You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Credit...Justine Kurland for The New York TimesOpinionGuest EssayThe Truth About E. Jean CarrollCredit...Justine Kurland for The New York TimesListen · 6:12 min By Ivy MeeropolMs. Meeropol is the director of the documentary “Ask E. Jean.”May 20, 2026Back in the mid-90s in New York City, E. Jean Carroll was an accomplished gonzo journalist and a funny, sharp advice columnist for Elle magazine — “Auntie E” to her readers. She also had a daily cable TV advice show. She was so recognizable that when Donald Trump ran into her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue early one evening he said, as she has recalled, “Hey, you’re that advice lady!” She was 52 at the time.Still, I confess that I didn’t know who E. Jean Carroll was when I saw her on the cover of New York magazine in 2019, when she told that story of meeting Mr. Trump and how the encounter led to a sexual assault. By then, he had become the president of the United States. After the article was published, Mr. Trump denied her account, and she sued him for defamation for saying that she was “totally lying” and that he had never met her and suggesting that her accusation was politically and financially motivated. In 2022, after New York State passed the Adult Survivors Act, reopening the time period during which people could bring a claim of sexual abuse, she sued him again, adding a claim of battery to a new defamation claim based on statements Mr. Trump made that year.In 2019, I contacted her and asked if she would consider being the subject of a documentary. I had a gut instinct that she was a voice in the wake of the #MeToo movement that we needed to hear. Little did I know about the wildly uncertain and, at times, terrifying ride I was about to go on with E. Jean and her lead attorney, Robbie Kaplan, during which I had a window into the challenges people can face when crossing Mr. Trump.I called it the Trump effect.E. Jean and I spent the pandemic getting to know each other, and later I did some filming at her home as she prepared to take Mr. Trump to court on her claims of sexual abuse and defamation (which he had continued to deny). E. Jean’s lawyers were less than thrilled. The last thing they wanted was a camera crew hanging around their client, especially because Mr. Trump argued that E. Jean was somehow benefiting from the attention.I attended the trial in 2023 as an observer. On the third day, while she was on the stand, one of E. Jean’s lawyers asked her, “Has anyone reached out to you, Ms. Carroll, about potentially filming a documentary about you?” She said yes, many filmmakers had. She said she ignored them all, except one — me. I was shaking with fear when she said my name. (No, I wasn’t paying her to participate in the film.)The jury in that trial found Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The jury awarded E. Jean $5 million in damages. The next day Mr. Trump appeared on a rowdy CNN town hall event and mocked E. Jean again. He wondered aloud, “What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you’re playing hanky-panky in a dressing room?” He called her a “wack job” to laughs from the audience.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT