Gabby Petito’s Final Days; Dakota Johnson’s Surprising Truths; Rachel Maddow’s Multimillion-Dollar Gamble

  [The best Vanity Fair stories of 2022.]( [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf)   [Vanity Fair's Cocktail Hour logo image]( Behold, Vanity Fair’s six most popular stories of 2022. Thanks for reading—and cheers to the year ahead. [Grey's Anatomy, Elisabeth R. Finch]( [How Grey’s Anatomy Writer Elisabeth Finch Used Lies to Create Must-See TV]( [For years, a Grey’s Anatomy writer told her personal traumas in online essays, and wove those details into the show’s plot—until a surprising email to Shondaland accused her of making it all up.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Image may contain: Symbol]( [Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets]( [They’re not MAGA. They’re not QAnon. Curtis Yarvin and the rising right are crafting a different strain of conservative politics.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Image may contain: Water, Human, Person, Outdoors, Art, Painting, Nature, Land, Vegetation, Plant, Clothing, and Apparel]( [Dakota Johnson on Persuasion, Family, Sexual Agency—And the “Psychotic” Making of Fifty Shades of Grey]( [The star of Persuasion tells VF some surprising truths about her rise as an actor, producer, and fashion muse.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Image may contain: Clothing, Apparel, Human, Person, Pants, Rachel Maddow, Denim, Jeans, Outdoors, and Tree Stump]( [Rachel Maddow Gives Her First Interview as She Steps Back From the Nightly Grind and Revs Up for Her Next Act]( [The cable juggernaut signed a multimillion-dollar contract to not be on the air five nights a week. Now, Maddow opens up about why she’s changing gears, her upcoming projects, her health scares, the Steele dossier, and her surprisingly amiable rapport with Tucker Carlson.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Image may contain: Human, Person, Tire, Vehicle, Transportation, Automobile, Car, Animal, Dog, Mammal, Pet, and Canine]( [Inside Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Unlikely Rise and Precipitous Fall at Liberty University]( [Jerry Falwell Jr. was the Trump-anointing dark prince of the Christian right. Then a sex scandal rocked his marriage and ended his lucrative stewardship of the evangelical education empire founded by his father.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Image may contain: Plant, and Outdoors]( [Gabby Petito’s Life With—And Death By—Brian Laundrie]( [Forensically examining Instagram accounts, interviews, and police reports, author Kathleen Hale reconstructs their relationship, and ultimately Petito’s murder.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now]( [Vanity Fair Logo](www.vanityfair.com) [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.