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Oprah Winfrey broke her silence last night about embattled author James Frey's disputed memoir "A Million Little Pieces," calling accusations of fabrication "much ado about nothing."
In a surprise phone call to CNN's "Larry King Live," where Frey was being interviewed, Winfrey urged readers who have been inspired by the book to "keep holding on."
"What is relevant is that he was a drug addict . . . and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," she said.
Oprah said the book's message of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction "still resonates with me."
"And I know it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book," she said.
At that, Frey's mother, Lynne, who also appeared on the show, clapped.
The book soared into the literary stratosphere after Winfrey chose it for her book club in October.
But it came under a cloud this week when thesmokinggun.com, an investigative Web site, said portions of the book had been "wholly fabricated or wildly embellished."
During his appearance, Frey, 36, admitted he embellished parts of the best-seller.
"I've acknowledged that I've embellished things. Some things were toned up and some things were toned down," he said.
"In the memoir genre, the writer generally takes liberties," he added, claiming some authors believe memoirs should fall in the category of "creative non-fiction."
While conceding that the runaway best seller was a "subjective retelling" of his life, he said the disputed facts took up only 18 pages of a 430-page book.
Frey offered only a weak defense to the Web site's claim he fabricated the central episode in the book - his 1992 arrest in Ohio for allegedly hitting a cop with his car.
Having smoked crack, he wrote, he battled with backup cops, was beaten and jailed for three months.
The Smoking Gun found documents showing Frey never hit the cop, was arrested only for being drunk, and spent the night in jail until his $733 bail was posted.
Frey's appearance came after the publisher, Random House, and major booksellers offered refunds to readers.
Callers to the customer service line of Random House were told the company normally does not refund books sold directly to customers.
But in this case, a customer-service agent said, the firm is offering refunds "because of the controversy surrounding it."
Both Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com said readers also could get refunds following standard refund procedures.
andy.geller@nypost.com
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
