Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Trial Reveals "JT Leroy" Creator's Troubled Past
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 16, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 16, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, a Manhattan jury heard testimony from the mother of the Brooklyn Heights woman who created JT Leroy, the supposed truck stop hooker's son turned literary sensation revealed to be a hoax last year. Under the persona of JT Leroy, Albert wrote novels about prostitution, sex abuse, and drugs; when Leroy became a hot commodity, she had her then-boyfriend's sister pose at Leroy. But now a film production company is suing Albert for money advanced towards making a film based on "Leroy"'s novel Sarah, arguing that since JT Leroy signed the contract and since JT Leroy doesn't exist, the contract is void.
Carolyn Albert, Albert's 70-year-old mother, detailed her daughter's past, which included bringing Laura to a psychiatric ward when she was 14 after suicide attempts. From the Post:
"I'm sorry. I remember how bad I felt," the mother said, causing her scandal-scarred daughter, who slumped at the defense table, to weep with her head in her hands.
"She had been threatening suicide. She wasn't going to school. Her behavior was impossible," the bawling mother told defense lawyer Eric Weinstein.
"I remember thinking I'm leaving my daughter in a psychiatric hospital on her 14th birthday."
She also said that she hospitalized Albert when she was 17, after she had refused to leave her room for three years. And the Times explained what Carolyn Albert called "impossible behavior": "Laura was, in fact, so shy, she could not sit in the same room with a teacher who tutored her at home. Instead, they spoke by phone: the teacher in the living room, Laura in her bedroom." Carolyn Albert, when questioned by the film production company's lawyer, also gave a hypothesis as to why she might have hid her daughter's identity, "It's to protect her, because she didn't want it known. I think Laura was really scared of using [the name] Albert. I think she was scared of being herself."
Here's a New York magazine story by Stephen Beachy from 2005 that first questioned who JT Leroy was, and here's the NY Times 2006 article that revealed Leroy was played by Knoop.
Tagged
abuse
brooklyn
brooklyn heights
drugs
film
heights
hospital
JT Leroy
manhattan
money
new york
News: NYC
ny times
people
Sarah
sex
suicide
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Man shot by ICE in NYC still has bullet lodged in neck, attorneys say
Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park on Monday.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 12, 2026 at 11:37 a.m. ET
NY measles spread prompts 'disaster' emergency. It didn't have to be this way, health commissioner says.
The state health commissioner says the disease outbreak is wholly preventable.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
News
NY measles spread prompts 'disaster' emergency. It didn't have to be this way, health commissioner says.
The state health commissioner says the disease outbreak is wholly preventable.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
NYC wants to move deliveries onto the waterways. It's starting with a 55-year-old boat.
By
Liam Quigley
Inside the luxury Greenpoint high-rise powered by a rumbling generator for over a month
By
David Brand
Mayor Mamdani orders review of NYPD use of force policies
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .