Liz Crokin brings book tour to Acadia
Author and former Hollywood journalist Liz Crokin had a great message to bring to students at Acadia University on March 30. Her new book, which is loosely based on Crokin’s own life experience, is a political, romantic thriller called Malice. But it’s a full on warning about sexually transmitted diseases.
Crokin had a career as an entertainment journalist, where she hung out with some Hollywood’s biggest celebrities. She drank shots with George Clooney until the sun came up and described being sent to the Galapagos Islands in case Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married during their visit to Ecuador.
“It was a ton of work, but it was fun. A really great career,” she said.
Crokin got into trouble by thinking that a charming, good-looking older guy was as perfect as he appeared.
“I fell head over heels,” she recalled. “It was like a fairy tale and love really can blind you. I ignored all the red flags.”
It was the used condom in her boyfriend’s bathroom that first alerted her. Shortly afterward, Crokin got sick and began her battle with the effects of herpes meningitis and depression.
In 2012, Crokin was making a six-figure salary after 10 years in the trenches. She thought she’d found the man she was going to marry.
The doctors were baffled about how she contracted such a potentially fatal disease, which swelled her brain, leaving damage that made Crokin unable to work or care for herself.
Today, after much time spent in healing, she is pursuing civil and criminal action in the state of California. She certainly wants the $100,000 in medical bills back from the man with no remorse.
Her goal is to educate and help others who have struggled with disease or fallen victim to sexual assault or a psychopathic lover. Crokin spoke about the horrible stigma of contracting a sexually transmitted disease during her stop in Wolfville.
Today, Crokin is stronger by far. She says writing her novel was therapeutic, and so was building her health and spirituality.
She now has a boyfriend from Wolfville who accompanies her on book tours. David Hennessey is a former paramedic and firefighter.
“Be really careful who you sleep with,” Crokin said. “Ask if (prospective sexual partners) are contagious. An outbreak might not be visible. You’ll thank me.”
While she acknowledges that life continues to be a struggle, her days are brighter. Life experience has taught her, Crokin says, “that things happen. You can get cancer or be in a car accident…”