A gripping new docuseries based on the former Grey’s Anatomy writer, Elizabeth Finch, who spun a web of lies about her life for nearly a decade is set to hit television screens in October.
And in a shocking twist – her ex-wife will appear to finally break her silence.
‘When you love somebody, you’ll ignore red flags until they’re hitting you in the head,’ said Finch’s now-ex-wife, Jennifer Beyer, in the trailer.
‘I don’t know who my wife is,’ she said in tears about discovering the truth about Finch.
The three-part Peacock docuseries, ‘Anatomy of Lies’, dives deep into the fabricated stories of Finch’s own medical and personal life to inspire episodes and get ahead in Hollywood.
Jennifer Beyer, who ‘entrusted Finch with her deepest secrets’, will appear in the docuseries to come forward and put an end to years of deception.
Jennifer Beyer will finally speak-out against her ex-wife, Elizabeth Finch, in a gripping new docuseries which will uncover how the former Grey’s Anatomy writer was able to get away with her lies for so long
Finch’s ex-wife Jennifer (right) who is a nurse, became suspicious of her wife’s lies after tying the knot in 2020
Director, Vanity Fair contributing editor Evgenia Peretz, knew that Beyer – Finch’s final victim – was a much larger part of the jaw-dropping story.
While the drama lies with Finch, ‘Anatomy of Lies’ is a story about Beyer’s perseverance, according to Vanity Fair.
‘Jenn is such a sympathetic character, and she’s been through so much,’ Peretz told Vanity Fair.
‘I thought that there was more to say about her life than I could fit into an article.’
After receiving a tip from another former Grey’s writer that everything was not what it seemed to be behind the scenes, Peretz made her way to Kansas to meet the mother-of-five.
‘She didn’t want me to have a notebook. She was very traumatized. She didn’t want a tape recorder,’ Peretz added of her first time meeting with Beyer.
‘So I just sat there with her for six hours hearing her story.’
Finch (right) was hired to work on Grey’s Anatomy in 2014 and her lies – including being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer – was the inspiration behind many episodes
The pair met in 2019 while both were patients at an Arizona mental health treatment center where Beyer was being treated for severe PTSD following an 18-year-long abusive marriage
Beyer began to realize the life she was living with Finch was built on a mountain of lies after tying the knot in 2020.
As a survivor of domestic abuse from a previous 18-year marriage, Beyer began to understand that her then-wife was extracting her own trauma for storylines on Grey’s Anatomy – specifically for Jo’s character.
Finch was also claiming elements of Beyer’s agonizing past as her own, Vanity Fair added.
Despite Finch being the subject of most headlines, ‘Anatomy of Lies’ places Beyer at the center of the narrative that she is attempting to reclaim from a ‘convincing storyteller who showed no signs of stopping,’ US Magazine added.
Appearing in the docuseries alongside other Grey’s writers and Finch’s coworkers, Beyer will unpack just how her ex-wife was able to get away with her lies for so long.
‘They did it because they had so much respect for Jenn,’ Peretz added.
Finch (far right in surgical cap) appeared in a few episodes. She used elements of Beyer’s past trauma to use in episodes – also claiming elements of Beyer’s tragic past as her own
‘They saw that she had been taken advantage of. She’s not a Hollywood-savvy person. She’s a nurse in Kansas who had no exposure to this kind of life and world. So they really felt like she had done something brave, and they wanted to step up for her.’
The documentary will include a hoard of visual material – including photo and video documentation of Beyer’s life.
A habit formed after years of abuse and custody battles with her ex-husband, Beyer ‘obsessively took pictures and video of everything happening in her life, because she had lost her children for a period’, Vanity Fair added.
When she got them back, she also got her life back. She didn’t want to miss a moment.
‘She had this incredible trove of visual material I knew would be absolutely key,’ Peretz added.
Finch’s lies personally affected dozens of people, on and off camera. But none were more affected by her calculated fabrications other than Beyer and her children.
One of the most important moments in filming was when Beyer allowed her two oldest children, Maya and Van, to sit for interviews, noted Peretz.
‘She trusted us,’ she added. ‘The big breakthrough in the making of the film is when she said, “I want my older kids to talk to you.”‘
The children’s perspectives ‘deepened the story and added an amazing layer to it’, Peretz added. ‘Obviously, we could not have done that had we not really gotten to know Beyer so well and earned her trust.’
One of the directors, Evgenia Peretz, Vanity Fair contributing editor, knew that Beyer was a much bigger part of the jaw-dropping story that couldn’t be written in just an article
Beyer met Finch in 2019 while both were patients at an Arizona mental health treatment center, Vanity Fair added. Beyer was receiving treatment for severe PTSD following an allegedly abusive marriage.
Finch was getting treatment under the alias Jo – the name of the character who she was researching at the time.
Hired to work on Grey’s Anatomy in 2014, Finch pretended that she was forced to undergo grueling chemotherapy. She claimed the treatment cost her a kidney and forced her to have an abortion, the DailyMail.com reported.
And eventually, parts of her fake story ended up in the story lines of the show.
Her lies continued to grow. She lied about being close friends with one of the victims from the anti-Semitic mass shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.
Beyer was the one who first exposed Finch’s lies – but Finch’s legal representative originally stated that her testimony was not ‘reliable’ or ‘unbiased’ due to the pair being in the midst of a divorce
Finch (left) with one of the show’s stars – she was put on administrative leave following the initial allegations and then took a leave of absence from the show – but never returned
She also claimed to friends that the FBI allowed her onto the crime scene to collect her friend’s remains.
Finch even went as far to lie about her brother, Eric, who she claimed had committed suicide.
But he is very much alive as a practicing doctor.
Seven years after launching the cancer lie, she was first exposed by Beyer herself. With a background in nursing, she became suspicious about Finch’s story.
In a previous response to Vanity Fair, Finch’s legal representative, Andrew Brettler, casted doubt on Beyer’s credibility, claiming that her testimony was not ‘reliable’ or ‘unbiased’ because the pair was in the midst of ‘a highly contentious divorce’.
But Finch eventually admitted to her fake life that she tried so hard to conceal.
‘I told a lie when I was 34 years old and it was the biggest mistake of my life,’ Finch told The Ankler.
‘It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and got buried deeper and deeper inside me.’
Beyer trusted the crew of the docuseries enough to allow her two eldest children to sit for interviews, which Peretz says ‘deepened the story and added an amazing layer to it’
Finch admitted to telling one lie at the age of 34 and was never able to stop – some lies included her brother committing suicide and her cancer diagnoses
She admitted that she lied in a desperate grab for attention after becoming addicted to the constant care she received when she hurt her knee hiking in 2007, The Daily Mail added.
Finch will not appear in the new docuseries and has never had any direct contact with Peretz, despite Peretz reaching out on multiple occasions.
Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy creator, also declined to participate in the docuseries.
But the most important and telling story belongs to Jennifer Beyer.
‘It can be very cathartic to tell your story,’ Peretz added. ‘I hope that for Jenn’s sake, especially, having told her story to such a wide audience is therapeutic.’
‘And I hope that audience members who have been in a similar situation to Jenn, where they’ve been lied to or betrayed and feel gullible or whatever it is, feel like they’re not alone.’
The docuseries premieres on Peacock on October 15.
