Grey's Anatomy Writer Took “Puke Breaks” While Faking Cancer Diagnosis, Colleague Alleges

More details have come to light about Elisabeth Finch's fake cancer diagnosis.

Nearly two years after the former Grey's Anatomy writer confessed that she did not battle cancer, a colleague from the show shared more insight into her web of lies.

"This was like performance art," Andy Reaser recalled during Peacock's new Anatomy of Lies. "She was showing up to work with a shaved head and a greenish hue. She looked like she lived in a microwave. She was eating these saltines and drinking ginger ale and going to the bathroom to take puke breaks from her chemo."

Reaser, who is also a former writer on the medical drama, said he and Finch began working together in 2014. Looking back during the docuseries that dropped Oct. 15, he still couldn't grasp her decision.

"I felt betrayal," he said. "The thing is, it was so confusing. You have to move through eight years of interactions to wrap your head around it. I'm not even sure that I still fully have. It's just so hard to imagine that someone could commit that strongly to that."

Especially since the writers shared a close bond. Reaser added, "The writer’s room at Grey's was incredibly intimate. You’re spending hours upon hours with people."

E! News has reached out to ABC and Finch for comment and has not yet heard back.

After lying about her diagnosis for a decade, Finch’s ruse was up when The Ankler published the shocking revelations in March 2022. Finch, who resigned from her position the day after the article was published, eventually addressed her decision and perspective.

"I've never had any form of cancer," she confirmed to the outlet in December of that year. "I told a lie when I was 34 years old and it was the biggest mistake of my life. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and got buried deeper and deeper inside me."

"I know it's absolutely wrong what I did," she continued. "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."

Finch—who also lied about her brother (who is alive) dying by suicide—shared that the decision stemmed from the support she received after having a knee replacement surgery.

"What ended up happening is that everyone was so amazing and so wonderful leading up to all the surgeries," she said. "They were so supportive. 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 now, she hopes that taking accountability will eventually heal some of the damage she caused.

"I could only hope that the work that I've done will allow me back into those relationships," Finch reflected, "where I can say, 'Okay, I did this, I hurt a lot of people and I'm also going to work my f--king ass off because this is where I want to be and I know what it's like to lose everything.'" 

(E! News and Peacock are part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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