I used to be friends with Richard Bach. Not anymore.

First of all, I used to correspond with Richard Bach on a regular basis. We have since had a falling-out, but that's another story.

I will say that one of the first times I saw signs of Richard being unwell was shortly after he had told me about the plans to try to get Jim Carrey to star in a movie version of Illusions.

At first, Richard was intrigued by the idea. I thought it was a brilliant idea because Carrey is a great actor and no doubt would have helped to make Illusions commercially-viable as a film.

Later, however, Richard messaged me and said that he was having second thoughts. He was horrified when he found out that Jim Carrey was a liberal as well as an Obama supporter (Richard thinks Obama is "the worst president in history" -- no, seriously). Richard then began entertaining the idea of having Kevin Costner star in the movie instead, even when he knew that Costner is a little too old for the part.

I talked to others associated with the attempts to turn Illusions into a movie, but they told me that the project was falling apart for other reasons. One reason is that Richard insisted on writing the screenplay himself. I never read it, but producers/managers involved with the deal told me that his script was lackluster; it wasn't cinematic. But Richard insists on having creative control over any film adaptations of his work. This is because of what happened on the Jonathan Livingston Seagull movie between him and the late Hall Bartlett, who violated Richard's right to final cut by going off and shooting the movie his own way. Since then, Richard has had a deep distrust of Hollywood.

Anyway, Illusions is never going to be made into a movie. Richard's plane crash a few years ago has rendered him deranged and incapable of working with others. Leslie Parrish told me that Richard treated her poorly for over 20 years of marriage.

And now, the rights to everything Richard has written belong to his new, young, gold-digging wife, who -- I can assure you -- is Richard's puppetmaster. She owns the rights to everything Richard has written. She gives people permission to do things, and then lies about it to cover her tracks. She's even worse than Richard is. I speak from experience.

It's very sick and sad, what is happening to Richard. When I first saw the Jonathan Livingston Seagull movie and later read the book, I was enraptured by it. Note the part where Jonathan tells Fletcher, "Don't hate the flock."

Unfortunately, Richard Bach himself is no Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He is full of hate. He distrusts people. He holds grudges, is incapable of forgiveness, and I am convinced that he forgets why he's even mad at people most of the time. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but someone had to say it.