Author JT Leroy Never Existed

James Frey shouldn't get his hopes up -- an author of fiction using an aggrandized personal life to add oomph to works of fiction just isn't in the same league as someone making up lies in their memoir. Sorry. But it's still news that the long-suspectd fraud JT Leroy has been unmasked as the work of a husband and wife team who split up in December and are fighting over custody of their son. I never cared much for Leroy's work -- and hated the movie version of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things -- but I did find some talent there. The book explored something I'd never understood -- the reasons some people are drawn to S/M. (No pain for me, thank you.) But I love this quote from the husband's lawyer.

"He's wanted to come clean and let JT fade away," attorney Eric Feig said of Knoop late Monday. "He wanted to take the high road."

He's also secured a movie deal to tell his side of the story, Feig said.