Born and raised in Highland Park, Illinois, Stephen Glass grew up in a Jewish home that housed loving parents, who were insistent on a career in medicine or law, and a single brother, Nathan. After a typical childhood of mahjong and Hebrew school, Glass attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1994 and was an executive editor of the student newspaper. Becoming a household name in 1998, Glass gained fame for being caught fabricating details for pieces of work at the magazine The New Republic. After being accused of deception, Glass fell even deeper down the rabbit hole, going so far as setting up fake voicemails for the fictional people Glass had quoted. The extent of past dishonesties became too much, and Glass finally admitted the wrongdoings to his boss, Charles Lane. This moment of honesty came after an emotional meltdown on the way back from a search for the truth captained by Lane. Glass was fired from the magazine and spent the next few years working oddball jobs, such as a stint at a movie rental store.
In 2002, Glass applied to the New York Bar to become a lawyer, but a troubled past such as Glass’s does not simply go away. Shortly after submission, Glass withdrew his application as it became obvious the application would be denied on moral grounds. Another attempt came in 2006, this time to the California State Bar and proved to be more successful than the other. The case continued to climb up the ladder of the California judicial system, reaching its peak at the California Supreme Court who ruled against Glass. California State Bar Court Judge Catherine Purcell said on the subject, “If Glass were to fabricate evidence in legal matters as readily and effectively as he falsified material for magazine articles, the harm to the public and the profession would be immeasurable.”
In November 2014, Glass was living in Venice Beach with his longtime girlfriend Julie Hilden and working as director of special projects at a law firm in Beverly Hills that specializes in personal injury. Glass has transformed an obsession with gratification into one with restitution and truth and has spent the latter part of his life mailing checks to the magazines whose reputations were damaged by Glass’s infatuation with success.