For Shame!
You should be embarrassed you even clicked that link... if you clicked that link you must be a gossip monger? LOL

You want the real story?
The real story is that if I go through the time and trouble and energy of trying to explain or defend myself to people about something that isn't any of their business (or they have set their "minds" on is or isn't fact), even if I would convince them about how right I am, how do I win? What is my prize? A friend they are? Are they truly anyone worth winning over? Or do they pride themselves on the ability to hear a good "story" and retell it?
And getting mad at people who want to spread rumors isn't even worth it either.  Those kinds of people are pitiful.  There are no spoils to that battle and not worth trying to "get them back."  Many people miss out on life's best because they are too distracted fighting battles that don't even matter.  Why try to win over your critics?  There will always be some in life.  Does anyone really need their approval?
No.

A bulldog can surely beat a skunk any day of the week... but it isn't worth the stink. ;)

There are some people who will never accept you simply because they are insecure in themselves.  They will keep putting you down or talking about you behind your back because they are threatened by you.  The way they express that insecurity is they try to push you down so they look bigger.  They minimize to equalize.  They diminish your accomplishments so they won't look so small.  People like that are set in our paths to bring us closer to God. :) Sometimes we need a "Goliath" to strengthen our perseverance.  If you let those kinds of hurts and injustices go, God will bring people into your life to celebrate you.

The best way to answer your critics is not with your words or "fighting back" but with your actions.  The best way to answer them is with the fruit of a well lived life.  Succeed and..."Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much".-- Oscar Wilde

If people start talking about you, just think to yourself "I must be pretty important to have someone obsess over me like that!" :) Or maybe even better, think "Maybe God will hear them and bless ME for it."  When you ignore the little people with little minds talking about you to other little people, God promotes you and he sends people in your life to over shadow the hurt.
Trust me, I know.
I find it amusing how often people who talk about others so negatively... keep getting in their business and wanting to know everything about them.  If you don't want to associate with a certain person-get a life of your own and leave them alone.

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. --Lewis B. Smedes

"Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control... to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare."
-Lance Morrow

A neat story I heard once-
There was a little girl who had been given a plastic string of pearls. She loved these pretend pearls.  She wore them every day and even to bed.  One night her Daddy asked her if she liked her "pearls" and she exclaimed "Oh yes, I love them!"  And he asked her if she trusted him, to which she said of course she did-he was her Daddy.  So he then asked if he could have her "pearls".  She quickly snatched them close to her and told him she just couldn't give them to him.  That she loved them too much.  He told her it was ok and kissed her forehead and tucked her in.
A few nights later, the same thing.  While getting her ready for bed, he asked if she trusted him and she slowly said, "yes, Daddy" and he again asked if she would give her "pearls" to him.  She thought for a moment and told him she just couldn't, that she loved them too much. He kissed her forehead and tucked her in. 
A few nights passed and while tucking her in he asked her if she trusted him.  She was quiet for a moment but then answered "Yes".  And then he asked if he could have her "pearls".  Slowly and with tears in her eyes she handed him her beloved plastic pearls.  He cradled them in his hand, hugged her gently and then pulled from his pocket a strand of real pearls and handed them to her.
Sometimes our Heavenly Father asks us to make sacrifices so that he can bring bigger and better blessings in our lives... sometimes we need to give up our plastic pearls so that he can bring us the real thing. :)

All the water in the world, however hard it tries, can never sink the smallest ship unless it gets inside, and all the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin, can never hurt you in the least, unless you let it in.

Anonymous

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

So I fought the good fight and no one can say I did not try. :)

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.