The Truth About Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow with his wife, Knocked Up co-star Leslie Mann.Photo: Getty Images
A) Knocked Up is based on Apatow's own life: He hooked up with his wife, actress Leslie Mann, the first night they met on the set of Celtic Pride, and their daughter Sadie is the product of that union.
B) He participated in a vicious e-mail flame war with That '70s Show creator Mark Brazill, who claims Apatow stole his idea and used it in The Ben Stiller Show. Brazill ended one of his e-mails to Apatow, "Get cancer. Love, Mark."
C) Apatow owns a large collection of Precious Moments figurines and always includes one of the wide-eyed ceramic urchins' "inspirational messages" into his scripts.
D) While writing for The Larry Sanders Show, Apatow once shoved a live walleyed trout down Jeffrey Tambor's pants on a dare from David Duchovny.
THE TRUTH:
B). As immortalized in Harper's (and reprinted everywhere on the Web), Apatow and Brazill totally went after each other. Sample withering Apatow email:
You neither get nor can tell a joke. After you said "get cancer" did you really think I was looking to heal our relationship? Usually the cancer insult is a closer.
So that's the Truth. Vulture regrets the Lies.

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