Not My Type

The narrative opens during a videotaped deposition for a lawsuit against Donald Trump. Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, Esq., asks the plaintiff, E. Jean Carroll, to list everyone she has slept with. Carroll names eight men, including her two ex-husbands, but not Trump, the man she is suing for rape. She reflects on the deposition, which takes place shortly after she has Mohs surgery for skin cancer, leaving a prominent scar above her eye that she tells her doctor she wants to wear like a pirate for the upcoming trial.

The trial preparation involves competing psychological evaluations. Carroll's expert, Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, concludes that Carroll suffers significant and enduring damage from the assault, primarily manifesting as an inability to form romantic or sexual relationships. Trump's expert, Dr. Edgar P. Nace, suggests Carroll's issues stem from her divorce and that her claims could be malingering. Dr. Nace falls ill before trial and never testifies. Carroll's legal team, led by attorney Robbie Kaplan, conducts a mock trial which reveals a major challenge: two of three mock juries believe the encounter was consensual because they find Carroll too old and unattractive to attack. In response, the legal team reframes the case as a personal story about one woman and one man, and Carroll alters her appearance, cutting her hair into the bob she wore in 1996, the year of the assault.

The first trial begins on April 25, 2023. A jury of six men and three women is selected. Shawn G. Crowley, one of Carroll's lawyers, delivers the opening argument, detailing the alleged 1996 assault in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, counters that Carroll's claim is a false story fabricated for money, politics, and status. Carroll turns in her seat to watch Tacopina directly as he speaks.

The plaintiff's first witness is Cheryl Beall, the store manager of Bergdorf Goodman in 1996, who testifies that the sixth-floor lingerie department was often quiet and unattended on Thursday nights. Carroll then takes the stand. Led by her attorney Mike Ferrara, she recounts her background, her career as a writer and advice columnist, and a brief, friendly meeting with Donald and Ivana Trump in 1987.

Carroll testifies that in the spring of 1996, she had a chance encounter with Trump at Bergdorf Goodman. He asked for her help buying a gift for a woman, and their interaction was lighthearted and flirtatious. They went to the lingerie department, where he suggested she try on a see-through bodysuit. Joking, she told him to try it on over his suit. They entered a dressing room, where, Carroll testifies, Trump immediately slammed her against the wall, pulled down her tights, and sexually assaulted her, first with his fingers and then his penis. She describes fighting him off by raising her knee and pushing him away before fleeing the store. She states the assault left her unable to have a romantic life again.

On the stand, she breaks down when asked if she regrets coming forward, having described the death threats and reputational harm she has suffered. After her first day of testimony, Carroll returns to her hotel and eats the entire contents of the minibar. Tacopina begins his aggressive cross-examination, repeatedly questioning why she did not scream. Carroll retorts, You can't beat up on me for not screaming, explaining that this question is often used to silence victims.

Several witnesses corroborate Carroll's account. Her friend Lisa Birnbach testifies that Carroll called her minutes after the assault in 1996, sounding breathless. Birnbach told her, He raped you, and urged her to go to the police, but Carroll refused. Another friend, Carol Martin, testifies that Carroll confided in her a day or two later, and Martin admits she advised Carroll not to report it, fearing Trump's lawyers would bury her. Two other women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, testify that Trump also sexually assaulted them in separate incidents. Dr. Lebowitz testifies about the psychological damage Carroll suffered. Excerpts from Trump's videotaped deposition are shown, in which he mistakes a photo of Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples and defends his infamous Access Hollywood tape comments. After testimony from Carroll's sister and her former Elle editor, Robbie Myers, the plaintiff rests.

The defense rests without calling any witnesses. Trump waives his right to testify. After closing arguments on May 8, the jury deliberates for less than three hours on May 9, 2023. They find Trump is not liable for rape but is liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. After the verdict, Carroll confronts Tacopina, telling him, He did it. And you know it.

The day after the verdict, Trump appears at a CNN Town Hall and repeats the same defamatory statements, calling Carroll a whack job. In response, Carroll's legal team amends her original 2019 defamation lawsuit (known as Carroll I, which had been delayed in the courts) to include these new statements. The second trial, focused on determining the damages for Trump's 2019 defamatory statements and others made subsequently, begins in January 2024 with Trump present. During trial prep, Carroll has a meltdown, finding herself physically unable to speak when reviewing the hundreds of violent death threats she has received. Dr. Lebowitz advises her to testify about the physiological effects of the threats. Carroll testifies with Trump sitting just feet away, detailing the avalanche of offal she has endured. Trump takes the stand briefly, affirming his deposition testimony. During Robbie Kaplan's closing argument, in which she argues Trump only cares about money, Trump walks out of the courtroom. On January 26, 2024, the jury orders Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages.

In the epilogue, Carroll announces her plan to use the money, which totals over $100 million with interest, to fund causes that Trump opposes. She notes that Trump continues to appeal the verdicts and that Judge Kaplan later issued a written opinion clarifying that what the jury found Trump did constitutes rape in the common understanding of the word. The memoir concludes with the news that her lawyers, Shawn Crowley and Mike Ferrara, have married and had a child.