You remember the tracksuits. The fake German accent. The absolute chaos of 2022 when everyone was glued to their screens watching a fake heiress run wild in Manhattan. But when you look back at Katie Lowes Inventing Anna performance, the conversation usually shifts from the "glamour" of the scam to something much more uncomfortable.
Katie Lowes didn't just play a character; she stepped into a legal and ethical landmine.
She played Rachel DeLoache Williams. In the show, Rachel is the girl you love to hate—the one who follows Anna Sorokin around like a lost puppy until the bill for a $62,000 Moroccan vacation lands squarely on her credit card. Most viewers saw Lowes as a "people pleaser" who maybe deserved a reality check. The real-life Rachel? She saw it as a character assassination.
The Reality of Katie Lowes Inventing Anna Role
Honestly, it’s wild how much of a departure this was for Lowes. If you’re a fan of Scandal, you know her as Quinn Perkins—the badass, high-stakes gladiator. Transitioning into the role of a vulnerable, somewhat naive Vanity Fair photo editor was a massive pivot.
Lowes has been pretty open about her process. She didn't actually meet the real Rachel Williams before filming. Instead, she leaned into the script written by Shonda Rhimes. She did her own deep dive into Instagram and Google, basically "cyber-stalking" the real woman to get the vibe right, but she purposely stayed away from meeting her.
Why? Because the show wasn't a documentary. It was "inspired" by real events, and Lowes felt it was more important to play the version of Rachel that existed in the Inventing Anna universe rather than doing a carbon-copy impersonation.
The result was a performance that felt visceral. When you see Lowes’ face crumble in that Moroccan hotel room as the credit cards keep getting declined, you feel the panic. It’s that specific brand of "Shondaland" drama—high stakes, heavy breathing, and a lot of crying.
Why the Portrayal Sparked a Real-Life Lawsuit
This is where things get messy. Usually, when an actor plays a real person, there’s some level of collaboration or at least a polite distance. Not here.
In August 2022, the real Rachel Williams filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix. Her argument was pretty straightforward: she claimed the show made her look like a "greedy, snobbish, disloyal" person. She pointed out that while other characters got fictionalized names (like Anna Chlumsky’s character, Vivian Kent, who was based on journalist Jessica Pressler), the show used Rachel’s real name, real alma mater, and real employer.
Lowes found herself in the middle of a cultural debate about "victim blaming."
Critics of the show’s portrayal argued that the narrative punished Rachel for being scammed while glorifying Anna for being a criminal. Lowes, for her part, defended her character as someone who was simply "young and naive." She viewed Rachel as a regular person who trusted the wrong person.
The lawsuit basically highlighted a massive gap between the "TV Rachel" and the real one. In the show, Lowes plays her as someone who leans into the perks of Anna's lifestyle. In real life, Williams argued she was often the one paying for drinks or splitting bills—details that didn't make it into the flashy Netflix edit.
The Age Gap and the "Annoying" Factor
One of the funniest—or most frustrating, depending on who you ask—bits of trivia about the casting is the age difference. When the real-life events were happening, Rachel Williams was in her 20s.
When Katie Lowes was filming Inventing Anna, she was in her late 30s.
Some viewers felt this changed the energy of the character. A 24-year-old being "tricked" by a charismatic friend feels like a tragic coming-of-age mistake. A woman nearly 40 acting that "clueless" (in the eyes of some internet commenters) made the character feel more like a "social climber." It's a subtle distinction, but it changed how the audience engaged with Lowes' performance.
What This Means for You
If you're watching the show now, or re-watching it, keep these things in mind:
- Look for the "Shonda-isms": Lowes is a Shondaland veteran. Notice how she uses silence and frantic energy to build tension. It's a specific style of acting that fits the "heightened reality" of the show.
- Question the Perspective: The show starts with a disclaimer: "This story is completely true. Except for the parts that are totally made up." The Rachel character is one of those "made up" gray areas.
- The Power of the Edit: Think about how the music and the fast cuts make Rachel look more opportunistic than she might have been. Lowes plays the script she was given, but the editing booth does a lot of the heavy lifting in making her the "villain" of the friendship.
Basically, Katie Lowes did exactly what she was hired to do: she created a character that made us feel something. Even if that "something" was intense annoyance or a desire to yell at the TV screen, that's the mark of a good performance.
If you want to understand the full scope of the drama, your best bet is to read Rachel Williams' book, My Friend Anna, and compare it to the Netflix episodes. You'll see exactly where the "inventing" started and where the reality ended.
