Christopher Owens. Photo by Sandy Kim.

​Has Girls frontman Christopher Owens been honest about his own supposedly wild past? Early reviews and reportage laid out a story that seemed too literally incredible to be true: Owens was born into the Children of God/Family International cult, a circumstance unlucky enough to have (allegedly) cost his older brother his life and turned Owens' mother into a prostitute. When Owens ran away and fled to Texas, he was promptly adopted by a local multimillionaire, who encouraged his interest in the arts. Drugs were/are a constant. How much of this narrative could actually be true?

At least some of it, according to our reporter, Reyhan Harmanci. She tracked down Stanley Marsh 3, the Cadillac Ranch founder and millionaire Owens benefactor, who happily confirmed their relationship: "How many kids are gutter-punk-style, drug-addicted? Most aren't any good. They are boring. Chris was a diamond in the rough." (Marsh also objected to the Voice's initial failure to add the "multi-" prefix when describing the scale of his wealth.) There is some evidence that seems to confirm Owens' stint in the Family International cult. It's not full verification, but the reporting suggests that Owens has indeed lived a life punctuated by both terribly unfortunate events and outsized good luck. More on that, here.