Savannah Knoop

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Savannah Knoop (born circa 1981) is an American fashion designer and DJ who was identified by The New York Times on January 9, 2006 as being the public persona in the JT Leroy hoax created by Laura Albert. [1] Knoop is half-sister to Geoffrey Knoop, Albert's former partner. Their father is filmmaker John Knoop, and Savannah's mother is acupuncturist Sharon Hennessey.[2] Savannah graduated from Westover School in 1999.

According to a Paris Review interview with Laura Albert, Asia Argento, who directed and starred in the film version of LeRoy's The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, became Knoop's lover during the filming, believing the hoax that Knoop was the "actual" JT LeRoy, a male-to-female transsexual.[3]

Knoop DJs with TINC Enterprises and also practices capoeira. [4] Since her unmasking, Knoop has returned to fashion design while moonlighting as a waitress. [5]


In October 2008, Seven Stories Press will publish Knoop's Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy, which details Knoop's partaking in the JT LeRoy charade. Seven Stories offered the following press release:

"Who was the real JT LeRoy? A new memoir reveals how a girl, pretending to be a boy, captured the imagination of everyone who met her . . . JT became a darling of the avant-garde - including Asia Argento, Gus Van Sant, Michael Pitt, Carrie Fisher, Winona Ryder, Courtney Love, Debbie Harry and dozens of others . . . Then it turned out to be a hoax."

This announcement has already been met with disdain by Laura Albert, who told the New York Post's Page Six gossip column:

"I am not in any way connected with this book and it disgusts me. Just because you play a writer doesn't mean you are a writer[...] I think Savannah is being motivated by money and attention. Now that she's had to go back to being a civilian, this is her way of getting back to it. It's sad and it's sleazy. She's really stepping on my feelings. [...]This is a cheap way for Seven Stories to get my story. And it's disgusting they're using celebrity names to sell it. I'm not interested in making a career of JT, I'm an artist."

Seven Stories Editor-in-Chief Amy Scholder replied: "Savannah has every right to tell her story. It is funny and irreverent. Laura will hopefully feel differently when she reads the book."[6]


[edit] References

  1. ^ St. John, Warren (January 9, 2006) The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public, He's a She. The New York Times.
  2. ^ Benson, Heidi (March 19, 2006). Identity Crisis: How former sex writer Laura Albert and her extended family became 'JT LeRoy,' pulling off one of the strangest literary hoaxes of our time. San Francisco Chronicle
  3. ^ jt leroy - writing
  4. ^ Knoop on capoeira
  5. ^ Rubin, Sylvia (November 26, 2006). Back in Fashion: Savannah Knoop has survived the JT Leroy scandal and is trying her hand at a new career. San Francisco Chronicle
  6. ^ Page Six (June 2, 2008). Leroy Hoaxers In Falling-Out New York Post

[edit] External links

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