One musician got called out by the famous woman he claimed he dated in his memoir!

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Later, on The Howard Stern Show, he explained that he'd begun telling that made-up story when he moved to California in October 2011. He was "hanging out at comedy clubs...just trying to fit in."

He said, "It was simple as sitting at the comedy store, and everyone was like, 'Hey you're from New York? Were you just there?' [I said,] 'Yeah.' 'You work there?' 'Yeah.' You have, like, 15 seconds to go, 'Hold on, stop, I'm sorry, that's not true.' If you pass that 15 seconds...now I have to be the guy who's strange and weird."

In 2005, Jack told Rolling Stone, "I want you to imagine if we had presented ourselves in another fashion, that people might have thought was the truth. How would we have been perceived, right off the bat? When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think. 'Oh, I see...' When they're brother and sister, you go, 'Oh, that’s interesting.' You care more about the music, not the relationship — whether they're trying to save their relationship by being in a band."

She continued, "Yes, I am a white girl. Let's be clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there. My family is white. Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally, I grew up with two cultures. So, it's really as simple as that. In the past, I would get very frustrated when reporters would report this or report that, and I'd try to be very clear — and they'd be like, 'Oh, you were born in Spain.'"

According to Vanity Fair, Hilaria is of "English, Irish, French Canadian, German, and Slovak" descent.

She decided to come clean because it was "the responsible thing to do." She said, "I don't want forgiveness. ... Above anything, I would like people to say, 'Okay, she's human.'"

Her story was adapted into the Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar.

She continued, "I was a fan and went to one of his shows when I had just graduated. When we met after the show, he said, 'Let's be friends.' He was on tour, and I was working, shooting a film, so we only hung out a handful of times before I realized that this was an older man who was interested in me in a way that felt inappropriate."

He continued, "I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress.

I tried to treat everyone I included in Then It Fell Apart with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released.

So for that I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand.

Also I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14 year age difference I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago."

Liam said, "Did you hear that Niall and Carly Rae Jepsen are together?"

Louis said, "They've slept together! They've slept together!"

The interviewer asked, "When did this start?"

Liam answered, "You know, they kind of just met each other."

Joan initially told her story in interviews to get press attention, which in turn helped her get better roles. Eventually, a publicist convinced her to write a book.

Joan and Lincoln argued over whether or not it was possible for her dad's crew to fold a topsail on the schooner. The more he scrutinized her, the more irritated she became. To settle the disagreement, another book critic called up a friend who worked on an ocean liner. The friend clarified that it would be impossible, and Lincoln was right. So, Joan ran at him and threw a punch, but stopped a few feet short. She reportedly said, "If you weren't so old. God damn it! No one has ever called me a liar before!"

The publisher continued supporting the actor, and Cradle of the Deep became a huge success.

Lincoln told the Bookman, "If today we have reached the point of progress where a literary hoax is condoned as good business … then we have fallen on evil times in American literature."

Joan made a significant amount of money from book sales, and after divorcing her husband, she went on to become a tabloid reporter. She published another book about her alleged exploits, titled Gal Reporter.

Off camera, she came clean about her real age. She had to leave the show, despite her bandmates' protests. 

Gavin continued, "We realized we couldn't just go down and rap in these Californian accents and then speak like two lads from Dundee. People in the industry would think that was ridiculous. So we got to a point where it felt all or nothing... Two years in these characters? That required talent. We had everyone convinced we were the next Eminem. The scam was to con them in terms of the marketing."

After getting signed to a label, they went from being in debt to suddenly having a lot of money in their accounts. They were stressed and paranoid about keeping up the act, but they got "completely addicted" to the lifestyle they portrayed.

Gavin said, "We needed to be approachable, fun, wild guys. We needed everyone to want to party with us. We felt we needed people to be with us, rather than against us. But we were 21-year-olds, we had no idea who we really were, and we started to become addicted to these characters who were far more cooler than we really were. The plan was to break into the industry and come clean. We started to lose that. After six months of playing a character and getting success, you start to forget who you really are. I'd see a picture of my parents and think, 'I'm not their son anymore.' We worked so hard at making these addictive characters, and we became addicted to them."

However, according to the Guardian, keeping up the lies proved difficult. It took a toll on Gavin's mental health. He drank too much and developed a stomach ulcer. It also ruined their friendship, and everything ended when Billy left to go home to Dundee.

The duo reunited in 2013 and released the EP Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as well as the documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.

James McAvoy directed the upcoming Silibil N' Brains biopic California Schemin'.

Then, in 2024, he told the New York Times that he'd recently watched the clown story clip back.

He said, "There was absolutely no hesitation at all [in my voice],” he says with a combination of pride and alarm. “I’'m like, ‘What on earth? Are you possessed?'"