Memoir of “My Immortal” Author Canceled amid Accusations of Falsehoods

Last month, fans were stunned when the author of the famous so-bad-it’s-good Harry Potter fan fiction from 2006, My Immortal, was apparently revealed to be Rose Christo, a 27-year-old woman of Native American descent who had been abused as a child in foster care. Christo was to release a memoir, titled Under the Same Stars, describing how she created the fan fiction to search for her brother, whom she was separated from in the foster care system.

Many fans were thrilled that the mystery behind My Immortal was finally solved and were excited to read the memoir, published by St. Martin’s Press.

Alas, this week, St. Martin’s Press canceled the publication.

Christo made the announcement on her blog, claiming the cancelation was due to her altering names of her family members on documentation in order to protect their identities.

I did something pretty stupid during the publication process. I didn’t want my family’s real names getting out, largely because some of the things that happened during childhood were embarrassing. I wanted my brother, my grandparents, and even my parents to have privacy. So when it came time to provide documentation, I altered the photocopies to disguise their names.

However, this doesn’t appear to be the true reason. A week and a half before the cancelation, a user claiming to be the brother whom Christo describes surfaced on the forum Kiwifarms.net, saying that the memoir was full of lies.

It’s a very exaggerated sob story with kernels of truth here and there (e.g., we were separated as children but largely of her choice, neither of us was in foster care, and she’s rejected my attempts to reconnect with her since) to better sell the memoir.

Not only does he say they were never in foster care, but they are also apparently not Native American.

Our grandmother always claimed she was Native American because… she was born in America. She’s completely white. Looks like my sister’s story has evolved, though, to have a tale of some ‘Cree Indian’ as her father.

The brother continued to answer questions from fascinated forum members. Was Christo subjected to child porn, as she claimed?

This is where it gets very, very, very in-depth with a lot, and I mean a lot, of familial mental illness and insanity involved. The long-story short is ‘no,’ but it is a *very* long story as to how she truly believes she was (and due to the aforementioned insanity, I really don’t think I blame her for that belief).

He goes into much further detail on their family history in this thread.

After all this, many fans are wondering if Rose Christo truly is the author of My Immortal. Her brother seems to believe she is.

There’s a few things, especially in the irony of her purposely-bad writing, but the most indicative to me and shortest to explain to you is the first-name [sic] of her pseudonym: Tara. She liked to call herself that in our youth.

And was it indeed a troll fic?

Her writing was far better than that as a child, and the manner in which ‘My Immortal’ was written was one I can recall her loving to make fun of…. I can’t give you a definitive answer but a very, very probable yes.

We can only assume that St. Martin’s Press canceled the publication of Christo’s memoir due to these accusations coming to light. Admittedly, we’re disappointed, but regardless of the story behind the story, we know My Immortal will continue to live on in infamy for years to come!