I'm glad she got busted, but yeah...the fact that it was her sister leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

i'm glad i'm an only child.

I am an identicle twin. My twin and I did NOT get along from about 7th grade on. Not even a little. She was a selfish twat. We get along now and have for a few years, but for a while there I didn't like her one bit.

I don't think that it is disloyal to turn her sister in. It was disloyal of one sister to expect another to bear that burden of dishonesty.

I probably wouldn't turn my sister in, but probably only because I'd blackmail her.

Ha, I knew we'd talk about this, my Today Show watching always pays off.

I don't think we should make such a big deal about the older sister turning Peggy Seltzer in. She probably didn't call up her sister and say "Hey, I'm writing a book, it's all fake, but shhhhh, don't tell!" Cyndi was probably shocked and hurt that her sister would tell lies like that about her family.

I'm the oldest sister, and not much of a caretaker. If you ask my sister what she remembers most from our childhood it would probably be a)when I cut her hair in the closet or b)when I covers all her stuffed animals in glue.

I dont think this is about being loyal. The sister did something stupid, the other one called her out. One of the sisters probably has a stronger moral background and wouldnt stand for such malarky. Good for her.

Dude, I still don't tell my sisters some things, just because they CAN NOT keep their traps shut when I tell them specifically to not tell Mom. Ugh! I love them to death, but it's like me telling them not to mention it to her means they will within a week or so. And if I don't tell them to not tell her, then it gets there even quicker. The crux of having sisters that can't keep personal info personal and a mother that I adore but is also sucked into the 700 Club/Pat Robertson/CBN bullshit. Now, that being said, I still wouldn't trade my family for the world.

This is a hard one, because on the one hand I would never want to destroy my sister's career, she is also not a batshit crazy liar like Peggy. If I thought my sister were breaking the law or hurting herself, I would be all up in her business, ratting her out.

Also, on the jealousy tip, we definitely suffer from that at times, but luckily we have chosen different paths so I think it's pretty natural that it would happen. I'm jealous of her grad school smarts and carefree single ways, she's jealous of rockin' marriage and higher income.

It seems harsh that the sister went straight to the media, but really, Peggy was telling all kinds of nasty lies about their whole family. If I were in the older sister's shoes, had a "normal" childhood with "normal" parents (i.e., not full of foster homes, abuse, and gangs), I'd be pissed too if my sibling went on a national book tour about her violence-and-gang-filled childhood.

I don't know if I could do that to my sister. At least publicly. Isn't this more of a situation where you have a personal face-to-face with your sib to try to get her to see the error of her ways? I'm guessing their relationship was dysfunctional to begin with.

Here's my version of the sister code: The only person allowed to tease, torment, or otherwise harass my sister is ME. Anyone else who tries it will die a slow, painful death by my hand!

I don't think I could do that to either one of my brothers. I don't have a sister, so I can't relate.

For some reason it bothers me that people keep getting up in arms about individuals who write "memoirs" turning out to be fake. Like James Frey. I wouldn't have wanted to read his book if it wasn't as glamorized as it was. No one would want to read this lady's real life memoir. Why can't we just accept it as fiction, accept that it touched us emotionally, and get over it?

i'm interested in the age difference-- 14 years is a lot. i wouldn't be surprised if they aren't close at all, given that the older sister was likely out of the house before the younger one was even in kindergarten.

What made Cyndi turn in her flesh and blood?

The realization that her sister was a liar who was appropriating others' stories for her own gain?

This question, or the way that it's phrased, bothers me, because it seems to imply that one shouldn't "turn in" one's blood relations even if they do something that is clearly wrong.

@CorporateTool: Undeniably a rough position to put her older sister in, but turning her in still seems tinged with jealousy, doesn't it?

Look, I've given my little sister "tough love" for her entire life. She doesn't always think things through and rushes into things before thinking how the rest of the family will look, like the time she published inflammatory neo-conservative views in a liberal paper, saying that her entire family felt the same way. I would have dissuaded her from making those statements had I known she was going to publish her thoughts, but I had to settle for knocking sense into her the day after.

It's not that I don't love her. I definitely am NOT competing with her. I have a vested interest in making sure she doesn't drag me into whatever she gets herself into, and then loving her back into the real world after she makes a fool of herself.

I loves her madly, I do, but sometimes I am appalled by her.

I feel like I wouldn't do this because my sister is cool and would never write a memoir based on a lie.

@marvel girl: Hahaha. You win.

@CorporateTool: I absolutely, 100% agree. By writing a faux memoir (fauxmoir?) this woman misrepresented not only herself, but also her entire family. It's absolutely unfair and even exploitive to expect the rest of her family to go along with her dishonesty.

