I’ve seen people talk about actors and artists that had a terrible time.
My own would be Anne Rice. She wrote Interview with the Vampire after her young daughter died of Leukemia. Then her husband suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage. I suspect her Christian, anti-fanfic phase was a result of mental illness and manipulation from the publishers, although I don’t think she ever apologized.
Herman Melville. I know he’s loved by everyone but his life was pretty sad. He had a whole crush on this dude and it went no where, and his book barely sold any copies when it came out.
Moby dick is about a strong unfulfilled gay relationship, isn’t it?
Was it Walt Whitman?
That would be the funniest thing ever but no, I’m pretty sure it was Nathaniel Thawhorn
He loved Hawthorne but not in that way. He just happened to get screwed by publishers. The ending of Moby Dick was left out of the British version which printed first so had a ton of bad reviews mainly because the ending seemed unresolved.