The Devil At Home: The horrific true story of a woman held captive

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The pandemic has only worsened matters, with Christmas last year seeing the number of domestic violence incidents nearly double nationally, from 200,000 reports in 2019 to 369,000 in 2020. Rachel tirelessly advocates for change in how society handles male violence against women and girls (Image: Rachel Williams) No, I never heard from her. From what I’ve seen of the series so far: Lowes’s concern for accuracy, when it comes to portraying me as I am, seems limited to the spelling of my full name. This sort of half-truth is more insidious than a total lie because it causes uninformed viewers to mistake fiction for fact based on mere fragments of reality—like my place of work, for instance, and even a photo of the real me within the end credits. There is so much that needs changing in regards to how we deal as a society with domestic abuse and violence - and we owe it to the next generation to eradicate it, this is all our problem. They reached out to get my option, but at that point HBO already had it. [Editor’s note: Williams’s book was optioned by Lena Dunham, but it is no longer in development. The story rights were returned to Williams.]

I think there is a false narrative with regard to me not having been a strong person before this entire thing,” she told Vanity Fair. Rachel Williams: I was caught off guard when Netflix announced its description of the character Rachel. [Editor’s note: Netflix described Rachel as “a natural-born follower whose blind worship of Anna almost destroys her job, her credit, and her life. But while her relationship with Anna is her greatest regret, the woman she becomes because of Anna may be Anna’s greatest creation.”] Domestic abuse and violence is an epidemic and it not only affects the victim and the children who too are victims, but it affects the whole family.Sorokin, of course, was later convicted on multiple charges of grand larceny for defrauding numerous banks, hotels, and New York party people under the guise that she was a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey. Her rise and fall is documented in Netflix’s new scripted drama Inventing Anna, but it’s far from the first time Delvey’s story has been told. Williams, who’s played by Katie Lowes in the series, wrote about her encounters with Delvey in a 2018 essay for Vanity Fair, where she’d been working as a photo editor at the time. Forty-two days after her release, Anna was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained after a judge made note of her interviews and antics and declared her “a danger to society.”

I think promoting this whole narrative and celebrating a sociopathic, narcissistic, proven criminal is wrong,” Williams told Vanity Fair in her first interview about the series. “Having had a front-row seat to [the Anna circus] for far too long, I’ve studied the way a con works more than anybody needs to. You watch the spectacle, but you’re not paying attention to what’s being marketed.” Darren made his way home after our first argument and returned the next day. When he saw my face he broke down, he apologised and said sorry. He said: "I can't believe I pushed you."

Officers across London recently engaged in its targeted 16 Days of Action, when they increased the work they do to protect victims of domestic abuse and violence. Overall, 1,185 males and 250 females were arrested, with 70 not categorised. So far, 560 of those have been charged, while 165 have been issued a caution. Who knows. Julia Garner’s a terrific actress. But I think that whatever elusive charismatic powers Anna has come through less in the way the story is presented, [and more in] the way the whole story was created. Everyone talks about Anna’s star power—they were so clearly taken with this subject that they began to empathize with her. If you think about it, what do con artists do? They tell stories. Stories have so much power when it comes to creating belief. So everybody has bought into this fantastical narrative that has become so devoid of fact but still has the illusion of truth. The facts are boring, I guess, but they’re important. This was the day that switch went off in my head and I went full steam ahead regardless of the outcome. I could no longer exist in this environment with my boys.