I described Ta-Nehisi Coates once (well after Between the World and Me) as a “self-made millionaire,” a statement I took to be neutral if not a compliment. He demanded the Times retract it and issue a correction declaring that he was no such thing. I’ll never understand it. https://twitter.com/laurenoyler/status/1258832887006334982

There is absolutely nothing shameful about being financially successful through work and talent. There is, on the other hand, something weird and manipulative about pretending not to be.

Anyway, the best and most honest response I’ve ever seen from a writer to this kind of thing was when the Paris Review asked Françoise Sagan how her life had changed after the enormous success of Bonjour Tristesse, and she said something like, “Look, I’ve always eaten steaks.”