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The relationship between Lizzie Borden and her housemaid Bridget Sullivan is central to Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, but how much of it is based on real life?

In the Netflix series, Ella Beatty plays Lizzie and Vicky Krieps is Bridget. Their characters become romantically involved in the show, which connects their relationship to the violence that later unfolds inside the house.

Bridget was indeed a real person, but the romance portrayed on screen is not an established fact about either woman’s life.

Who was the real Bridget Sullivan?

Bridget‘s own words provide some clarity on the significance of their relationship. In her testimony at Lizzie‘s 1893 trial, she said she was born in Ireland and had worked for the Bordens for two years and nine months when Andrew and Abby Borden died.

She described a job that included cooking, washing, ironing, and sweeping. She also lived in the house, with a bedroom on the third floor.

It might surprise viewers to know that “Maggie” wasn’t a name invented for the Netflix series. Bridget testified that Lizzie and her sister Emma (played by Billie Lourd on the show) sometimes called her that.

In the show, Lizzie‘s stepmother (Rebecca Hall) calls her “Maggie” simply because it was also the name of the former housekeeper and she couldn’t be bothered to learn another name, but there’s nothing to indicate that is true to life.

Credit: Netflix

Were Bridget and Lizzie actually a couple?

There is no documented evidence establishing a romantic relationship between them. Biography’s examination of the series also notes the differences between the show and what has been historically documented. There have long been rumors about Lizzie‘s sexuality, but they actually revolved more around her rumored relationship with actor Nance O’Neil.

The distinction also matters when discussing the murders, as Lizzie was tried for the killings of her father and stepmother and acquitted in 1893.

Ella has described her performance as an interpretation of a character developed for the series. Speaking to Netflix Tudum, she called that character a “very fictionalized version of the woman that we created for the show. I was exploring a person that we were imagining and creating using details from the real person’s life to animate and fill in the blanks.”

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Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny previously played Lizzie and Bridget in a movie

Monster isn’t the first on-screen portrayal of Lizzie in a relationship with Bridget.

The 2018 film Lizzie starred Chloë Sevigny as Lizzie and Kristen Stewart as Bridget, with a romance between the women forming as part of the story.

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