What Lizzie Borden's real relationship with her sister was like as Monster gets it all wrong
Lizzie Borden's sister Emma doesn't make her first appearance in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story until episode two, but from what's been said about the real life sisters' relationship, Emma was always there from the start.
Emma Borden was the eldest of the three Borden girls. Born in 1851, her sister Alice followed suit in 1856, and then Lizzie in 1860.
Tragically Alice died at the age of two, so there was just Emma left as Lizzie's sister by the time she was born.
Then their mother passed away sudden in 1963. At the time, Emma promised to take care of Lizzie.
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Their father, Andrew Borden went on to remarry and wed Abby in 1866. Fast forward to 1892 and the couple were brutally murdered in their home.
Lizzie was accused of their murders, but later acquitted. The story is looked at in depth in Ryan Murphy's latest instalment to his Monster series on Netflix – but seemingly the series didn't get quite everything right.
Check out the trailer here:
In the show, Lizzie's older sister Emma doesn't make an appearance until the second episode. It's made out to look like she doesn't live with her sister, father, and step-mom, but she did.
Both Lizzie and Emma were unmarried and lived in Fall River, Massachusetts. They were financially dependant on their wealthy father.
This means that Emma was living in the house around the time of Andrew and Abby's murders. On the day it actually happened, however, she'd been visiting friends in Fairhaven. With this in mind, she had a legitimate alibi and was never treated a suspect.
The same can't be said for Lizzie though, who was arrested in on August 11, 1892, just days after the murders of her dad and step-mom.
In Monsters, it doesn't appear as if Lizzie and Emma (who is portrayed by Star Wars actress Billie Lourd in the series) were close, but they were.
During Lizzie's murder trial, Emma stayed by her side and supported her. Meanwhile in the series, Emma outwardly accuses her sibling of killing Andrew and Abby, calling her 'a monster'.
On the Netflix show, Emma visits Lizzie behind bars after her arrest and still isn’t convinced of her innocence, explains Entertainment Weekly.
Meanwhile, in real life, they remained close after Lizzie's acquittal and moved in together. Things changed between the pair in 1905 when Emma reportedly moved out of their home after a disagreement with her younger sister and they never spoke again.
Speaking to the Boston Sunday Herald in 1913, Emma said: "The happenings at the French Street house that caused me to leave I must refuse to talk about. I did not go until conditions became absolutely unbearable."
Monsters: A Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix.
Topics: Netflix, Ryan Murphy, History, Film and TV
Niamh Shackleton