Sarah's abusiveness becomes even more harsh since Asia Argento was accused of allegedly sexually assaulting Jimmy Bennet, who played the younger Jeremiah, when Bennet was 17.
Asia Argento is also said to have had an affair with J.T. LeRoy himself - or rather, LeRoy's public face, Savannah Knoop. Reading Knoop's autobiography about the deception shows a fair amount of uncomfortable details regarding their relationship, including Argento's behaviour on set and the difficulties in getting it written (as Argento often clashed with the true writer of the book, Laura Albert).
The film has been hit with this in light of Jimmy Bennet's claims in 2018 that Asia Argento sexually assaulted him when he was seventeen with allegations that their close relationship prior was her grooming him for such a purpose.
Even before this, the film premiered shortly after the public revelation that J.T. LeRoy didn't actually exist; he was a pseudonym/avatar of the true writer, Laura Albert, and all of LeRoy's public appearances were performed by Albert's sibling-in-law, Savannah Knoop. The duo had been maintaining this facade for years, and a lot of celebrities and news media were outraged about the whole affair. Nowadays, mentioning "J.T. LeRoy" is usually done to explain the story behind this deception, rather than discussing the books or the film itself.
The Woobie: Jeremiah's mother is a drug-addicted child neglecter and Mood-Swinger who frequently goes from loving him to hating him at the blink of an eye, not to mention the fact that she often exposes him to drugs as well, and most of her boyfriends either rape him, beat him, or do something in-between. It's hard to not feel sorry for the kid at some point.
