The Salt Path stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs have spoken out about the controversy surrounding the film for the first time.
An adaptation of Raynor Winn’s 2018 memoir, the film was released in the United Kingdom last year and told the story of how she and her husband, Moth, walked the South West Coast Path after losing their home.
The memoir also recounted how Moth was diagnosed with a neurological condition, however The Observer reported last year that Winn may have misrepresented the events that led to the couple losing their home and that experts had doubts over Moth having corticobasal degeneration.
It also revealed the couple’s legal names were Sally and Timothy Walker.
Next month, the film will be released across the United States by Rialto Distribution, with both actors now speaking about the controversy that clouded its UK release for the first time.
Speaking to Radio Times, Anderson – who plays Winn – said the reports indicating that claims in the memoir were fabricated “sucked”.
She said: “It’s very unfortunate. The film was doing really well in the UK – beyond my expectations. I think we were about to sign with Sony Classics for the United States the week when the article came out, so it sucked, and continues to suck.”
She continued: “A lot of people were enjoying it, regardless, and it is special in its own right. I hope people are able to experience it as its own entity, separate from what may or may not be true or whatever controversy there is.”
Last week, Isaacs – who plays Moth – also spoke about the controversy over the book’s content, saying on the Kermode On Film podcast: “It’s going to be interesting doing publicity for The Salt Path now that there’s been… I said, ‘Are you sure you want us to do publicity?’ They went, ‘Absolutely’.”
The actor said that he supported the decision as it was a “beautiful film” and “much of it is still completely valid”.
He added: “Obviously, some of the things have been questioned. It’s going to be an interesting experience.”
In The Salt Path, the couple lose their house due to a bad business investment.
But The Observer reported that the couple lost their home after an accusation that Winn had stolen thousands of pounds from her employer.
It also said that it had spoken to medical experts who were sceptical about Moth having CBD, given his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them.
In July 2025, Winn posted clinic letters on Instagram addressed to Timothy Walker, which she said showed that “he is treated for CBD/S and has been for many years”.
She wrote: “The last few days have been some of the hardest of my life. Heart breaking accusations that Moth has made up his illness have been made, leaving us devastated.”
In a statement on her website, she said that the article was “grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life”.
She added: “The Salt Path is about what happened to Moth and me, after we lost our home and found ourselves homeless on the headlands of the south west.
“It’s not about every event or moment in our lives, but rather about a capsule of time when our lives moved from a place of complete despair to a place of hope.
“The journey held within those pages is one of salt and weather, of pain and possibility. And I can’t allow any more doubt to be cast on the validity of those memories, or the joy they have given so many.”
At the time, publishing house Penguin said it “undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence”, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy, and a legal read.
It added: “Prior to the Observer enquiry, we had not received any concerns about the book’s content.”
The Salt Path was originally set to be released in the US and Canada on May 22 but has been pushed back to September 4.
Winn had been due to release another book, her fourth non-fiction title, On Winter Hill, in October 2025, but its publication was delayed to January 2028 after the author suffered “considerable distress” according to Penguin.
The Press Association has contacted Rialto Distribution and representatives for Gillian Anderson for comment.
