The shit-eating grin on her face every time she got to talk about murdering two people told me everything I needed to know about that woman. Yes, her husband was a dick. But that is not a reason to murder two people. Explanation maybe, but not a legitimate reason to commit murder. Never showed one second of remorse, only glee at her choice to marinate in hatred for the rest of her life. She's a narcissist who left her children with no parents. Enjoy Hell, Betty. Hope it was worth it.
And now so many of the Fascists want to take the US right back to this kind of space. Women being put into institutions because they are in the way, or justifiably mad, or just had babies.
I know this case well, having read about it several times over the years. When I heard she died, I thought to myself, I wonder if she felt the outcome was justified and felt a sense of personal vindication. I haven’t read her book, but I’m guessing the loss of her four children and being away from while they grew up was her real lingering pain. I am a father and even watching your kid grow up and being present every day is hard, because you can’t stop time, and they stop being babies and then toddlers and eventually grow into young adults. For Betty, all there was each day was time lost, time to serve, and no kids to watch grow. I hope they did reach out to her and establish some kind of relationship*. Obviously not because I condone her actions, but two things can be true at the same time. It can be morally and legally wrong to take the law into your own hands and execute people who have wronged you, and her husband can be a total heartless cheater, liar, cad and abusive partner and former partner.
*EDIT: I just read that her adult kids were by her side when she died last week. The kids were divided about her parole prospects, with at least two kids believing she should be released, and at least one son believed she was still too bitter and unstable to be released. But it does sound like over time, the kids did have contact and a relationship with Betty. And no doubt she had support from other victims of abuse. Perhaps some of her kids came to see their father’s role in the tragedy.
As the story goes, she worked jobs while mothering 4 young babies and toddlers and supported Dan while he became both a doctor and an attorney. She absolutely deserved to be recognized in the divorce as having helped create Dan the rich, successful career man. And whatever the pain and suffering he caused by cheating with his young secretary, he made a huge mistake not finding a path to joint custody of the kids, which had to be the last straw. He had enough wealth and success to treat Betty as a business partner, with future share of earnings, and find a way to let her be a mom and heal.
I read Betty was actually up for parole in 2010 and 2017, but was found not to show remorse. And maybe that was Betty’s truth, the one thing she still owned and wasn’t prepared to compromise. She took their lives, and no doubt she felt she was pushed into doing it. She probably regretted having been treated so badly, lied to, discarded and treated unfairly and inhumanly. But she may never have truly regretted standing up for herself when all other less violent avenues failed.
Hard to imagine a CLIENT getting blackballed by the entire legal community of a major metropolitan area like San Diego but SD in the 80's was a swamp. Article below talks about that and lays out lots of the atmospherics that got ventilated as a result of the Broderick case. My law office was in LA but I was fortunate to have had a robust federal court business litigation practice that took me up and down the I 5, ...except for San Diego. I always declined engagements there and referred the client to San Diego counsel. https://misruleoflaw.com/2021/06/02/dirty-john-2-the-betty-broderick-story/
This hits close to home. Person I know, hubby graduates grad school. Wife graduates med school. Hubby says "no residency for you. Get to work".
They fight.
Hubby goes to law school, figures out how to hide money, meets look-a-like, gets coke addiction, secretly wears wife down. Wife finds out he plans to kill her. He tries, she barely gets away. Hides for months as he looks for her to kill her.
Both end up with new spouses and kind of survive.
Wife confesses to me that he was beating her for 30+ years. Never told a soul. Me just happy they both survived, sort of. Never spoke to him again.
I remember reading about this case. Apparently Betty couldn't find an attorney in San Diego County or Orange County, and had to go all the way up to LA for a lawyer who didn't know Dan Broderick.
I went through a horrendous, scorched-earth divorce, and I can't imagine having to drive hundreds of miles to consult with my lawyer. Ugh.
Not condoning what she did, but I sure understand it.
She should never have been sentenced to one day in prison. I admit to being ambivalent to wife #2; you wouldn't believe it to see me now, but I once was the much younger boyfriend of a married woman, so I can't blame another adulterer.
Imagine being scorned and played
and abused the way Betty was, and the smug self satisfaction of Dan Broderick. The bastard earned his early death.
"Now, everything she went through wasn’t an excuse for a double murder, but it was a reason."
Why wasn't it an excuse? I think it was a very good excuse. Well, maybe not the double part, but after all, if she took out him and left the newer model alive, the replacement would have inherited everything. So maybe ...
Ta, Robyn. I was one of those single, childless women throughout my adulthood. Then I went to a WonkMeet in Red Hook and met the love of my life. Neither of us knew that at the time; he was a married man and I've never helped anyone break a vow. Next time we met, sweet Meccalopolis was widowed, and asked me on a date, which I accepted. I also accepted that he didn't call me for four months. I'm glad he never had kids; our life is amazing. Two cats and two dogs is enough.
Does anybody know if the documentary and the movie based on the Broderick case actually included the extremely useful information that Robin provided? I suspect not. In any case, I have just become a fan of Betty Broderick. May she rest in peace.
"...because, they insist, men are absolutely disgusted by women older than 29, and in some cases, 26, and in some cases, 16, and in some other cases, 12."
Wow...
Just...