@CorporateTool: bingo.

i have two brothers and if i knew they were outwardly lying to a major publication about anything especially their own family background, i would call them up on it and completely rat them out without question.

it's one thing if she lied about having blonde hair or the color of her prom dress. instead, she lied about who she really was, who her family was, her ethnic background and her upbringing. i think for anyone, regardless of the relationship you have with your own family, that would constitute a 'game over'.

Oh, and while my sister and I are really close, we aren't like those "we've got a special bond, know what the other one is thinking" people. I think it would be creepy to be like that with anybody.

My sister was a spoiled, bratty, approval-seeking, competitive with my mother for my fathers attention, first-rate bully when I came along when she was about 9yo. She's always been mean and manipulative, and I infuriate her more because I never played into her bullshit.

I blame my parents mostly: dad was treated like shit by his family so he was so starved for love he let my sister do whatever. My mom would punish her, and he'd reverse it. I've actually heard my sis say things like "if you punish me I won't love you anymore" to my dad.

One time, I asked her why she hated me so and she said I owed her an apology for being born and "ruining everything". I told her to kiss my big, black and bubbly ass. Now she's all sugar and spice. Go figure.

Once upon a time two little girls very badly wanted an American Girl doll. Their mother, outraged at the thought of a $90 doll, told them that they would have to do something extraordinary in order to show they were worthy of caring for such a special doll. They would have to stop fighting. Instead of pouring on sugar and spice, these two little girls gave up their dreams of ever having an American Girl doll. Fighting was all they knew.

These two girls eventually grew up and now get along quite well... maybe because they live 2.5 hours apart.

I would never turn TheGuvnah in.

Seriously, sisters have strange relationships. I have two (one twin, one regular). I want to strangle my older sis sometimes (ok, often), but that's because we're a lot alike, and a lot different.

Yes, I expect a different type of loyalty/love from my sisters than I do my friends. If anyone ever did anything to either of them, I would cut a bitch. Whereas with my friends, my love for them is different.

I offer nothing groundbreaking to this conversation, except to say sisters are the bomb diggety.

How does it benefit your sister to learn that dishonesty is so easily rewarded? What kind of sister are you if you expect your family to hide your dishonest deeds?

And, jesus, she's 33. If she's adult enough to perpetrate a massive lie, then she's adult enough to face the consequences of her actions.

@blondegrlz: i stapled my little sister's finger once. :D But erm... well NOW I am a good caretaker....

Older sisters are notorious for being cops. I think it's because they think of themselves as Mommy Jr. "Don't do this, don't do that, I'm telling, blah, blah."

And of course, middle siblings are supposed to be the rebellious/misunderstood ones. I'm wondering if the Peggy was a middle child.

I had a crappy crappy boyfriend that hit on my little sister when she was visiting me, one day while I was working. She immediately came down to my workplace and told me what happened. She was upset and so worried about how hurt I was going to be she was all pale and shaky. My sister is the best sister EVAR, and I'd help her hide a body if she needed it. I sure wouldn't turn her in for anything.

I am speechless!

I would totally turn in one of my siblings for this kind of stupidity--can't let them tarnish the family name. But we're so tight it wouldn't get this far. It'd be one of those, "Hey, Jackhole , do you really think that this is a good idea?" type of conversations. Like when my sister wanted to get a tattoo of a beaver on her lady bits.

I've got two sisters (one twin, one younger), and I wouldn't blow either of their covers...that said, though, I think if any of us decided to concoct a false gang identity, we'd bring the fambly along and just give everyone nicknames like Sad Girl and Snorty Laughing Girl. (what, that could totally be a chola name.) But we roll deep like that.

@CorporateTool: Word. It's like those parents who KNOW their kids are guilty, but defend their innocence in court.

@Miss Pelled: Agreed about the sister code, but it's hard now that I'm married, because my husband wants in on the fun of teasing my sister. I'll allow it to a certain extent, but once in a while I'm like, "OK, now you have to tell me how cool you think she is, because you've joked your way into me thinking you don't like her."

@NoInheritance: It doesn't necessarily seem tinged with jealousy to me. It seems more tinged with a desire to set the story straight with regards to one's own family & upbringing.

I say "seems" because who really knows what the sister's motivation was in turning her in. But if my sister or another relative decided to write (and profit from) a book that fabricated my family's life, I'd be pissed as hell, to put it lightly.

@blondegrlz: Exactly. If someone I was related to tried to publicly tell such crazy lies about my family (even though we're completely dysfunctional) I'd still turn 'em in.

I really don't have any insight into the sister thing as mine will always have the mental capacity of a toddler. As much of a pain as siblings can be, sometimes I think it would've been nice to have someone to talk to...

Well...she woulda been found out anyway. And only for that reason do I think it was awful for her sister to rat her out. It's kinda like an older sibling telling you there is no Santa Claus when you're 6...you'd find out on your own soon anyways, but the fact that they felt the need to bring you down is really mean.

