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FANTASIA’S GHOSTWRITER IS DISGRUNTLED: Writer feels left out after Lifetime ignores her contribution.
*A woman who says she was the ghostwriter of Fantasia Barrino’s autobiography “Life is Not a Fairytale” has decided to stop being a ghost.
In an exclusive interview with Radar Online, writer Kim Green has stepped out of the shadows in search of recognition for her work on the New York Times bestseller, which she says was carried out despite the subject being unable to read or write.
"I want people to know that I wrote that book," Green told Radar, adding she found out about Fantasia’s illiteracy after the two had already begun working on the project.
When Green gave the artist her finished chapters to review, "She'd say, 'Oh, it's great, I'll read the rest later,'" Green recalls. After Barrino finally admitted to her reading shortcomings, Green went directly to publisher Simon & Schuster to suggest damage control. Though she had signed on as a ghostwriter, Green suggested they list her as co-writer—to avoid the inevitable questions about how someone who can’t read or write can author a book.
"I went to them and said, 'I don't want credit, but I don't want [Barrino] to look dumb, and I think strategically it's not going to be wise for her to pretend to have written this book.'"
But the publisher refused. Green decided to take her $45,000 check and keep quiet, even after the nondisclosure period mandated by her contract expired.
"I didn't want to seem like a troublemaker, and didn't want to burn any bridges of my own," she says.
But then Lifetime television entered the picture, and all bets were off.
"Nobody even called me to say 'Do you have any insights? Do you want to tell us some anecdotes?'" she says of the network, which adapted “Life is Not a Fairytale” into a two-hour film that aired in August. "I found it to be so appalling that nobody thought, 'Oh, we should call Kim Green.'"
While Green does not blame Barrino for keeping her out of the loop, she does question whether the singer, who is reportedly receiving tutoring, will ever actually read her own book.
"I'm really grateful for the experience, but I was a little soured by the process," Green tells Radar. "Publishing is the last art form that doesn't give credit to the people who do the work."
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