Alanis Morissette Slams HBO Documentary About Her Life As “Salacious”, “Reductive”: “This Was Not The Story I Agreed To Tell”

Alanis Morisette wants nothing to do with a new HBO documentary about her rise to fame in her early 20s, culminating with the release of her blockbuster 1995 album Jagged Little Pill.

Alison Klayman’s documentary, Jagged, made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday (Sep 14) and is slated to debut on HBO on Nov 19. (No word on when it will be available on HBO Asia/HBO Go.)

In a statement to Variety, the 47-year-old Grammy winner wrote, “I agreed to participate in a piece about the celebration of Jagged Little Pill’s 25th anniversary, and was interviewed during a very vulnerable time (while in the midst of my third postpartum depression during lockdown),

“I was lulled into a false sense of security and their salacious agenda became apparent immediately upon my seeing the first cut of the film. This is when I knew our visions were in fact painfully diverged. This was not the story I agreed to tell. I sit here now experiencing the full impact of having trusted someone who did not warrant being trusted.

“I have chosen not to attend any event around this movie for two reasons: one is that I am on tour right now. The other is that, not unlike many ‘stories’ and unauthorized biographies out there over the years, this one includes implications and facts that are simply not true.

“While there is beauty and some elements of accuracy in this/my story to be sure — I ultimately won’t be supporting someone else’s reductive take on a story much too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell.”

Morissette’s response came a few days after the Washington Post reported that the film included the singer making allegations of statutory rape against unnamed men, and that she has refused to promote the film.

And when asked by Deadline Tuesday about the controversy, Klayman said, “Of course, it would have been great if she could be here with us, but I’m so grateful for all the time that she did put into making this film.

“It’s a really hard thing, I think, to see a movie made about yourself. I think she’s incredibly brave and the reaction when she saw it was that it was a really–she could feel all the work, all the nuance that went into it. And again, she gave so much of her time and so much of her effort into making this and I think that the movie really speaks for itself.”

Morissette is on her ‘Jagged Little Pill’ 25th anniversary tour with Garbage and Liz Phair, which continues in North America through Oct 6 and launches in Europe on Oct 28.— BANG SHOWIZ

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos