Billionaire Amy Griffin hits back at claims she stole her story of childhood sex abuse, says she is now being ‘hunted’: sources

The knives are out for Amy Griffin. The 50-year-old billionaire venture capitalist — who counts Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon among her best friends — is fighting back against unusual allegations that she stole her story of alleged childhood sexual abuse from a former classmate. It’s a saga that has divided celebrities and power players in Griffin’s orbit — even spilling over into Jennifer Meyer’s star-studded wedding last month, where Griffin confronted axed “Today” show host Billy Bush. Author Amy Griffin attends a conversation with Mariska Hargitay about “The Tell” at the Ford Foundation in New York, on March 11, 2025. Getty Images for Amy Griffin Griffin speaks onstage during a conversation with Mariska Hargitay about “The Tell” at the Ford Foundation in New York City, on March 11, 2025. Getty Images for Amy Griffin Griffin poses for a photo for her memoir, “The Tell,” featured in Oprah’s Book Club. Oprah Daily/Facebook Griffin was celebrated as a courageous survivor following the publication of her bestselling memoir, “The Tell,” in March 2025. In the book, she recounts how she underwent MDMA-assisted therapy and recovered memories of being sexually abused by a middle-school teacher in Amarillo, Texas, when she was around 12 or 13. “MDMA helped me confront experiences I had spent much of my life trying to push away. As I wrote in my book, there were always tells,” Griffin told Page Six this week. From left: Jessica Latham, Reese Witherspoon, and Griffin attend a dinner in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 31, 2021. Getty Images for Social Studies “I had vivid memories of this teacher and knew there were things in my past I hadn’t fully confronted. It took so much to face those experiences privately, let alone share them publicly. “I wrote my book hoping to help others, never imagining I would have to defend my story while reliving some of the most painful experiences of my life.” The mom of four currently finds herself fighting a lawsuit brought by former classmate Joleene Altum, alongside a barrage of online abuse amid rumors she has threatened members of Manhattan’s elite social circles. Griffin, left, and Hargitay attend a conversation about “The Tell” at the Ford Foundation on March 11, 2025, in New York. Getty Images for Amy Griffin It’s an increasingly murky story. But friends insist Griffin had long suspected she was abused as a child before taking MDMA. “There is a difference between scrutiny and a hunt. Scrutiny, Amy welcomes, because the record holds up. What she has lived with since the summer is a hunt,” one source in the know told Page Six this week. Page Six is told Griffin had hoped to resolve her dispute with Altum privately, sending a lawyer to Los Angeles earlier this summer in an unsuccessful attempt to reach a settlement. “Amy was looking for an off ramp – and she was looking to give Joleene an off ramp,” said the source. Altum’s lawyer Zach S. Rosenblatt confirmed that he and his colleague Eduardo Martorell met with one of Griffin’s attorneys. However, he said, “The suggestion that we rebuffed a settlement offer is misleading, as not a single dollar was offered to resolve the case. “Instead, their attorneys demanded that our client merely abandon the litigation and threatened consequences if refused. The meeting was an attempt to intimidate and bully. Griffin, left, and Reese Witherspoon attend the Social Studies and Rent the Runway dinner at Urban Cowboy Public House on July 31, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. Getty Images for Social Studies “The truth is on our client’s side and we look forward to proving that in court.” Instead, the dispute has exploded into public spectacle, with Griffin’s memories, marriage and method —researchers have warned MDMA is not a reliable method for uncovering buried or hidden memories — all under scrutiny. Published in March 2025, “The Tell” became an Oprah’s Book Club selection and a national bestseller. Published in March 2025, “The Tell” became an Oprah’s Book Club selection and a national bestseller. CBS News In September that year, a New York Times investigation raised questions about aspects of Griffin’s account, reporting that Altum, then unnamed, said she too had been sexually abused — by a different teacher at the same school. Altum subsequently sued Griffin, her collaborator Sam Lansky and publisher Penguin Random House, accusing Griffin of appropriating her childhood experiences for the memoir. Altum alleges that specific traumatic events detailed in “The Tell”, including an assault during an 8th-grade school dance and another in a school bathroom a month later — happened to her, rather than Griffin. Copies of “The Tell” are displayed during an event with Griffin and Mariska Hargitay at the Ford Foundation on March 11, 2025, in New York. Getty Images for Amy Griffin She also claims Griffin contacted her out of the blue in 2019 to meet for coffee under false pretenses as a “pretextual investigative encounter” to draw out her story. Griffin claims that never happened. Griffin vehemently denies the allegations and filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Altum in Nevada in June. Speaking to Page Six, a friend insisted Griffin had long suspected sexual abuse. Jenna Bush Hager, left, Griffin and Savannah Guthrie attend an event at the Ford Foundation on March 11, 2025, in New York. Getty Images for Amy Griffin “For years