Can this man stop lying?

Christopher Massimine tries not to lie.
He tries not to lie when his wife asks him if he's sorted recycling, or when Mary Ann, his mother-in-law's friend, asks him if he liked the appetizers she brought.
He tries not to lie to his therapist, who has him on a regimen of cognitive behavioral therapy to help him stop lying. And he's trying not to lie to me, a reporter who came to interview him about how a life of lies caught up with him.
That effort started there about 15 months ago, when Mr. Massimine resigned as general manager of the Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City after a local reporter reported that he had embellished his resume with false statements.
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The resume, it turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg. Over many years, he has since admitted that he lied prolifically and elaborately, sometimes without any discernible purpose.
He told friends that he had climbed Mount Everest from Tibet (he was actually in a hotel room in Cambodia) and attended Burning Man (upon further examination, his photographs turned out to have been taken in Queens.)< /p>
He told reporters he was born in Italy. (New Jersey.) He told school friends his birthday was in September. (May.) He told his wife he was having an affair with Kourtney Kardashian. (Not true.)
When his frenzy of lies was exposed, it left Mr. Massimine's life in tatters, threatening his marriage and discrediting his first successes in the world of New York Theater.
Mr. Massimine, 36, spoke to The New York Times to address what he described as a fundamental misunderstanding: It wasn't the lies of a calculating con artist, but of a mentally ill man who doesn't couldn't help it.
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Health Nov 29, 2022 0 52 Add to Reading List

Christopher Massimine tries not to lie.

He tries not to lie when his wife asks him if he's sorted recycling, or when Mary Ann, his mother-in-law's friend, asks him if he liked the appetizers she brought.

He tries not to lie to his therapist, who has him on a regimen of cognitive behavioral therapy to help him stop lying. And he's trying not to lie to me, a reporter who came to interview him about how a life of lies caught up with him.

That effort started there about 15 months ago, when Mr. Massimine resigned as general manager of the Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City after a local reporter reported that he had embellished his resume with false statements.

The resume, it turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg. Over many years, he has since admitted that he lied prolifically and elaborately, sometimes without any discernible purpose.

He told friends that he had climbed Mount Everest from Tibet (he was actually in a hotel room in Cambodia) and attended Burning Man (upon further examination, his photographs turned out to have been taken in Queens.)< /p>

He told reporters he was born in Italy. (New Jersey.) He told school friends his birthday was in September. (May.) He told his wife he was having an affair with Kourtney Kardashian. (Not true.)

When his frenzy of lies was exposed, it left Mr. Massimine's life in tatters, threatening his marriage and discrediting his first successes in the world of New York Theater.

Mr. Massimine, 36, spoke to The New York Times to address what he described as a fundamental misunderstanding: It wasn't the lies of a calculating con artist, but of a mentally ill man who doesn't couldn't help it.

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