Elizabeth Holmes slammed for declaring 'I am fighting to prove my innocence'

Elizabeth Holmes either feels emboldened by or worried about some recent major developments in her life and public image because she got on X on Sunday to lament that she has been “silenced” as she remains behind bars in federal prison.

But the convicted Theranos fraudster said she won’t stop “fighting to prove my innocence and come home to my babies and the love of my life.”

Holmes also clarified that this X post is in her own words — as opposed to the words of her partner Billy Evans or other loved ones who she says have been posting on her behalf as they help her in her “fight for freedom.” As an inmate in the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, Holmes is not allowed access to social media, but she apparently wrote or dictated this message and a loved one went ahead and posted it.

This statement comes as Holmes has been in the news quite a bit lately, related to her 11-year prison sentence and to her becoming the star of one of the most talked-about films of the fall movie season.

The documentary, “You Can See Everything,” directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, is set to open in theaters Oct. 16 and give audiences an up-close and intimate view of her life with Evans and their two small children in the month before she reported to prison in May 2023. A federal jury in San Jose convicted the disgraced Stanford dropout of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy for bilking investors in her defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But even as Holmes says in the movie and on X that she’s been completely honest and “real” with people — and she is fighting to “expose the truth and challenge deeply entrenched perceptions” — people responding to her post voiced strong doubts about her veracity or that she deserves sympathy.

“You are not a victim,” one person said in response to Holmes post. “You lied and lied and lied and lied and lied and lied 1000x to the detriment of so many. And you have accepted ZERO responsibility. Your inability to admit any wrong is why you won’t ever get the support you want.”

“Girl — you ain’t a victim and ain’t no one feeling sorry for you,” another person said.

Some people expressed sympathy for the 1,216 days that she says she has been separated from Evans and her 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. But most of the more than 240 replies blasted her for pushing technology that she knew “wouldn’t work” and for failing to take responsibility. One person said, “Love the enthusiasm, hope and perseverance tho.”

“I think the ‘prove my innocence’ stage of your life has already come and gone,” yet another person said. “You were found guilty and got off with a light sentence.”

Regarding Holmes’ sentence, it appears that the former Silicon Valley wunderkind is getting something of a break, according to the Daily Beast. News came last week that Holmes will be be able to leave federal prison next summer and move into a Texas halfway house, just four years into her 11-year sentence.

It’s not known if the move to the less-restrictive halfway house came in response to Holmes formally asking President Donald Trump last December to commute her sentence.

But on Friday she, or one of her loved ones, went on X to post a cryptic message that appeared to praise Trump, the Daily Beast reported. She retweeted one of Trump’s “regular victory-lap videos touting his administration’s accomplishments.” Her post had a brief caption that said: “We are winning.”

Meanwhile, Holmes has apparently pinned her hopes on challenging “deeply entrenched perceptions” via the new documentary.

The nearly three-hour film, which premiered to raves during a secret screening at the Telluride Film Festival, follows Fielder as he moves in with Holmes, Evans and their two young children, 34 days before she reports to a federal prison.

Several weeks ago, Holmes promoted a teaser for the film, which reveals that Holmes was looking to clear her name by inviting Fielder and the camera crew into a San Diego-area beach house that she and Evans had rented. The couple reportedly offered the camera crew full transparency.

From early reviews, it sounds like the film could upend the way the public sees her — though not necessarily in the way Holmes might have intended.

The film is supposed to feature long, intense conversations between Holmes and Fielder, often shown in extreme close-up, according to early reviews and trailers for the film.

At one point, Fielder, a comedian known for a brand of cringe comedy that blurs the line between fiction and reality, pointedly asks Holmes: “You really feel you did nothing wrong?”

“I did not,” Holmes answers.

“So, where did things get lost? Like, how are you where you are right now?” Fielder asks.

“I wish I knew, you know? I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t feel like I understand that,” Holmes replies.

As Variety’s critic Owen Gleiberman wrote, Fielder appears less interested in re-litigating Holmes’ guilt than in trying to understand her. In one of those tight close-ups, Holmes tells Fielder, “I don’t have anything to deceive you on. I’m engaging with you as a human being.”

“You’re being real right now?” Fielder asks, sounding less than convinced.

“I’m always being real,” Holmes says.

During the film, Fielder and Oppenheim let the camera frequently capture his incredulous and hilarious facial expressions as he grills Holmes and Evans with challenging questions. At one point, viewers also see Evans shower for reasons not yet disclosed. Gleiberman also described Evans, an heir to a luxury hotel chain, as an “aggro control freak” with “a dark side.”

The film has received a surprise R-rating for “some graphic nudity,” though it’s not known if it’s because of Evans’ shower scene or for some other reason.

In the film, Holmes continues to maintain her innocence and denies that Theranos was anything but a legitimate enterprise. Gleiberman said she comes across as believing her version of reality, with “a wall of denial” and “an indifference to the harm she might have caused, that borders on the sociopathic.”