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Journalism of Courage
There8217;s never been a literary enterprise quite like JT LeRoy. It8217;s not just his career, which includes an acclaimed novel, Sarah, a movie based on a short-story collection and credit for collaborating on early drafts of the Gus Van Sant movie Elephant. It8217;s not just his relative youth 8212; he8217;s 24 8212; nor the long list of celebrities and authors that have hailed him as a wunderkind, among them Bono, Tom Waits, Winona Ryder, Melissa Etheridge, Michael Chabon and Mary Gaitskill.
It8217;s his life story. Raised by a drug-addicted mother, LeRoy got hooked on heroin in his early teens and worked as a 8220;lot lizard8221;, a cross-dressing male prostitute at a truck stop in West Virginia. He survived that ordeal and wound up on the streets of San Francisco, where a social worker found him in a psychotic haze. She took him to a shrink, who suggested that writing would be excellent therapy. He started faxing his handwritten pieces to well-known writers and literary agents. Soon he had a book deal. Afflicted with a crippling shyness, he rarely met any of his admirers, and on the few occasions he appeared in public, he wore sunglasses and a wig. Amazing? No question. True? Mmmm, probably not.
Including the New York Times, which last year ran a lengthy profile of LeRoy. In it, the reporter meets a 5-foot-5 person with a 8220;girlish voice, his conversation punctuated with childlike yelps when something pleases him8221;. LeRoy is described as a sweet, traumatized and streetwise victim, grateful to be alive and avidly networking with a welter of famous fans. Madonna, he said, had recently sent him a book on Kabbalah.
In 2001, after rumors began to surface that there was no JT LeRoy, a diminutive character with a furtive smile and a black hat started to appear, every once in a while, at assorted events held in the author8217;s honor. But the writer of the New York magazine story, Stephen Beachy, isn8217;t buying it. 8220;My theory is that it8217;s an actor playing the part,8221; he said on the phone Wednesday.
Beachy, a San Francisco novelist, has been sleuthing this matter for months. His research found not a trace of evidence that someone named Jeremy LeRoy 8212; the T is for Terminator, allegedly an ironic nickname he earned as a hustler 8212; lived in West Virginia, the son of a famous theological writer, raised by a mom who stripped for a living, as LeRoy has long claimed. In his piece, Beachy presents an impressive sum of circumstantial evidence 8212; no, there8217;s no proof 8212; that LeRoy was invented by Laura Albert.
Reached by cell phone, a person calling himself/herself JT LeRoy struck a rather hostile tone. When the person was asked point-blank, 8220;Are you Laura Albert?8221; there was a moment of silence. Then, 8220;No. Are you?8221;
The voice sounded like that of a woman, with a hint of a Southern accent in there, plus lots of profanity. According to this person, the New York story is the work of a jealous writer who has a 8220;personal vendetta8221;. Beachy, this person said, was dropped by LeRoy8217;s literary agent and resents LeRoy8217;s success. The former is true, Beachy says, but not the latter. 8220;You can say I am anyone you think I am,8221; LeRoy/Albert said. 8220;I8217;m not here to ake you feel comfortable8230;I reserve the right to be whatever gender I want to be. From now on, if you ask me if I am Laura Albert, I8217;m going to say, 8216;Maybe.8217;8221;
Still, if you are Laura Albert, you just pulled off something pretty amazing, in its own way, didn8217;t you? 8220;Yeah, wait for the movie people to come around,8221; this person said. 8220;If they offer me enough money, they can say I8217;m expletive Mickey Mouse.8221;
If there is no JT LeRoy, dozens of people have been bamboozled. Last year, a gallery in New York City hosted an exhibit of art and a reading inspired by LeRoy8217;s most recent novella, Harold8217;s End. Among those who showed up to read aloud were Lou Reed and Tatum O8217;Neal, and the news release touted a quote from Tom Waits: 8220;JT8217;s stories are like stitches, like exit wounds, dispatches, dispositions. He is the brilliant, gifted and profound fly on the wall. You8217;ll need handkerchiefs and novocaine to get through this.8221;