before the first [MDMA] session, she believed something sexual had happened to her as a child and always had vivid memories of the teacher. In the first session her first memory surfaced within minutes of the dose, before the drug took effect, which an expert in MDMA therapy has since confirmed,” said the pal. In September, New York Magazine interviewed Amy’s former college volleyball teammate, who recalled two occasions when Amy alluded to having been sexually violated, decades before MDMA or her book. “Amy wrote a book about surviving something, and then she had to survive what came after,” said the friend. Griffin attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 4, 2026. Getty Images “The legal case she can live with, because courts have rules,” added the source. “The online part has no rules. Strangers decide every day what Amy did, what she thinks and where she is, and none of it has to be true.” Page Six can reveal Altum filed an amended complaint on October 19, continuing to accuse Griffin and Lansky of exploiting her childhood trauma. However, Altum altered the timeline of her allegation that former reality TV contestant Dominique Price — allegedly posing as a talent agent — spent weeks extracting intimate details of her childhood, including alleged sexual abuse, allegedly for Griffin. Gayle King, left, Oprah Winfrey, Chelsea Clinton and Griffin attend the American Ballet Theatre Fall Gala in New York on Oct. 22, 2025. Getty Images for American Ballet Theatre But Price has sworn under oath he never worked for Griffin or solicited anyone’s traumatic experiences on her behalf. While her original complaint placed the calls in April 2022, the amended filing now says April 2021 or 2022. Griffin’s lawyers counter she began recording her memories in July 2020, gave a recorded two-hour interview about them to Amarillo police Sergeant Gordon Eatley on August 31, 2021, and had a full draft of her story by March 2022 — a timeline they say undermines Altum’s allegations. Reese Witherspoon, Griffin and Diane Sawyer attend the iMentor 25th Anniversary Champions Dinner in New York, on Nov. 13, 2024. Getty Images for iMentor Altum further claims she inspired “Claudia,” a character in Griffin’s memoir portrayed as a former classmate potentially abused by the same teacher. Griffin disputes this; insisting Claudia is a third woman. The women even disagree over whether they met for coffee in Palm Springs in 2019, as Altum claims. “Amy is not challenging Joleene’s experience of abuse. She is challenging the allegations that she took Joleene’s story and passed it off as her own,” said the source. Want more celebrity and pop culture news? Start your day with Page Six Daily. Thanks for signing up! While the battle plays out in court, controversy has followed into the real world. On October 10, things erupted at the Hawaiian wedding of jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer and music manager Geoffrey Ogunlesi. Guests included Leonardo DiCaprio, Courteney Cox, Kate Hudson, Demi Moore and Kris Jenner, with Meyer’s ex-husband Tobey Maguire officiating. Billy Bush attends the Operation Smile Celebration of Smiles Dinner at Chefdance in Park City, Utah, on April 4, 2026. Getty Images for Operation Smile Billy Bush, who is dating Meyer’s best friend, Allison Wise, later claimed on his podcast that Griffin became “unhinged” when she spotted him. According to Bush, Moore attempted to calm Griffin down before she confronted him, “shaking” and “sweating,” and declared, “You don’t know me.” Bush boasted he remained “calm and cool the whole time,” but others wedding guests gave a differing account. Katie Rosman, New York Times editor, attends an intimate dinner for the New York launch of EBTH.com in New York City, on Sept. 28, 2016. Mark Sagliocco “Many guests are upset that this [was] overshadowing the wedding,” a guest told Page Six. “I did see an interaction between Amy and Demi [Moore], who was telling her, ‘Billy’s not a bad guy, just go say ‘hi,’ there’s no reason to be nervous’. She was trying to make her feel comfortable.” “Billy did tell Amy, ‘We’d love to have you on the show’, but, I can understand it’s not something she wants to do, and why is he asking this at a wedding?” Mariska Hargitay, left, and Griffin speak onstage about “The Tell” at the Ford Foundation on March 11, 2025, in New York. Getty Images for Amy Griffin The wedding confrontation is just one episode Griffin’s friends say has been distorted as the controversy has spread. Griffin has also been accused of threatening to interfere with the university prospects of New York Times reporter Katherine Rosman’s teenage daughter — an allegation her representatives strenuously deny. Meanwhile, online scrutiny has extended to Griffin’s billionaire husband, hedge-fund manager John Griffin, and his involvement in her MDMA-assisted therapy. Griffin arrives at the premiere of “My Mom Jayne: A Film By Mariska Hargitay” during the Tribeca Festival in New York, on June 13, 2025. GC Images The couple underwent underground MDMA therapy with a guide known as “Olivia,” subsequently donated $1 million to MAPS, an organization involved in research into the treatment, and invested in its corporate spin-off, Resilient. But sources reject the notion they had a financial incentive to promote MDMA through her memoir, saying, “They have made no money from any MDMA business.” Griffin has donated the book’s proceeds, including an advance reportedly worth nearly $1 million, to organizations combating sexual violence, according to her representatives.