Alanis Morisette claims new documentary ‘Jagged’ “includes implications and facts that are simply not true”

Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette has criticised the newly premiered documentary based on her life, saying it contains “implications and facts that are simply not true”.

Alison Klayman’s documentary Jagged premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. It includes an interview with the singer-songwriter and focuses on her career trajectory, which began at a young age.

In a new statement provided to Pitchfork, Morissette accused the team behind the documentary of having a “salacious agenda” and reiterated she would not be attending the premiere.

“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,” she said.

“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 unauthorised 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.”

Prior to Morissette’s new statement, director Alison Klayman said she hoped the singer would eventually come to embrace the documentary.

“It was a privilege to make this film and I’m really proud of it,” she said. “Hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future for her to come to film events.”

It was previously reported that Morissette claims in the documentary that she was raped by five different men when she was 15 years old. Though she didn’t reveal details of the alleged rapists, Morissette said she had previously told “a few people” about her claims but that “it kind of fell on deaf ears”.

“It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimisation on my part,” she reportedly said in the film.

“I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15’. Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all paedophiles. It’s all statutory rape’.”

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