The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out

by William Dameron

“The Truth is rarely pure and never simple.” —Oscar Wilde

What we put out into the universe comes back to us, but who can predict the amount of time it takes to make its return, or what form it will assume? My lies had taken a trip around the galaxy and, after a decade, long after my first marriage had ended, came back to haunt me.

It can be helpful to know and understand the motivation of the person who hurt you in order to forgive them, but it is not necessary, because forgiveness is a solitary act that requires only one participant.

Making amends is not the same as forgiveness. It is undoing a wrong. I can’t go back and unlie. I can’t go back and change the past. The only way I know to make amends is to live in the truth and to be humble with those I’ve wronged—Katherine and my daughters—and through the sharing of my tale, to give those I’ll never meet the chance to speak their truth as well.