Betty Broderick: Murderer or Wronged Woman?

Lobelia · March 17th, 2006, 11:50 PM

I couldn't decide where to post this, so if somebody feels it should be moved, that's fine. I hate to call a murderer a "celebrity" but Betty certainly is scary.

This story fascinates me. Betty married Dan, and birthed & reared his children while he climbed the corporate ladder as a snazzy up-&-coming attorney. She wore discount clothes & used a laundromat for herself & 4 kids, while Dan wore expensive suits & earned the nickname "Dapper Dan." He worked extremely long hours, and was heavily involved in the social aspects of professional networking. Betty, by most accounts, was a devoted mother.

Dan was rather nerdy when young, but became quite handsome as he matured. Betty, on the other hand, became arguably less attractive as she aged. The inevitable happened, and Dan began an affair with Linda, a young pretty woman hired to be Dan's assistant.

Most of you probably know the story, but in a nutshell, Dan left Betty for Linda, and Betty, er, um, didn't take it well. She plowed her car into Dan's house. She left long vulgar messages on their answering machine. She dumped all the kids at Dan's, thinking that the responsibilities of children would take the shine off Dan & Linda's romance. It didn't, and they married. The kids appeared to adapt well to life with their father & new wife, and seemed to like Linda.

Betty ended up shooting Dan & Linda in their bed, and later professing that her intent was to commit suicide. After 2 trials, she was found guilty, and is in prison to this day. She has not expressed remorse.

In a way, I can empathize with Betty's pain. She raised the man's children and sacrificed for him while he built his career. Even so, there is no denying that she brutally killed two defenseless people.

What do you think?

pacific breeze · March 18th, 2006, 12:04 AM

she was the scorned wife and mother and had a right to be furious. and he was trying to screw her out of her rightful share of the money, which was substantial. if she was a man in texas, she'd probably have gotten off with manslaughter. by all accounts she was a bit unhinged -- she probably should have had a lighter sentence, but she had to pay some penalty for killing two people, including the father of her children.

A*O · March 18th, 2006, 12:52 AM

If all the bitter women in the First Wives Club got even by killing their ex and his new wife in cold blood where would we be? I have sympathy for what happened to her (although it's hardly an unusual situation), but zero tolerance for the way she handled it. If her ex was trying to screw her out of the money she was entitled, by law, to receive in a divorce settlement then she obviously didn't hire a very good lawyer for herself. Women who 'sacrifice' absolutely everything for their men have a screw loose in the first place IMO.

cheray · March 18th, 2006, 05:33 AM

She obviously lived her life for him and felt that he betrayed her existence by scampering off with a new model. Typical idiot, one track mind ,guy behaviour. She should not have gone as overboard as she did, but she paid a big price. Her sanity and her freedom.

serenity · March 18th, 2006, 05:57 AM

This man hurt her so deeply that he caused her to go insane and then he continued to hurt her by trying to cheat her out of her fair share and he even took the law into his own hands and started treating her like a child. She couldn't find any lawyers that were good that would help her because they all knew her husband. I have known other situations like this where the husbands are lawyers and these men can get away with anything. I feel this was a case of abuse and she was insane. The man couldn't have hurt her any worse if he would have been beating her every day. It's just too bad the kids were affected by all this.

ediebrooks · March 18th, 2006, 07:20 AM

It is a fascinating story, and I am sympathetic to Betty Broderick, who was cruelly dumped for a younger, prettier model. Her husband handled the situation in the typical asinine masculine way by initially denying his affair with his attractive assistant. Dan Broderick does comes across as being a cold, self-absorbed jerk in this story. However, he was evidently willing to provide generously for Betty when he asked for a divorce, but her temper tantrums and nutty antics exacerbated his mean streak and made him want to punish her. I think even at the end of their dispute, when he was remarried, she was getting several thousand dollars a month in alimony. If I were getting all that money every month I would have gone my merry way and wouldn't have given a damn if my ex was screwing the Dallas Cowboy cheerleading squad. She totally overreacted, and perhaps she had a screw or two loose. But that doesn't justify her murder of two people in cold blood, no matter how callous and unlikable this pair may have been.

