacher after she borrowed a dress from Griffin for a Sadie Hawkins dance, and a more violent attack about a month later in the school bathroom where the same teacher put his boot on her back, stuffed a bandana in her mouth and whipped her with a belt.
Griffin has described the experiences in the book as her own repressed memories, which she says she recovered after taking MDMA under the supervision of a trusted therapist. MDMA, also known as Molly or Ecstasy, is sometimes used in psychotherapy to help patients safely process traumatic memories.
“What happened to me was so horrific that I put it in the back of my brain and was never going to tell myself,” she told PEOPLE in a March 2025 interview.
The memoir was selected as the March 2025 pick for Oprah’s Book Club.
Doe is also suing Sam Lansky, whom she believes acted as a ghostwriter, as well as the publishers Penguin Random House and The Dial Press.
The lawsuit accuses Griffin and the others of negligence, invasion of privacy, publication of private facts, and infliction of emotional distress. It was filed earlier this month.
Doe’s attorney, Zachary Rosenblatt, said in a statement, per PEOPLE: “Our client has experienced significant harm from the disclosure of deeply private information without consent. We are confident we have strong legal grounds for relief under well-established privacy law. We are committed to pursuing all available legal remedies and look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Griffin’s attorney, Thomas A. Clare, responded: “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,” PEOPLE reported.