@BadenBaden: HA! I was just gonna say, I wonder when BadenBaden and TheGuvnah are going to weigh in on this!

@nodoubt9203 (Stalk Me I'm Icelandic): Most of the time I am as well.

What's weird is that I just started thinking about the majority of my close friends, and most have brothers, not sisters. And most have younger brothers, at that.

My mother has one sister, a year apart. They are very different but very close. That's really been my main exposure to "sisterhood."

@nodoubt9203 (Stalk Me I'm Icelandic): word.

I had no idea there were so many twins on Jezebel. That's crazy.

Of course, I forgot to put in my opinion. I can see why she would turn her sis in. Trying to garner sympathy with a fake memoir - as the older sis, I'm sure she's used to stunts like that to get attention, and since this was on such a massive scale, then she needed to go public nationally (my younger sis would make sure she got the attention she wanted by pulling all kinds of stunts growing up - and luckily she grew out of it). I just hope she did discuss it with the sis before she went on record - warned her she shouldn't be doing this, that it's complete fabrication, reminding her what happened to that "Million Little Pieces" dude. If it was an out-of-the-blue outing by the big sis, that could a little harsh. Then again, cheaters never prosper. Or so I was told.

OK - not sisters, but would it have been ok for Ted Kazcynski's bro NOT to turn him in? Siblings or not, I admire that she took a stand and defended her family's name.

And I must add that me and my sister are not close at all. I'm 8 years older and from the moment she was born, she has been the absolute opposite of me to an extreme. She's almost 16 now and she is the biggest bitch I have ever met...like truly cold-hearted and very very full of hate. So uh....I'd prolly turn her in if she was living a lie and getting rich and famous for it!

@NoInheritance: Seems less like jealousy to me than frustration. Can you imagine if your neighbors came up to you and were all "hey, saw your sister on the news, had no idea that your parents were awful people/you were a prostitute/you live with gang violence?" It would be pretty mortifying.
@petuniacat: @rednrowdy: Yeah, I'd turn my brothers in, in a moment. But then again, my younger brother is pretty much a compulsive liar. When it stops being funny, I'll start calling him on it. Is that bad?

If someone's being an asshole, I call them on it, whether it's my sister or my brother or my mom or who the fuck ever.

I get along with one of my sisters fine, but the other one has been a right bitch to my whole family besides me, for no reason, so she and I don't talk anymore.

@virginiawoolf: Because she said it was real. If she wrote a book of fiction or only slightly fictinoalized her life to make it more interesting, that would be different. Instead, she made up an ENTIRE life full of lives and called it real. I myself don't care, but I can understand why some, ESPECIALLY her family, would be pissed.

@petuniacat: Yeeeah, I think I'm guilty of putting my own spin on the facts. Having a tattle-tale older sibling colours this story a bit for me.

She portrayed her family in way that was SO DAMN FAR from the truth, I would question THEIR integrity if they didn't call her hand on the lies.

i have two sisters, one older, one younger (and one brother, younger). i have never got on with my older sister - we haven't spoken for over a year and it's frankly a relief to be free from all the crap she loves to throw at me. (i'm very close to my otehr two siblings, lest you think i'm some kind of unloveable witch!) bottom line, she would be first in line to point out what i'd done wrong BECAUSE i'm her sister. being related to someone you really don't want to be related to can make you all kinds of rageful. so er yeah, i get it.

Yeah, I have trouble with this one because my sister- the adult one, at least- would never write a fake memoir. (The other 2 are 14, much remains to be seen.) So me no relatey.

I would like to point out though that Hoffman went to her sister's publisher, not the media. She probably thought she was doing them a favor. I say good for her. It's clearly the more moral choice.

@NoInheritance: so is the sister jealous of what, exactly? Jealous of her sister's psychotic lying and her appropriation of people's stories and her complete fabrication of an imaginary life that excludes her sister and their whole shared family memories? IF my brother was a racist con artist, I woulnd't be jealous. This whole claim of jealousy is so middle school mean girls to me. Peggy Seltzer did something very wrong, and dragged her family's name in the mud by denying all their shared history and replacing it with some sensationalistic race baitng tripe.

Ok, everyone here is being really harsh. If we're talking specifically about the fauxmoir (good one, whoever coined that), the author claims she only lied about experiencing it because she wanted to bring more attention to the poverty in LA, which she thought is being ignored. I kinda respect that, actually, and as a writer I don't even care that much about all the fauxmoirs around.

If the sister called up the media without going directly to the younger sister first and finding out what the deal was, that's SHADY and mean and disloyal. But we have no idea what their relationship is. However, I am with @lisas: in that I would hide a body if my sisters needed me to.