Why Netflix didn't include Betty Broderick's secret relationship in Dirty John S2
You've probably already binged the entirety of the second series of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, and if you haven't, there are your weekend plans. The series tells the shocking true story of seemingly perfect Californian suburban housewife Betty, whose gritty divorce ends in a double murder.
The Netflix show follows the story Betty and Dan Broderick's famous divorce, alongside exploring the journey that the couple in their lives and relationship to get to that point. Broderick v Broderick was one of the most notorious and long drawn-out separations in US history, with financial disagreements and claims of mental abuse on both sides. But when Dan Broderick and his new wife Linda Kolkena were shot by Betty in November 1989, the divorce took on new levels notoriety and controversy.
As ever, with any dramatic retelling of a true story, you've got to be aware that certain aspects of the storyline might me changed or amended for dramatic effect, and although lots of The Betty Broderick Story seems to ring true with what is recorded in court documents, there is one big part of the story that Netflix chose to leave out of the series.
After the dissolution of her marriage Betty was in a relationship with a man named Bradley T. Wright for years, but kept the relationship a secret due to Wright being six years younger than her.
In an interview with The LA Times in 1990, Betty said, "I never brought Brad anywhere as my date because he was too young. I didn’t want to be the other half of the midlife joke."
The article also states that on the morning of the murders Brad was in bed at Betty's house when he was woken by a call detailing the shootings. Reportedly the pair had just returned from a week's holiday in Acapulco when the killings took place, and after Betty went to prison for the killings Brad took care of her affairs; selling her house and putting her furniture in storage.
Betty has always denied Brad's claims that the pair were sexually intimate, although she states they slept in the same bed, saying, "I’m not the kind of person to be with someone and not be married," adding that the arrangement was "like having a dog, but he was housetrained."
According to series showrunner Alexandra Cunningham, the decision not to include Wright in the story, was about Betty's view of him. Speaking to the Martinis and Murders podcast in 2019, Cunningham said, "The reason that I chose not to do that had a lot to do with how Betty herself talked about him and regarded him.
"Betty was and remains completely embarrassed by her lonely liaison, and that Brad would never really count to her.
"It was clear that his presence in her life did not affect any of her interactions with Dan or her thought process or decision-making."
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is out on Netflix now.
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