Oprah Winfrey’s Been Had
Thanks to Oprah and her book club, Frey’s book sales lifted from mere thousands into the millions. And Oprah wasn’t the only one. Many praised his book, and it seemed as though Frey was on his way to literary stardom. In 2005, his book sold more copies in the country than any other book (other than Harry Potter). But once the truth came out, everything came crashing down around him.
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At the beginning of 2006, the website Smoking Gun website published a takedown of all of Frey’s wild claims. It started with the words: “Oprah Winfrey’s been had.” Uh oh. The publication exposed his lies, including his false claim of being in a train accident that took the lives of two female schoolmates, and called him out as a fraud.