Writing and Photography by Jeff E. Brown

He wrote the story after we broke up. Years later, so I don’t know how much of it is me and how much is some other woman. Maybe it’s all made up, but my experience says he can’t possibly be that imaginative. He does have talent. I just happen to believe he’s better at manipulating people than writing about them. He does not have much self awareness. How do you write authentically without that?

I assume someone helped him with it. Beyond editing, I mean, like he literally had somebody write it for him. He’d do that since he was obsessed with fame, albeit a minor internet celebrity as it turns out. It’s humorous that the story based on me is the one that gets mentioned the most. People seem to have latched onto the misogyny in it but they aren’t punishing him for it. They are celebrating it in a sly way. Kind of a payback to women who are viewed as uppity.

I was never uppity. I knew my worth, though the six months with him do run counter to that. I would argue that I was hoodwinked by his charisma and faux sincerity for most of it. He gave just enough to make me think he was invested, but it was ultimately all about his needs. Once I saw that, I left and did everything you’d expect to make it in my career and to find somebody who was worth my time. It took six or seven years, but I couldn’t be happier with my life now.

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