The author of bestselling non-fiction book The Salt Path woke up to shocking claims in an exposé published over the weekend.
Raynor Winn’s story about her journey across England with her husband, Moth, after the two lost their home to a “bad investment” has long-been considered a sharp, poignant tale of perseverance and the kindness of strangers, selling over two million copies since March 2018.
The book, based entirely on a true story according to its writer, detailed the pair’s penniless trek camping along the British coast. The feat was deemed so inspiring that an adaptation of The Salt Path, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, released in U.K. theaters earlier this year and depicted Moth’s diagnosis of a debilitating and terminal neurological illness that Winn said was improved by the expedition.
Isaacs told The Hollywood Reporter about the movie when it debuted on the festival circuit last year: “When you see a story about people who survive almost all of the worst things you could possibly imagine, and they survive spiritually as well, they survive physically, it’s a reminder — maybe more palatable than actually having any of this awful stuff happen to you yourself — of the things that are important to life.”
But on Saturday, an investigation by U.K. outlet The Observer spotlighted some damaging claims from those who knew the couple, whose real names are allegedly Sally and Tim Walker.
Raynor Winn had told the world that she and Moth had their home repossessed after investing in a friend’s business. But an ex co-worker of Winn’s told The Observer that, in actuality, she was guilty of defrauding their former employer of £64,000 ($87,000), and was loaned £100,000 ($136,000) from a relative to avoid a criminal charge.
The couple also had a £230,000 mortgage on their farmhouse in Wales, and the loss of their home was due to this same relative suing them to get the money back.
Much of the outcry has been sparked by The Observer talking to medical experts who said Moth’s corticobasal degeneration (CBD) diagnosis is unlikely given his survival 12 years after first experiencing symptoms. Fury from those who had taken hope from the Winn’s claims that the walk along the 630-mile South West Coast Path in West England had miraculously negated the effects of the disease erupted on social media.
“I nursed my Mum through the horrors of corticobasal disease,” one reader wrote on X. “I knew from the outset the story in #TheSaltPath couldn’t be true. But it will have given people false hope, all in pursuit of money.”
The scandal has prompted so much outrage that many have been waiting for Anderson, Isaacs and those involved with the making of the film, to comment. THR has reached out to reps for the actors as well as Penguin and Number 9 Films. A BBC Film spokesperson declined to comment.
In a statement released on Sunday, Winn said: “Today’s Observer article is highly misleading… We are taking legal advice and won’t be making any further comment at this time.”
She continued: “The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives. This is the true story of our journey.”
