Plot twist.
More than two years after Susan Meachen’s purported death, the mysterious romance author returned to social media to confirm it was all a hoax. According to NBC News, Meachen’s death was announced via Facebook in September 2020, when someone claiming to be her daughter claimed she had died by suicide.
The person who shared the since-deleted post said Meachen’s death was a result of constant bullying and harassment from the romance novel community. Weeks before her death was announced, the author reportedly spoke about her struggles in a lengthy Facebook post, where she revealed her alleged suicide attempt.
Since then, Meachen’s Facebook page has been used to promote her books as well as to raise funds for suicide-prevention groups. NBC News reports fellow romance writers also raised money to help cover Meachen’s funeral expenses.
“I saw the auction that was going on to help raise funds for her funeral,” romance writer T.E. Ridener told the outlet. “Authors are usually asked to donate gift cards, E-books, or swag (bookmarks, postcards, magnets, etc.) to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”
Fast-forward to this week, when someone claiming to be Meachen shared a message on The Ward—her private Facebook group with 770 members.
“I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not,” read the post, which was shared by Twitter user @Draggerofliars. “There’s going to be tons of questions and a lot of people leaving the group, I’d guess. But my family did what they thought was best for me, and I can’t fault them for it. I almost died again at my own hand, and they had to go through all that hell again. Returning to The Ward doesn’t mean much, but I am in a good place now, and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin.”
The post was met with swift backlash from both fans and writers, including romance author Samantha A. Cole.
“There was an outpouring of outrage, support for those who were hurting, support for her family, people did free editing on her last book, so her family could release it for her, in memory of her,” Cole said. “There were people who were ripped apart because people started pointing fingers at everyone, blaming people, and I was one of the people being blamed for allegedly bullying her when I had done nothing of the sort.”
She continued: “I need to unplug for the next couple of days and wrap my head around all this and get back to work.”
If you or anyone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
