Was Lizzie Borden in love with her maid Bridget? The real life theory around her sexuality

In Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix, Lizzie Borden is seen as being romantically involved with her maid, Bridget Sullivan. So of course, after this, people have been questioning if this was true to the real life story. 

Bridget Sullivan was the family’s Irish live-in maid (she was also called Maggie), and was present the day of the murders. She was therefore a key witness in the trial, as while cleaning the windows on the morning of August 4th 1892, Bridget was one of the last to see her employers alive. She provided key testimony at the inquest, preliminary hearing and final trial.

She was also seemingly rumoured to have had a romantic relationship with Lizzie Borden. Here’s everything we know. 

via Netflix

Was Lizzie Borden in love with her maid Bridget Sullivan in real life? 

Let’s get one thing straight: There is no evidence Lizzie Borden and her maid Bridget Sullivan were having an affair. However, there were real life *theories* that Lizzie Borden was in a romantic relationship with her maid.

In Evan Hunter’s 1984 novel titled Lizzie, it was suggested that the murders took place after Lizzie’s relationship with Bridget had been discovered. It was theorised that Lizzie’s father and/or stepmother had either caught them together, or Lizzie had confessed and they had reacted badly, so she killed them. This was never actually proven, mind you. 

During the trial, Bridget having such close proximity to the murders, but a seeming lack of knowledge about what actually happened in the Borden household, made people speculate about her potential romantic involvement with Lizzie. However, there is no evidence to suggest any of this was more than speculation. 

Most likely though, what we saw in the Netflix show was nothing more than a dramatisation, and the relationship between Lizzie Borden and her maid was strictly professional. 

via Netflix

What do we actually know about Lizzie Borden’s sexuality? 

Lizzie Borden was believed to be a lesbian. Again, it was just theory, as Lizzie never “came out” per se, but this rumour was down to her close proximity to women. The same rumours stemmed because of her relationship with actress Nance O’Neil.

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Lizzie was single at 32 when the murders happened, which at the time, made her considered a spinster. Lizzie was described by the New York Herald in an article at the time as having “avoided the company of young men” which fuelled further speculation about her sexuality. 

Writers and researched have also come across what have come to be referred to as Lizzie Borden’s “gay notes”. One, reportedly written to a “young woman” said: 

My Dear Friend,

Where are you how are you and what are you doing? I dreamed of you the other night but I do not dare to put my dreams on paper. Have you been away and has your little niece been to visit you? We have been home all summer. I spend much time on the piazza in my steamer chair reading and building castles in the air. I hope you have been away and are well and strong now. Do you expect to do much this fall and are you going to N.Y.? Every time we pass your corner the pony wants to turn down. The weather has been so warm and full of thunder storms I am quite ready for fall. I should be very glad to hear from you.

Sincerely

L. A. Borden

August 22, 1897

Of course, you can’t prove anything from this, but researchers have used this to compile more for the theory. Author Sarah Miller, who wrote the 2016 non-fiction book The Borden Murders, has been quite blunt when it comes to the claims. Speaking of the theory that Lizzie Borden was a lesbian and she murdered her parents because they discovered her secret, she said it’s “unsubstantiated”. 

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.