UndercoverGator · March 18th, 2006, 08:11 AM

She did overreact and yeah, I have sympathy for the fact that she sacrificed for this idiot and he knifed her in the back. But I think everyone here is missing the broader problem, one I've noted many times in women that is a huge mistake to do. Never base your entire existence around a man!!! Have a life with interests that do no involve him and most of all, do not look to him for your value and sense of worth. The right guy should compliment your life, not be your entire life.

dakodas · March 18th, 2006, 08:22 AM

It is not murderer or wronged woman -she was both. And off her f'ing rocker.

Icepik · March 18th, 2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dakodas

It is not murderer or wronged woman -she was both. And off her f'ing rocker.

Exactly.

It doesnt matter what he did. Murdering the father of her children and this other woman can never be justified

darksithbunny · March 18th, 2006, 11:48 AM

The more I find about Postpartum depression......I believe that Betty had it.

It takes 2 though and I do feel for her. She expected her life to go a certain way and it didnot. She expected to take timeout to raise their 4 children, that he would bring in the money and once the kids were ready, she would go work on her career. Happens to the best of us. You can't say she was stupid for "relying on a man" or however you want to say it. It's not that. It is just that Dan had a different idea then Betty had for what their life plan was. She TRUSTED this man. That's the issue. She felt everything you could possible imagine when you find out your whole world is not what you thought it was BUT we all don't go killing the husband or his new model. How ever we may dream of getting a hit man or choking the living shit out of him or bitch slappin the ho, we simply don't. THe we being SANE people. There is a limit that one can take and then when it's crossed, either you walk away or you kill. Betty did indeed go over that edge.

pacific breeze · March 18th, 2006, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndercoverGator

She did overreact and yeah, I have sympathy for the fact that she sacrificed for this idiot and he knifed her in the back. But I think everyone here is missing the broader problem, one I've noted many times in women that is a huge mistake to do. Never base your entire existence around a man!!! Have a life with interests that do no involve him and most of all, do not look to him for your value and sense of worth. The right guy should compliment your life, not be your entire life.

You nailed it. If I had a loonie (what we now call a dollar in Canuckland) for every girl/woman I've heard say, "I'm going to marry rich and then all my problems will be over," I'd be rich. I always feel like telling them that their problems are just beginning.

My grandmother always told me, "Get an education and take care of yourself because you always need something to fall back on. You cannot rely on anyone other than yourself." In other words, God bless the child that's got his own.

Icepik · March 18th, 2006, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darksithbunny

The more I find about Postpartum depression......I believe that Betty had it.

It takes 2 though and I do feel for her. She expected her life to go a certain way and it didnot. She expected to take timeout to raise their 4 children, that he would bring in the money and once the kids were ready, she would go work on her career. Happens to the best of us. You can't say she was stupid for "relying on a man" or however you want to say it. It's not that. It is just that Dan had a different idea then Betty had for what their life plan was. She TRUSTED this man. That's the issue. She felt everything you could possible imagine when you find out your whole world is not what you thought it was BUT we all don't go killing the husband or his new model. How ever we may dream of getting a hit man or choking the living shit out of him or bitch slappin the ho, we simply don't. THe we being SANE people. There is a limit that one can take and then when it's crossed, either you walk away or you kill. Betty did indeed go over that edge.

Postpartum depression?

How old were her children when she murdered her husband??

I did watch this story on A&E, but can't recall the childrens ages when the murder took place. Thought they were way passed infancy

pacific breeze · March 18th, 2006, 01:07 PM

The youngest was 8 or 9.

dakodas · March 18th, 2006, 01:18 PM

Have you seen her interviewed? Beotch has NO remorse. She gets heated up and tries to sound JUSTIFIED. Why should she show false remorse after all the time she has done...

Sojiita · March 19th, 2006, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndercoverGator

do not look to him for your value and sense of worth. The right guy should compliment your life, not be your entire life.

Interesting how just a few words strung together can say so much. I wish I would have realized this. It is a damn shame how intelligent people can so easily fall into this trap. It is such a high-wire act to invest your entire self(and especially your self worth) in another person. If they go away(maybe by choice, maybe not) your life is so totally screwed forever.