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In
1992, Oprah interviewed convicted murderer Betty Broderick, mother
of four, who killed her ex-husband, Dan, and his new wife Linda
while they were sleeping. The Broderick trials were so highly
publicized that they spawned two made-for-TV movies, several
documentaries and many books. Was Betty an emotionally abused ex-wife driven over the
edge? Or a cold-blooded killer?
A Promising Future
Oprah: I know I often say this on the show, there are no Cleavers, but you married, and for a while, certainly did appear to have the Beaver Cleaver family.
Betty Broderick: I thought we did have the perfect marriage. I took those marriage vows, and I believe he did at the time too, believing that we'd be together, and we'd get through everything. We'd build a life for ourselves and our children.
Oprah: Was it difficult being supermom? Did you feel you weren't getting enough from your husband?
B.B.: Being a supermom was the only thing I ever wanted to be in life. We had very strict gender lines in our marriage. Dan went out and slew the dragons and provided for us, and I was home [with] the children and supported my husband emotionallyÉthrough the good times and the bad.
Financial Struggle
Oprah: When did it start to go wrong, Betty?
B.B.: We were very poor in the beginning, and we accumulated tremendous debt. I worked as hard as I could day and night while having my own children. I could not pay for Harvard Law School and our living expenses. [When] he got hired by a wonderful law firm for five years, when he first got out of law school, half of those paychecks went every month toÉ
Oprah: To pay back the loans.
B.B.: And now he decides to go out on his own, but we had no income if he quit that law firm. So, once again, we lived entirely on loans until he started realizing some income from his own law practice which takes approximately three years.
Oprah: But you all were living OK. You were living pretty well and had a nice house. The kids are taking piano lessons and soccer and having activities, and so you were doing fine.
B.B.: In the later years, yes, and when the children grew up, we were doing fine, fine by a middle-class standard—which was wonderful and was very happy and the kids were healthy and articulate.
Marriage on the Rocks
Oprah: When did you sense that it wasn't enough?
B.B.: In 1983, I noticed Dan at a party talking about some girl that he thought was really beautiful. That summer when I took the children camping, I couldn't reach him by phone the whole time. I knew I had a major problem on my hands, and it was Linda Kokena.
Oprah: Did you ask him if he was having an affair?
B.B.: Yes. Totally denied it, and said I was imagining things. I was crazy, and that Linda was a sweet, innocent, young girl and there was absolutely nothing going on, never was and oh, by the way, 'you're fat, old, boring, ugly and stupid' just started coming on the scene then.
Oprah: He said those words to you?
B.B.: Yes it was—to me, it was absolutely a mid-life crisis.
Falling Over the Edge
Oprah: You did some things that exhibited your frustration, going to your ex-husband's house with the pies, and smearing his closet with the pies. Is that true?
B.B.: I didn't bring a cake there. Linda made a cake.
Oprah: But you smeared the cake all over his clothes?
B.B.: I smeared it on his bed and it was a little eight-inch cake. That's true, I did.
Oprah: You did try to drive the car through the door, did you not?
B.B.: I did purposely andÉyou know. I did drive my car into his door. ... I banged my car into his door the day he sold the family home, the only home we've ever owned that had my name on it and his name on it.
Oprah: From everything I've heard and read, they felt abused.There was a point where Linda had even asked Dan to wear a bulletproof vest on the day of their wedding and they hired guards. They feared you physically. You just feared them intervening in your life?
B.B.: Intervening in what life? Dan and Linda controlled every cent of the money.
Betty's Last Resort
Oprah: So, you went to the house that morning to do what?
B.B.: To talk to Dan. They were threatening to take me to court, threatening to throw me in jail, threatening to keep me from talking to my sons and—
Oprah: Why did you carry the gun if you only wanted to talk?
B.B.: I didn't exactly carry the gun. I did consciously bring it as a way to make Dan and Linda listen to me.
Oprah: Oh, I understand what you're saying, but, Betty, two people are dead.
B.B.: Because every time I went to his house to talk to him, he had me cornered. If he saw me coming, he'd call the police and have me arrested.
Panic Reaction?
Oprah: So you walked into the room and did what? You said, 'I want to talk?'
B.B.: I didn't even have a chance to say that. As I opened the door and entered the room, Linda said, 'Call the police.' Dan went for the phone, and I screamed, 'No,' and the gun went off, and that's as fast as it happened. They never saw the gun. Linda saw me. I didn't see them at all. I just saw movement.
Oprah: The gun went off for five shots?
B.B.: In less than half a second. It was a panic reaction and I had no idea that I hit anyone. ... I grabbed the phone and ran out of the house. I thought he was after me. I was hiding from him.
Did emotional abuse or jealousy drive Betty Broderick over the edge?
From the show Vintage Oprah: Betty Broderick
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