Kathryn Stockett (pictured), author of the bestseller The Help, was sued last week by her brother's maid, who says that Stockett demeaned her by basing one of the novel's characters on her. Stockett's now issued a denial!

"The character 'Aibileen Clark' in The Help is a fictional character and is not intended to depict Mrs. Cooper. I've met Mrs. Cooper only briefly. I used the name 'Aibileen' because it resonated with 'Constantine,' the beloved woman who took care of the book's main character in her youth. As readers of The Help know, my Aibileen is a true heroine: she is intelligent, an author, a devoted servant of the Lord and a good mother."

NOW: there is simply no way that anyone should be able to successfully sue an author of a fictional work because they believe that a fictional character was based on them, and they don't like it. That's ridiculous. BUT: isn't Stockett, you know, kind of... lying, perhaps? She says her fictional character, "Aibileen Clark," a middle-aged black maid with a gold tooth and a deceased son, is NOT based on Ablene Cooper, a middle-aged black maid with a gold tooth and a deceased son, who has worked for Stockett's brother for the past dozen years.

Hmm. I mean, who knows, I guess.

Since Stockett made a couple of million bucks off her book, not including whatever she's going to make off the upcoming movie, maybe it would be nice to break off $50K for Ablene, out of the goodness of her heart.

[USAT]