Ex-'Grey's Anatomy' Staffer Admits She 'Lied' About Having Cancer, Brother's Suicide 9 Months After Probe

Mar. 15, 2025

Elisabeth Finch, a former writer and consulting producer onGrey’s Anatomy, is admitting that she “lied” about her medical and personal history nine months after she resigned from the ABC drama.

Finch, 44, said “the biggest mistake of my life” was lying while working on the acclaimed medical drama.

“What I did was wrong,” she toldThe Anklerin an interview published Wednesday. “Not okay. F—ed up. All the words.”

Finch admitted that she “never had any form of cancer” after claiming that she had a rare form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, and subsequently lost a kidney and a portion of her leg. She also allegedly told her former colleagues that she had an abortion due to her chemotherapy treatments.

Additionally, Finch admitted to fabricating the story of her older brother Eric’s suicide — who is still alive andworking as a doctor in Florida— while employed on staff atGrey’s Anatomy.

“I know it’s absolutely wrong what I did,” she told the outlet. “I lied and there’s no excuse for it. But there’s context for it. The best way I can explain it is when you experience a level of trauma, a lot of people adopt a maladaptive coping mechanism. Some people drink to hide or forget things. Drug addicts try to alter their reality. Some people cut. I lied. That was my coping and my way to feel safe and seen and heard.”

Krista Vernoff with Elisabeth R. Finch on the set of Grey’s Anatomy during the “Silent All These Years” episode.Mitch Haaseth/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Finch said she began to lie after injuring her knee in 2007.

“Everyone was so amazing and so wonderful leading up to all the surgeries. They were so supportive,” she said of the response she received at the time. “And then I got my knee replacement. It was one hell of a recovery period and then it was dead quiet because everyone, naturally, was like, ‘Yay! You’re healed.'”

“But it was dead quiet,” she continued. “And I had no support and went back to my old maladaptive coping mechanism — I lied and made something up because I needed support and attention and that’s the way I went after it. That’s where that lie started — in that silence.”

Amid claims that she fabricated her medical and personal history earlier this year, Finch said she resigned from theShondaland showand checked into a facility in Arizona before ABC Disney Television Studios could launch an investigation into her past.

“I wish I had a grid that would show who’s not talking to me because they can’t [legally],” she said. “Who’s not talking to me because they don’t know what to say. Who’s not talking to me because they’re pissed off. And then who’s sitting there waiting for me to reach out. I have no clue … it’s been a very quiet, very sad time.”

She continued, “There were people who, when [the] article came out, were immediately very, very nasty on text. Family and friends who called me ‘a monster’ and ‘a fraud’ and said that’s all I’ll ever be known for and soon, more truth would come out.”

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Andrew B. Brettler, Finch’s attorney at Lavely & Singer, also issued a statement on her behalf to PEOPLE.

“Ms. Finch is not going to discuss her private health matters,” Brettler said in a statement. “Likewise, she will not speak about her pending divorce from her estranged wife, Jennifer Beyer, or comment on any statements that Ms. Beyer may have made to third parties about Ms. Finch.”

Finch first joinedGrey’s Anatomyin 2014. While working on the acclaimed drama, she notably wrote the 2015 episode titled “Silent All These Years.” The episode, which centered around a sexual assault victim, also featured her acting in the role of Nurse Elisabeth.

“My boss, Krista Vernoff, suggested I use my point of view as a person with cancer to write a storyline where one ofour beloved characters is diagnosed, too,” she wrote in an essay forELLEin 2018.

“So I started outlining the episode with the support of an amazing writing staff, but I secretly convinced myself the episode would never air,” she added. “It was the only way I knew how to write it without breaking my rule of never saying ‘no’ to work.”

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Prior toGrey’s Anatomy, Finch held writing credits onTrue BloodandThe Vampire Diaries, according toher IMDb page.

source: people.com