A Grey’s Anatomy writer, Elisabeth Finch, who falsely claimed to have cancer and even appeared at work looking visibly ill, later confessed it was all a lie. Her story is now the subject of a three-part documentary on Peacock titled Anatomy of Lies, which explores the extent of her deception and how it was ultimately uncovered.
Elisabeth joined the popular ABC medical series in 2014, contributing to 13 episodes and producing 172. She openly shared her fabricated diagnosis of chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, with colleagues, and even wrote about her supposed health struggles in publications like Elle and The Hollywood Reporter. She claimed to have lost a kidney and said she had undergone an abortion following chemotherapy.
In a clip from the documentary, her former colleague Andy Reaser described her actions as “performance art,” noting that she would come to work with a shaved head, a greenish complexion, and behave as though she were undergoing chemotherapy by eating Saltines, drinking ginger ale, and taking breaks to vomit.
However, the truth unraveled in 2022 when a Vanity Fair article revealed her claims to be false. Elisabeth was put on administrative leave and resigned from Grey’s Anatomy after admitting the deception. She later told The Ankler in December 2022, “I’ve never had any form of cancer. The lie grew bigger and became buried deeper. I understand what I did was completely wrong. I lied without excuses.”
Elisabeth explained that her actions were a maladaptive coping mechanism linked to personal trauma. Her longtime colleague Andy Reaser expressed difficulty in processing the situation, saying, “It was so confusing. Reflecting on eight years of interactions, I’m still not sure I fully understand it.”