I learned that I never really know the true story of my guests' lives, that I have to content myself with knowing that when I'm interviewing somebody, I'm getting a combination of fact and truth and self-mythology and self-delusion and selective memory and faulty memory.

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Difficult interviews
Gross has drawn added public attention following some occasions when interviews have taken a confrontational turn. Gross lives in Philadelphia. The couple have no children.

She has a reputation for researching her guests' work largely the night before an interview often asking them unexpected questions about their early careers. Gross has won praise over the years for her low-key and friendly yet often probing interview style and for the diversity of her guests.