“Many of the people who consented to talk about their private lives in front of millions of television viewers would say that they were sharing their stories as a way to give comfort [to] fellow sufferers, to raise public awareness, to give a voice to their pain. None of them would ever admit that it was all about ratings and voyeurism and lurid, grotesque curiosity.”

American writer, journalist, and lawyer

Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel was an American writer, journalist, and lawyer. She is best known for Prozac Nation, her confessional memoir published when she was 27, and for being seen as a voice of Generation X. Her writing often examined her own experiences with depression, addiction, work, and relationships. In the 1990s, her books helped fuel the rise of confessional writing and the personal memoir. Later in life, she briefly worked as an attorney before she died of breast cancer.