In the modern world, ghostwriters work with many celebrities and influencers, such as Lele Pons and even our president, Donald Trump. Ghostwriters are often used to write speeches, books, or other texts that are then credited to the person that hired them. Large companies are known for using this method. One would most likely hire a ghostwriter if they weren’t the best at creating high-quality works of literature.

Not only do ghostwriters write for their clients, but they also tend to tag along with them, learning many things about them along the way. In 1987,  Donald Trump’s ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz. followed Trump for around 18 months while he was completing daily tasks and managing his business to gather information to write “The Art of the Deal,” which became a bestseller.  Though he did describe Trump’s lifestyle, he twisted many facts, such as how much money Trump was making. Though Schwartz knew that this practice was wrong, he never really thought about it much until Trump began to take credit for his work during his presidential campaign. Finally, in June of 2016, Schwartz spoke out against it to the New Yorker, saying that he had “put lipstick on a pig”. He apologized for distorting the real image of Trump. 

 Schwartz’s case is far from being the only one of its kind: Natalie Beach, who wrote Instagram celebrity Caroline Calloway’s Instagram story, is now starting to speak about her experience. Beach, a close friend of Calloway, was in charge of creating her Instagram persona. While telling her story, though, she accidentally revealed some sensitive information to the public. While talking about a manuscript that she wanted to write with Calloway but never got to, as Beach stated that “Caroline hated it so much that she threatened suicide if I wrote anymore.” This led to some amounts of backlash, and according to NBCnews.com, Calloway thinks that it wasn’t right to reveal to the world about her mental health struggles “in the punch line of a joke, and mischaracterized it as, like, hating her writing.”

Though interviews suggest that there is a fine line between what the public should and should not be allowed to know,  the opinions seem to vary. 

For Freshman Kimberly Uhtai of Marlboro, revealing things about the client doesn’t seem morally right, but it depends on how severe the situation is.

 “Morally, I feel like twisting the truth or revealing things that the client doesn’t want revealed isn’t right, but there is a pretty gray area,” Uhtai said. 

On the other hand, for Freshman Maile Gaines of Shrewsbury, Ghostwriters should be able to comment about their clients no matter the circumstance.

 “Ghostwriters should be completely transparent. They shouldn’t withhold any information,” Gaines said.