Anna Delvey, the notorious (and unapologetic) scammer who posed as an heiress to charm her way into New York City’s social elite, is still serving a prison sentence for swindling banks into lending her money with her fake fortune. While she’s not taking visitors, it seems she has been putting her time behind bars to good use, recently announcing a new blog.
Titled “Life is Hard: Enduring COVID-19 in an Upstate NY Prison”, the first instalment of the prison diary was teased via Instagram – where Delvey has provided sporadic updates since being jailed – and posted to a dedicated website earlier today (November 25).
As is to be expected from someone that celebrated their early parole with a Legally Blonde clip, the writing provides a pretty wry look at prison life. “Being in prison mostly feels like extended quarantining,” the entry begins, “only with a bunch of murderers, and we still can get our hair done.”
A lot of the time, in fact, it’s difficult to distinguish where the irony ends and the more serious comments begin (but then, she did make her name for herself by leading a double life). Of COVID-19 – which has had a disproportionate impact on inmates in many prisons – she writes: “one day, corona was just another thing for the free world to handle, and the next day my yoga teacher is gone for good.”
Elsewhere, she relates getting her hands on an Hermès blanket “after twenty-two failed attempts”, and riffs on prison food: “when I'm being casually told that granola bars are being replaced with powdered donuts, it's extra hard to maintain hope and stay positive.”
Back in late September, we also got a first glimpse at the upcoming TV series based on Delvey’s now-notorious schemes, which will star Ozark’s Julia Garner. “The only thing that I didn’t expect is that Anna is really funny,” Garner recently said, after meeting her to prepare for the role. “She’s actually hysterical. And she’s super soft-spoken and gentle.”
Initially given a four to 12-year term, Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin) is now due to walk free as early as February 2021. In the meantime, she promises that part two of her prison diary is “coming soon”. Read the first part in full here.