He suffered a hairline fracture of his breastbone, and lacerations. The show was pulled after accusations surfaced that Frey was not in fact suicidal, and that producers had staged the bloody episode in which Frey slashed his wrists before tearfully hitting the Choose Life button and submitting to medical attention.įive weeks later, Frey made news by attempting to impale himself on a piece of rebar a few blocks from his Tribeca loft. The highlight of each episode was the so-called Moment of Truth, during which Frey was sequestered alone in a room and provided the means to stage his own death. Suicide Watch replaced Mafia Gladiator as the most watched series in America. Mental health advocates complained that the show was a crass exploitation of Frey, who appeared disoriented during many of the segments.

It featured angry confrontations with family members, former fans, and several women who claimed to have given birth to children by Frey. The program, produced by reality TV wunderkind Mark Burnett, documented Frey’s struggle over whether to take his own life. It was with a certain inevitable hoopla, therefore, that the author reemerged, five years later, in a new role: as the star of the hit series James Frey: Suicide Watch. He was variously said to have been disfigured in a car crash, to have overdosed on Percocet, or to have faked his own death and joined a Buddhist monastery. Rumors of his fate circulated among his loyal fans. Jonathan Yardley dubbed the 756-page saga, “a homoerotic blaxploitation fantasia that is spellbinding only as a testament to the author’s racial naiveté.”ĭemoralized by disappointing sales, Mr. But the movie, starring former child star Corey Feldman, never saw theatrical release.Ī short time later, ReganBooks published Frey’s debut novel, Destiny’s Homeboy, which press materials described as “an effort to recast War & Peace in the hip-hop milieu.”Ĭritics were less generous. A lucrative two-book contract evaporated, along with a Hollywood deal.įrey did later produce a film version of Pieces, using his personal fortune. Oprah Winfrey, who selected Pieces for her influential book club, excoriated Frey for his deception, and he quickly became a whipping boy within the publishing world. A second volume, My Friend Leonard, was later discredited. He was 61 years old.įrey became a household name in 2005, when his best-selling memoir of addiction and recovery, A Million Little Pieces, was debunked as fiction.

James Frey, the disgraced author whose literary career was supplanted by turns as a reality TV star, ad pitchman, and philanthropist, was found dead of a heart attack in his Los Angeles mansion.

A million little pieces oprah