Elizabeth Holmes Claims New York Times Misquoted Her. The Reporter Speaks Out After ‘You Can See Everything’ Release: ‘I Wish I’d Kept That Notebook’
Elizabeth Holmes disputes a quote attributed to her in a 2023 New York Times profile, a disagreement revisited in Nathan Fielder’s documentary “You Can See Everything”. Reporter Amy Chozick has now described how she recorded the words in her notebook, while acknowledging she has no surviving evidence to prove the exchange; the film leaves unresolved whether Holmes was misquoted.
Chozick said Holmes made the remark during a walk outside their rented California beach home, when Holmes’s partner, Billy Evans, was at the gym. Chozick was taking handwritten notes rather than recording audio, and says editors checked the quote with her in 2023 before the paper considered the matter settled. She also said Holmes did not dispute a related comment about her Theranos public persona, and denied Evans’s claim that he recorded all their conversations.
In short
- Holmes says the Times misquoted her in a 2023 profile.
- Reporter Amy Chozick says she wrote down the disputed words.
- Chozick no longer has the notebook and cannot provide proof.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Chozick’s account rests on her contemporaneous handwritten notes and her recollection of the conversation, which she says she reaffirmed when editors checked the quote. A reporter’s careful notes and willingness to stand by them can be meaningful evidence, even when no recording survives.
The case against
Holmes has a defensible basis to challenge the attribution because there is no surviving recording or other independent evidence that can settle what was said. With the dispute unresolved, the paper’s editorial review cannot by itself establish the exchange, and readers may reasonably give weight to Holmes’s denial.