Martin Shkreli Is 'Not a Psychopath,' Journalist Defends Relationship With 'Pharma Bro'

Every so often an article or story comes along that just breaks the internet—today that story is about a woman who left her husband to be with one of the most hated men in the world, Martin Shkreli.

He became despised after hiking the price of AIDS drug Daraprim nearly 5,000 percent in August 2015. Christie Smythe, who upended her life to be with Shkreli, has defended him to the world, declaring that the so-called Pharma Bro is "not a psychopath."

Former Bloomberg journalist Smythe, 38, opened up about her relationship with the convicted fraudster in a piece for Elle magazine that was published Sunday night and immediately caused a huge stir online.

Following the publication of the story, Smythe took to Twitter to defend the man whom she called her "life partner."

In the piece, Smythe recounts how she "fell down the rabbit hole" after meeting Shkreli, upending her idyllic Brooklyn life and divorcing her husband.

She described her growing involvement with Shkreli as "incremental decisions, where you're, like, slowly boiling yourself to death in the bathtub." Even admitting: "Maybe I was being charmed by a master manipulator."

Most bizarrely, the story comes with a twist with Smythe revealing that Shkreli is no longer speaking to her from prison where he is serving a seven-year sentence for scamming investors in hedge funds he operated.

A cold statement provided to the magazine from Shkreli simply read: "Mr. Shkreli wishes Ms. Smythe the best of luck in her future endeavors," with no grand gestures of romance or love.

"I realize it's hard for many people to accept that 1. Martin is not a psychopath, and 2. a woman can choose to do something with her life (which does not affect you) that you in no way approve of," Smythe tweeted. "But that's OK."

A Twitter user asked Smythe to tell her followers about the most romantic thing Shkreli ever did for her, to which she replied: "He can't really do much from prison. He once declared he would buy me a goat farm (because he knows I like goats). I do not actually need an entire farm, though. I'd rather the money be spent on some needy cause."

In a later tweet she wrote of her devotion to Shkreli: "It wasn't an easy decision. I became aware that good people were afraid to stick up for him. They cared about him, but were afraid of what would happen, the tweet storm, etc. I decided I wasn't afraid, and he needed someone to stick their neck out."