A Reporter Quit Her Job And Divorced Her Husband After Falling In Love With ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Remember Martin Shkreli? The “pharma bro” who jacked up the price of a drug by 5,000 percent overnight? Who paid $2 million for a Wu-Tang record and then made them hate him by taunting them online? Who is currently serving a seven year jail sentence for securities fraud? His strange and inexplicable life has taken a new twist. Elle sat down with former Bloomberg journalist Christie Smythe, who had her own surreal story: She quit her job and divorced her husband so she could be “life partners” with the most hated thirtysomething who’s not part of the Trump administration.

It all began, Christie told Elle, when she began the first journalist to seriously report on Shkreli’s dodgy deeds. She was the one who broke the story of his arrest on fraud charges in December of 2015. Rather than butt heads, the two became closer. A little too close. She soon found herself feeling sorry for him, even making taking his defense. She claimed he “trolls because he’s anxious,” and because he “really, really wants to be somebody.” Even though she admitted to some that was “manipulative” to reporters, she couldn’t help but admit he’d “drawn her in.” After he was transferred to a prison in Pennsylvania, the New York-based reporter got a license so she could see him, even though she “used to get panic attacks when driving.”

The Shkreli business slowly got to Smythe’s husband, and the two eventually divorced. It got to her Bloomberg bosses, too, and she quit that as well. Her defenses “totally eroded,” she decided to go for it:

In the visitors’ room, “I told Martin I loved him,” Smythe says. “And he told me he loved me, too.” She asked if she could kiss him, and he said yes. The room smelled of chicken wings, she remembers.

At the time she had no regrets:

“It’s hard to think of a time when I felt happier,” Smythe says. “At first he’s like, ‘Can I call you my girlfriend?’ ” she says, and “this led very naturally into thinking about a future together.” Soon they were discussing their kids’ names and prenups. After Smythe worried about being too old to have children when Shkreli got out of prison, he suggested she freeze her eggs. She did so last spring.

There’s just one catch: When Shkreli found out she had been telling all of this to Elle, he abruptly severed all ties. When reached for comment, he gave the publication an ice cold response: “Mr. Shkreli wishes Ms. Smythe the best of luck in her future endeavors.” Smythe, meanwhile, sold the movie rights to a book she wrote about Shkreli, which itself has not, incidentally, been picked up by a publisher. She now works for a journalism start-up.

When the news broke, some — including fellow reporters — did not take Smythe’s side.

One person dug up an old Smythe tweet in which she either betrayed or joked about ulterior motives.

Some felt bad for Smythe’s ex-husband.

Others were not happy that they suddenly had to remember the name Martin Shkreli.

You can read the full Elle piece right here.