American billionaire and venture capitalist Amy Griffin, a close friend of Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon, has found herself at the center of a major controversy. The 50-year-old entrepreneur is accused of appropriating a former schoolmate’s account of childhood sexual abuse and presenting it as her own.
The dispute erupted following the publication of Griffin’s memoir, The Tell, in March 2025. The book became a national bestseller and was selected for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club. In it, Griffin described how MDMA-assisted therapy helped her recover memories of being sexually abused by a middle-school teacher in Texas when she was 12 or 13.
“I wrote this book hoping to help others, and I never imagined I would have to defend my story while reliving some of the most painful moments of my life,” she told Page Six.
Griffin’s former classmate, Joleen Altum, claims that the incidents described in the memoir — an assault at a school dance and another in a school bathroom — actually happened to her. She also accuses Griffin of inviting her for coffee in 2019 under false pretenses in an attempt to obtain details about her past.
Altum has filed a lawsuit against the billionaire, her co-writer Sam Lansky and publisher Penguin Random House. Griffin vehemently denies the allegations and has filed her own defamation lawsuit.
The two sides also offer conflicting accounts of an attempt to settle the dispute. According to Griffin’s circle, she offered to resolve the matter without going to court. However, Altum’s attorney claims that no financial compensation was offered and that Griffin’s lawyers demanded that she drop her lawsuit.
Griffin’s friends insist that she suspected she had experienced abuse long before undergoing MDMA-assisted therapy. Researchers, however, have warned that the drug is not a reliable method for recovering repressed memories.
The controversy has also spilled beyond the courtroom. At jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer's wedding in Hawaii in October, Griffin reportedly confronted former Today show host Billy Bush. He later described the encounter on a podcast, saying the entrepreneur approached him in a highly agitated state. According to Bush, Demi Moore tried to calm her down. Other guests, however, offered a different account of the incident and expressed frustration that the confrontation had overshadowed the wedding celebrations.
Griffin has also been accused of threatening to interfere with the college admission prospects of a New York Times journalist's daughter, Catherine Rosman. Her representatives have categorically denied those claims.
Against the backdrop of the scandal, attention has also turned to Griffin’s relationship with her husband, financier John Griffin. According to Page Six, the couple underwent illegal MDMA-assisted therapy sessions led by a woman named Olivia, donated $1 million to MAPS, an organization researching the therapeutic use of psychedelics, and invested in its commercial arm, Resilient. People close to the couple deny that they received any financial benefit from the MDMA-related business.
Meanwhile, the legal battle continues. On October 19, Altum filed an amended complaint, again accusing Griffin and her co-writer of using her childhood trauma. The billionaire maintains that she does not dispute the fact that her former classmate experienced abuse but firmly denies appropriating her story.
“There is a difference between fact-checking and harassment. Amy is willing to be scrutinized, but since the summer she has been living through a genuine campaign of bullying,” a source close to her said.
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