WOW!!! 😔
The shit-eating grin on her face every time she got to talk about murdering two people told me everything I needed to know about that woman. Yes, her husband was a dick. But that is not a reason to murder two people. Explanation maybe, but not a legitimate reason to commit murder. Never showed one second of remorse, only glee at her choice to marinate in hatred for the rest of her life. She's a narcissist who left her children with no parents. Enjoy Hell, Betty. Hope it was worth it.
And now so many of the Fascists want to take the US right back to this kind of space. Women being put into institutions because they are in the way, or justifiably mad, or just had babies.
I know this case well, having read about it several times over the years. When I heard she died, I thought to myself, I wonder if she felt the outcome was justified and felt a sense of personal vindication. I haven’t read her book, but I’m guessing the loss of her four children and being away from while they grew up was her real lingering pain. I am a father and even watching your kid grow up and being present every day is hard, because you can’t stop time, and they stop being babies and then toddlers and eventually grow into young adults. For Betty, all there was each day was time lost, time to serve, and no kids to watch grow. I hope they did reach out to her and establish some kind of relationship*. Obviously not because I condone her actions, but two things can be true at the same time. It can be morally and legally wrong to take the law into your own hands and execute people who have wronged you, and her husband can be a total heartless cheater, liar, cad and abusive partner and former partner.
*EDIT: I just read that her adult kids were by her side when she died last week. The kids were divided about her parole prospects, with at least two kids believing she should be released, and at least one son believed she was still too bitter and unstable to be released. But it does sound like over time, the kids did have contact and a relationship with Betty. And no doubt she had support from other victims of abuse. Perhaps some of her kids came to see their father’s role in the tragedy.
As the story goes, she worked jobs while mothering 4 young babies and toddlers and supported Dan while he became both a doctor and an attorney. She absolutely deserved to be recognized in the divorce as having helped create Dan the rich, successful career man. And whatever the pain and suffering he caused by cheating with his young secretary, he made a huge mistake not finding a path to joint custody of the kids, which had to be the last straw. He had enough wealth and success to treat Betty as a business partner, with future share of earnings, and find a way to let her be a mom and heal.
I read Betty was actually up for parole in 2010 and 2017, but was found not to show remorse. And maybe that was Betty’s truth, the one thing she still owned and wasn’t prepared to compromise. She took their lives, and no doubt she felt she was pushed into doing it. She probably regretted having been treated so badly, lied to, discarded and treated unfairly and inhumanly. But she may never have truly regretted standing up for herself when all other less violent avenues failed.
Hard to imagine a CLIENT getting blackballed by the entire legal community of a major metropolitan area like San Diego but SD in the 80's was a swamp. Article below talks about that and lays out lots of the atmospherics that got ventilated as a result of the Broderick case. My law office was in LA but I was fortunate to have had a robust federal court business litigation practice that took me up and down the I 5, ...except for San Diego. I always declined engagements there and referred the client to San Diego counsel. https://misruleoflaw.com/2021/06/02/dirty-john-2-the-betty-broderick-story/
This hits close to home. Person I know, hubby graduates grad school. Wife graduates med school. Hubby says "no residency for you. Get to work".
They fight.
Hubby goes to law school, figures out how to hide money, meets look-a-like, gets coke addiction, secretly wears wife down. Wife finds out he plans to kill her. He tries, she barely gets away. Hides for months as he looks for her to kill her.
Both end up with new spouses and kind of survive.
Wife confesses to me that he was beating her for 30+ years. Never told a soul. Me just happy they both survived, sort of. Never spoke to him again.
My worst days were nothing like that.
I remember reading about this case. Apparently Betty couldn't find an attorney in San Diego County or Orange County, and had to go all the way up to LA for a lawyer who didn't know Dan Broderick.
I went through a horrendous, scorched-earth divorce, and I can't imagine having to drive hundreds of miles to consult with my lawyer. Ugh.
Not condoning what she did, but I sure understand it.
She should never have been sentenced to one day in prison. I admit to being ambivalent to wife #2; you wouldn't believe it to see me now, but I once was the much younger boyfriend of a married woman, so I can't blame another adulterer.
Imagine being scorned and played
and abused the way Betty was, and the smug self satisfaction of Dan Broderick. The bastard earned his early death.
"Now, everything she went through wasn’t an excuse for a double murder, but it was a reason."
Why wasn't it an excuse? I think it was a very good excuse. Well, maybe not the double part, but after all, if she took out him and left the newer model alive, the replacement would have inherited everything. So maybe ...
Ta, Robyn. I was one of those single, childless women throughout my adulthood. Then I went to a WonkMeet in Red Hook and met the love of my life. Neither of us knew that at the time; he was a married man and I've never helped anyone break a vow. Next time we met, sweet Meccalopolis was widowed, and asked me on a date, which I accepted. I also accepted that he didn't call me for four months. I'm glad he never had kids; our life is amazing. Two cats and two dogs is enough.
Does anybody know if the documentary and the movie based on the Broderick case actually included the extremely useful information that Robin provided? I suspect not. In any case, I have just become a fan of Betty Broderick. May she rest in peace.
"...because, they insist, men are absolutely disgusted by women older than 29, and in some cases, 26, and in some cases, 16, and in some other cases, 12."
I always felt sorry for Betty. Her ex is an absolute manipulative jerk. Wait, I mean was.
I married my wife when she was 23, turns out over the years she has gotten older.
My wife is ten years my senior, disgust never arrived.
Girla are just having too much fun. This must stop immediately.
Thank you for re-telling Betty’s story Robyn. What a painful truth it paints.