The inconsistent elements involve the specifics of his childhood and the specific experiences that he says drove him to impersonation.

Different interviews have produced somewhat different narratives of his early life, with consistent themes (absent father, difficult mother, poverty, instability) but varying specific details.

This is not surprising given his general unreliability, but it does mean that his self-account should be understood as a narrative about his experience rather than as verified biographical fact.

He has also spoken about the Barclay case specifically as a moment when the deception took on a scale and duration he had not previously experienced.

The sixteen months in San Antonio — the longest sustained impersonation of his career — represented an intensity of belonging that he had not achieved before.