Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey) has shared her reactions to the Netflix series Inventing Anna with Cosmopolitan. The limited series from Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton) tells the story of Delvey’s deceptive life ingratiating herself into Manhattan’s business and art worlds by claiming she had a $60 million European trust fund, and scamming her way through expensive trips, hotels, and restaurants while leaving everyone else with the bills.
The nine-part series stars Julia Garner as Anna Delvey alongside Anna Chlumsky, Katie Lowes, and Laverne Cox, and is based on Jessica Pressler‘s New York Magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People.” Anna watched some scenes from the show from behind bars and shared her thoughts.
Anna Thought She Would Be Out Of Prison Before The Show Was Released
After being arrested in 2017, Delvey was convicted on eight counts of fraud in 2019 and sentenced to four to twelve years in prison. She was released in February 2021 after spending four years incarcerated for scamming hotels, banks, and her friends out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Six weeks into her parole period she was arrested for overstaying her visa and is currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York awaiting deportation to Germany, something she was not expecting. “When I imagined the show being out, I thought I’d be out, but I’m still in jail.”
Anna Is Leaving The Past Behind Her
The 31-year-old was in her mid-twenties when the events portrayed in Inventing Anna took place, and she describes those years as just a slice of her life, saying she’s ready to move on. “I personally moved on a very long time ago, and I’m absolutely not in the same place, but I’m also being affected by the way the world sees me and by what people think of me. I exist in relation to everybody else and to the world, I don’t just exist on my own.”
When Anna spoke to The New York Times, she said that she feels that she’s not the Anna she used to be.
‘I feel like I changed immensely just due to the fact that I’ve been exposed to so many people and just seeing other people’s walks of life. Even though I thought I was so well-traveled, and I lived in Europe, lived in the States, and lived in different countries, I was so sheltered. Having been to prison and having been through the criminal justice system, it just exposed me to a whole different kind of a person, and my problems before just seem ridiculous.’
Anna’s Opinion On Julia Garner’s ‘European’ Accent
According to investigative reporter, Emily Palmer, Anna seemed to enjoy the show, laughing through much of it, and she gave a pretty diplomatic review of actress Julia Garner’s portrayal of her. To create Anna’s unique accent in the series, Garner only met with the real Anna once.
Garner incorporated what little is known of Anna’s European history and tried to give the character a sense of the cosmopolitan identity she was trying to create while grifting her way through New York’s high-flying elite. The resulting accent is a little muddled and hard to place. Delvey reflects that since it’s difficult to tell where Garner’s Anna is from, “she got it right in a way”.
Anna Sorokin Is Sorry About Anna Delvey
Around the time of Anna’s trial, she raised eyebrows by telling the New York Times: “The thing is, I’m not sorry.” She was even questioned about the quote in her parole board hearing. “I told the parole board that I felt like I was taken out of context. And I said you showed up as a surprise, and my feelings from that trial were really fresh. I did feel quite defiant. It was just really a couple of days after my guilty verdict. I was still processing.”
After four years in detention through five correctional facilities, and some self-reflection, Anna’s perspective has changed.
‘I feel sorry for the way my case is being perceived. And I feel sorry that I resorted to these actions that people think I’m glorifying now. I feel sorry for the choices I’ve made. Definitely, I don’t feel like the world would be a better place if people were just trying to be more like me. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have changed lots of things, but this is just not how life works. So I am just building on my experiences and learning from them.’
Despite Her Former Luxury Lifestyle, Anna Doesn’t Think Crime Pays
Netflix reportedly paid $320,000 for the life rights to the series, and Anna was consulted on the project. Some have said that she is benefiting from her crimes, something she doesn’t wholly deny, “Yes, and that’s why, to reference that BBC interview where I was asked “Does crime pay?” I could not honestly say “no.”
Anna said that in her situation with Netflix, she benefited because she was paid for her story and wanted to be transparent. “For me to say “no” would just be denying the obvious. I didn’t say that crime pays in general.” The fee didn’t go far, though. “I paid $198,000-something for restitution, which I have paid off in its entirety and right away, and the rest of it to my legal fees.”
There Could Be More Drama From Anna On The Way
The Netflix Original series that hit screens in February only tells the story of Anna Delvey’s life of crime in New York, it doesn’t address the life of Anna Sorokin. The woman who had fooled a string of A-list New York socialites before she turned thirty, has more material she thinks is worth sharing.
‘There is definitely a lot more to my story that I’d like to share. With that in mind, I’m working on multiple projects. I’m working on a documentary project. I’m also working on a book about my time in jail and working on a podcast as well. I’m not trying to encourage people to commit crimes. I’m just trying to shed light on how I made the best out of my situation, without trying to glorify it. This is what I’m creating out of that story.’
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