NPR

How A Skeptical Journalist Got Engaged To A Con Man

"Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married," by Abby Ellin. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Journalist Abby Ellin has a reputation for getting the facts right. So it came as a surprise when she found out the man she was engaged to wasn’t telling the truth.

She’d been skeptical when he talked about being a hostage in China, capturing Osama bin Laden and rescuing his ex-wife from Iran. But he was legitimately in the military and she figured someone had to do these specialized, top-secret missions — until she found out he didn’t.

“Nothing was verifiable. And I was very suspicious. And I was always asking him questions and he got mad at me about that,” Ellin (@abbyellintells Here & Now‘s Robin Young.

Ellin ultimately left the man she was supposed to marry. In writing her new book, “Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and,” she thought of other women who’ve had to wrap their heads around living in a lie.

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