A Woman’s Wife Modeled Fake Terminal Bone Cancer After This Young Adult Novel
Published Jan. 11 2023, 10:30 p.m. ET
Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley in 'The Fault in Our Stars'
“You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories, and we made the funny choice,” Hazel Grace said in John Green’s hit novel The Fault in Our Stars.
Fans of the existential work of young adult fiction couldn’t get enough of the novel-turned-film’s painful yet playful plot. However, some took their infatuation a little further than others.
A woman’s wife modeled the story of her terminal bone cancer after ‘The Fault in Our Stars.’
On Jan. 10, John Green posted an 11th-anniversary TikTok about his ultra-popular (albeit heartbreaking) story, and a stitched video from user Yaya Kampen (@yayakampen on TikTok) was the last thing anyone expected.
“Your book completely changed my life… twice,” she said in response to Green.
Green published his award-winning novel in 2012. However, Kampen didn’t know about the book’s gut-wrenching storyline until it became a film in 2014.
For those needing a refresher, The Fault in Our Stars follows two star-crossed teenage lovers, Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters — played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in the onscreen adaptation — who meet in a cancer support group. Hazel’s thyroid cancer is kept at bay by a so-called “miracle drug,” and Augustus is cancer-free… until he isn’t.
When Kampen first watched The Fault in Our Stars, her wife was dying of terminal bone cancer. The two hadn’t known each other for long before getting married because her partner only had a few months to live. However, Kampen began to notice some eerie similarities as she watched the film.
“As I’m watching the movie, I’m realizing, almost identical to the story plot, is my wife’s life,” she said.
Kampen realized her wife stole the entire plot of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ after watching the film and reading the novel.
After watching the film, Kampen decided to read Green’s novel and was shocked by what she found. The daily phrases her wife would use were taken directly from the book. In her comment section, Kampen said that one of the story’s most devastating lines got to her in real life:
“I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace. The lining of my chest, my left hip, my liver, everywhere,” Augustus says when he reveals his cancer has returned.
“It was your story that inspired her to fake terminal bone cancer,” Kampen told Green in her TikTok. “But it was also your movie, from that story, that gave me the first alarm bells to prove that she was lying to me about having terminal bone cancer.”
Kampen and her wife have since divorced.
After proving her wife was lying about having terminal bone cancer, Kampen (not surprisingly) ended her marriage. Luckily, her new partner made up for it. “I hit the jackpot the second time,” she wrote in her comment section.
As for her ex-wife?
“Don’t worry, she’s still alive and well today!” Kampen revealed.