Anna Delvey Responds to Rachel Williams’ ‘Inventing Anna’ Netflix Lawsuit: ‘Truth Hurts’
Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, doesn’t have much sympathy for former friend Rachel Williams, who is now suing Netflix over her depiction in Inventing Anna.
Williams launched a defamation lawsuit against the streaming service, claiming that Netflix deliberately portrayed her as a “greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person,” per court documents via People.
Inventing Anna was never meant to be a biopic and portions were created for dramatic effect, producer Shonda Rhimes said. And Delvey doesn’t think Netflix got it wrong when it came to Williams.
Anna Delvey says the ‘truth hurts’ about Rachel Williams’ portrayal in ‘Inventing Anna’
Delvey posted about Rachel Williams’ Inventing Anna lawsuit on Instagram but added a comment shared with Showbiz Cheat Sheet. She tagged Netflix in an Instagram story. “Will gladly make myself available to testify about the accuracy of your depiction of Rachel,” she wrote along with a story from The Hollywood Reporter. “You know where to find me.”
In a statement shared with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Delvey added, “[The] truth hurts.” Delvey remains in custody on an immigration issue. She originally spent time in prison for trying to bilk big banks and wealthy individuals out of more than $200,000. Delvey was released after a handful of years – only to get arrested again for overstaying her visa.
Rachel Williams says ‘Inventing Anna’ invented her character
In Inventing Anna, Williams, played by actor Katie Lowes, befriended Delvey (Julia Garner). But ended up “lending” $62,000 from her corporate credit card to help cover an overdue hotel bill during a whirlwind trip to Morocco. Rachel later hounded Anna, desperate to have the charge covered to avoid being fired at work (or legal action taken). And she ultimately turned Delvey into the authorities.
In Inventing Anna, Rachel ditches Anna in Morocco after believing that Anna was picking up the tab. Rachel also drives a divide in the friend group due to her panic over the credit card bill. The real Rachel Williams said her actions and character were misrepresented. “In reality, she never did or said those things. Thus, this action is based firmly on statements of fact which are demonstrably false and the attribution of statements that she never made,” according to court documents.
Williams also alleges that Inventing Anna led to “online abuse, negative in-person interactions, and pejorative characterizations.”
‘Inventing Anna’ was never meant to be a biopic
Williams pointed out in her lawsuit that others were protected in Inventing Anna because they were given fictional names. Not only was her real name used, but her real place of work, former college, neighborhood, and personal details were featured in the Netflix series.
But Rhimes said Inventing Anna was never meant to be a biopic. “We weren’t telling a biopic, because that’s an important distinction to make,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And there were so many elements of that show that were facts … I’m not even sure I could tell anybody because they came from sort of secret notes somewhere.”
“But there was also stuff that we invented because it needed to be invented to make the story really sing and be what it should be,” she continued. “I had an incredible team, my writing staff was just incredible, and [it was this] wonderful, amazing staff of writers who really took ownership of the work. They were dedicated and amazing.”
She added, “We couldn’t talk to Rachel [Williams, whom Delvey scammed out of $62,000]. We had to rely on other people’s stories and do some inventing and, in that [case], we did hear a bunch from Anna about that. But in reality, that was important to me. Because I didn’t want that character to be treated badly or portrayed in a way that felt nasty. I wanted to make sure that all of these women felt like the three-dimensional women they were, and so we worked really hard on that.”
