Augusten
Burroughs accused of lying in memoir

The real-life family with whom Augusten Burroughs lived while in his teens is filing for defamation after being characterized as being eccentric in his memoir Running With Scissors, The Boston Globe reports. Members of the Turcotte family of western Massachusetts told Vanity Fair they decided to sue the gay author because he exaggerated and fabricated aspects of his life with them.

"I don't know how [Burroughs] lives with himself," Buzz Bissinger, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece, told the Globe. "Running With Scissors contains little strands of fact that were wildly embellished, and if you take those away, you don't have much of a book." Burroughs has denied that he made up stories for the book, but he would not discuss the suit with Bissinger, the Globe reports. The Vanity Fair issue with Bissinger's story will be on sale next week. (The Advocate)