Bestselling author of ‘The Tell’ lashes out at NY Times in suit against woman who said her stories were stolen

The author of a bestselling memoir about childhood sexual abuse is lashing out at New York Times reporters for allegedly writing that she ripped off another woman’s account of sexual abuse despite having evidence to the contrary, according to a new federal lawsuit.

Amy Griffin — the venture capitalist-turned-memoirist whose bestselling book “The Tell” won praise from celebrity friends including Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Martha Stewart — is suing a former classmate for defamation after she accused Griffin of stealing her childhood sexual-abuse story.

The explosive claims are laid out in a federal defamation lawsuit Griffin filed Monday in Nevada against the woman.

“Amy Griffin’s accuser has had every opportunity to set the record straight. This lawsuit’s purpose is to make the truth known. The New York Times knowingly promoted her false allegations and must also be held accountable,” Griffin’s lawyer Tom Clare told The Post in a statement Tuesday.

While the Times is not a defendant, Griffin’s 29-page complaint devotes significant space to the newspaper’s coverage, alleging that reporters pursued a narrative that Griffin’s account was fabricated and ignored evidence that undermined key allegations.

“The story of how [Griffin’s accuser] came to tell these lies begins not with her but with the Times,” the complaint states.

Griffin’s memoir is about recovering memories during MDMA-assisted therapy — an illegal practice that was rejected by the FDA last year — that led her to believe she had been repeatedly sexually abused by a middle-school teacher in Amarillo, Texas.

The book became a publishing sensation after its March 2025 release, earning a spot in Oprah’s influential book club and drawing extensive media coverage.

Last September, however, the Times published a lengthy investigation into the memoir, raising questions about the science of recovered memories and reporting a former classmate’s claims suggesting that Griffin had ripped off her own stories of trauma. That woman sued Griffin as a Jane Doe in March.

In her countersuit, Griffin alleges Times reporters Katherine Rosman and Elisabeth Egan began their investigation with the assumption that her story was false.

According to the complaint, Rosman “doubted Mrs. Griffin’s story from the start” and the reporters spent months interviewing former classmates and others in Amarillo while searching for evidence that would cast doubt on the memoir — a characterization the Times rejected.

“The filings repeatedly misrepresent The New York Times story and its reporting,” a spokesperson for the paper told The Post.

“Our reporters’ only agenda was to pursue the facts, including corroboration of accounts from all sources.”

Griffin also alleges that the reporters obtained a confidential, watermarked copy of her book proposal and used information in it to identify the former classmate as a potential source.

Griffin alleges the Times identified the classmate, who was not named in the article, using information from an early book proposal that was later removed from “The Tell” after Griffin concluded the detail was inaccurate.

The complaint claims the classmate had not read “The Tell” when reporters first contacted her and only advanced her accusations after receiving a copy of the book from the Times.

The newspaper disputed that assertion.

“In the course of their work, our reporters interviewed many former students, including [the former classmate], who shared a story of being abused by a different school teacher than the one Ms. Griffin wrote about,” the spokesperson told The Post.

“She shared this story before she had received or read ‘The Tell.’”

The Times said Griffin mischaracterized the article as stating the author had ripped off the account of abuse.

“Our story did not state that Ms. Griffin ‘misappropriated’ [the former classmate’s] story,” the paper’s spokesperson said.

The newspaper defended its reporting process, saying the journos engaged extensively with Griffin’s legal representatives before publication and conducted “meticulous fact checking.”

The spokesperson added that reporters repeatedly requested an interview with Griffin but were unsuccessful.

“Repeated attempts were rebuffed,” the spokesperson said.

“They handled a difficult subject with empathy and care.”

The Times said Griffin’s suit attacks arguments the newspaper never made.

“Our story was about a publishing phenomenon, the reliability of memories recovered while under the influence of MDMA and the impact of a best-selling memoir on the author’s hometown,” the spokesperson said.

The federal lawsuit seeks damages from the former classmate and asks a judge to declare that accusations Griffin stole another woman’s story are false and defamatory.