The Life and Death of JT LeRoy

Lies and follies of Laura Albert

Comments (0) By Nancy Rommelmann Wednesday, Feb 20 2008

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2005: Willamette Week reviewer John Freeman writes, "In spite of the celebrities haranguing us to treat him like Joyce, sentence by sentence, LeRoy is not an especially crafty writer. There isn't a single metaphor or image of note in the entire book."

October 2005: Stephen Beachy writes an article for the San Francisco Bay Guardian that all but proves there is no JT. But the Bay Guardian decides not to publish, and Beachy instead takes it to New York magazine, where it runs on October 17 under the title "Who Is the Real JT LeRoy? A search for the true identity of a great literary hustler." In it, Beachy offers solid proof that JT is actually the confection of the 40-year-old Laura Albert, a.k.a. Speedie.

Marissa Roth

“If you are disappointed that I am 15 years older and a female, I’m sorry. If it devalues the work for you, I’m sorry for that. I am sorry for people who really fell in love with the little boy; I fell in love with him too, and I’m sorry he’s gone.”

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January 2006: The New York Times runs "The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public, He's a She," which reveals that the person appearing in public as JT is actually Savannah Knoop, half sister of Geoffrey Knoop, a.k.a. Astor (Laura Albert's real-life boyfriend). The article has the ironic good fortune of appearing one day after James Frey's A Million Little Pieces is revealed as a con.

2006: The film The Heart Is Deceitful is released; New York Times critic Manohla Dargis calls it "well-nigh unwatchable" and suggests, "Given publishing's seemingly endless appetite for memoirs filled with sexual sob stories and kinks, a JT LeRoy was inevitable ... It's only a matter of time (here's hoping) before Ms. Albert grovels for forgiveness before Mr. Cooper, as Mr. Frey did before Oprah Winfrey."

2007: JT's next book, Labor, is put on hold indefinitely.

Laura Albert is sued for fraud by Antidote International Films, the company that three years earlier had purchased the rights to Sarah, which it now claims is "too sullied and emotionally charged" to make into a film. Albert loses, and is ordered to pay $350,000.