Developed by Shonda Rhimes, Inventing Anna centers on Anna Sorokin (Julia Garner), a young Russian woman. She deceives members of New York City’s high society into thinking she is a German heiress named Anna Delvey with access to an inherited fortune.
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Sorokin was able to embezzle thousands of dollars from possible investors and her closest friends to create an exclusive art club. Scandal’s Katie Lowes played Williams as one of Sorokin’s friends in New York City. During the show, Williams, Duke, and Sorokin take a trip to Morocco under the expectation that Sorokin would pay for it.
But the con artist, as she has done before, stiffs the hotel on the bill and presses Williams to use the corporate card to pay for the charges. This almost costs her job at Vanity Fair as a photo editor. Williams eventually profits from the incident by supporting the police in Sorokin’s arrest and selling her narrative as a featured article for the magazine and a future book.
Netflix gets sued over Inventing Anna series
However, in a complaint filed Monday in Delaware federal court (via Deadline), Williams is suing Netflix for her portrayal in the popular biographical television series Inventing Anna. The lawsuit claims that:
“Netflix made a deliberate decision for dramatic purposes to…portray [Williams] as a greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person…”
The lawsuit also cites specific episodes in which Williams is portrayed negatively. This includes calling Neff Davis (Alexis Floyd) a “paid bitch,” willingly taking “gifts” from Sorokin, and “encouraging Sorokin to book a more extravagant hotel suite for their Morocco trip.”
The claim wants unspecified damages, a trial, and an injunction to have certain defamatory elements of the show deleted from the Netflix series. They also added that they had to initiate this complaint because Netflix used Rachel’s real name and biographical information to portray her as a bad person, which she is not.
From the start of Inventing Anna, critics pointed out that Delvey was paid $320,000 by Netflix for her rights to the show. And how she then spent the same for restitution and legal bills. Many people were also disturbed by the series’ attempt to portray Sorokin as a victim of society. It remains to be seen whether Williams’ complaint will stand up in court as Inventing Anna’s portrayal of Williams is scrutinized and discussed to discover if she was, in fact, a victim of the show.
