The Tate-LaBianca Homicide Research Blog

Debra Tate Issues Official Statement
Regarding Alisa Statman's Book:
"Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom,
the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice"
It Books/HarperCollins Published February 21, 2012

As Sharon Tate’s only surviving sister and closest living relative, honor and our family name compels me to make a statement about the new book Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family’s Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice by Alisa Statman with Brie Tate, published in February 2012 by IT Books for HarperCollins Publishers.

This book publishes accounts of our family story attributed to my mom, my dad, and to my sister Patti, all deceased. Comparison of the original manuscripts and papers by my mom, dad, and Patti in my possession with the published text in this book is currently underway. Ms. Statman says, on page xiv, that she was “left to fill in the gaps” with her “own personal interpretation.” If facts in the book are wrong, readers might well question precisely how much Ms. Statman’s “personal interpretation” has intruded into this work.

Statements, sentiments, and alleged memories in this book appearing under Patti’s name, often contradict other known records of Patti. Patti had few substantial memories of Sharon and could only recall isolated incidents of our sister Sharon’s life that do not resemble the lengthy saga in these pages. Sections dealing with my sister Sharon’s life away from our family circle include verbatim conversations without attribution and statements whose veracity is in doubt. Just doing a simple overview of this book, we've found many egregious errors, too numerous to list.

Alisa Statman presents herself in this book as a “close family friend” and insinuates that she speaks on behalf of my family. Readers should know that Ms. Statman has a long and troubling history involving my family’s tragedy. Unfortunately Ms. Statman made the decision to go against Patti's expressed wishes that her children never be involved in the Manson saga, by using my impressionable niece’s name to lend credence to the book that she has long wanted to write.

I reject this book. I regard it as an insult to the memory of my parents and my two beloved sisters, filled, as it is, with un-attributed conversations, imagined thoughts, and demonstrably false incidents. It represents merely the latest in a long string of efforts by Ms. Statman to insinuate herself into my family’s life and history, present herself as an expert on the subject, realize her long dream to write about my family’s tragedy, and diminish my continued role as guardian of our family’s legacy.

Soon I will make the full story of my family and our tragedy public in a definitive way. Until then, and for as long as I live, I will honor my family’s memory by continuing to work on behalf of our legacy and other victims of violent crime.

Debra Tate
March 6, 2012

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Official Statement Found Here:

http://www.sharontate.net/Debra_Tate_Official_Statement_Re_Alisa_Statman_Book_Restless_Souls.html