The actress who plays Lizzie Borden has shared her take on if she was guilty or not

It’s the big question

The actress who played Lizzie Borden in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix has given her opinion of if she was guilty of killing her step mother, and father. 

Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father Andrew and step mother Abby with an axe. However, she was later acquitted at a trial, and nobody was ever found guilty. The brutal murders remain an unsolved mystery. 

The Netflix show very much portrayed Lizzie as guilty, giving a graphic depiction of her committing the murders, and a clear motive for doing so. But what does the woman who played her think? 

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix

via Netflix

Ella Beatty played Lizzie in the Netflix show, and has shared her opinion. Speaking with Celestial Sylvia, Ella was asked “if Lizzie did it.” She replied: “I have my feelings, I have my thoughts. But I didn’t feel like it was my job to take a stance on it. The show certainly posits a stance.

“You know Ian [Brennan, Monster’s showrunner] and Ryan [Murphy, Monster’s creator] create a show where she did. But for me, our show really isn’t about if she did it or didn’t do it. It’s about if she did it, why?”  

She added that the show is more of “a painting” of the story, “not a documentary” so she tried to empathise with Lizzie, and “use a vivid imagination” when creating the scenes.  So, she’s highly hinting that not everything about Lizzie in the show should be treated as fact. 

Ella may have given a very balanced take, but the creator of Monster was asked the same question, and gave a very blunt reply. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Ian Brennan explained that he thinks Lizzie Borden was guilty.

“At a certain point, you just have to pick [if she was guilty or not],” he said. “You do as much research as you can, and then you’re like, ‘Okay, what do I think about this?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, she definitely did it. Like, of course she did it’.”

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. Featured image via Steven/AFF-USA/Shutterstock and Netflix. 

More on: Lizzie Borden Monster Netflix True crime