Was Lizzie Borden in Love With Actor Nance O’Neil? The True Story Behind Netflix’s Monster

A jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of murdering her father and stepmother in 1893, but residents of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts, never stopped talking about her.Despite this, Lizzie continued living in town. She and older sister Emma purchased a large home they called Maplecroft using their large inheritance from their murdered father. Lizzie changed her name to Lizbeth, traveled when she pleased, and went to the theater in Boston, New York, and Washington D.C.In 1904, Lizzie attended a play in Boston starring actor Nance O’Neil and the pair struck up a friendship. The actor brought glamour into Borden’s secluded life, along with questions about how close the two women became. Rumors suggested the two were lovers and even that their close relationship caused a falling-out between Lizzie and Emma.Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story offers a new take on their friendship. Here’s what to know about the relationship between the real Lizzie and O’Neil, and why some speculated it was romantic in nature.Who Was Nance O’Neil?Nance O’Neil was born Gertrude Lamson in Oakland, California, in 1874. She started acting professionally as a teenager, and made her professional debut in 1983 in San Francisco at the Alcazar Theatre. Her manager borrowed her stage name from two earlier performers: Nance Oldfield and Eliza O’Neil.O’Neil performed around the world and was being advertised as the “American Bernhardt,” after French superstar Sarah Bernhardt. She played Lady Macbeth and Hedda Gabler, along with the sort of grand, tormented heroines who could spend an evening losing a kingdom or destroying a marriage. The Boston Globe called her a “tall, graceful woman with magnificent proportions.”By 1913, after her relationship with Lizzie, O’Neil transitioned from the stage to the screen starring in films including The Count of Monte Cristo and Cimarron, according to Deadline.How Did Nance O’Neil and Lizzie Borden Meet? When Lizzie met her in 1904, she was one of the best-known stage actors in the country. Lizzie first approached O’Neil backstage in Boston. Some accounts suggest it was after O’Neil starred in Macbeth, but it’s more likely it was after a production of Magda, according to Vanity Fair. The two became friendly, and Lizzie later visited O’Neil at her country home in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.The next year, O’Neil brought a production to Fall River. Newspapers claimed that Lizzie entertained the actor and her company at Maplecroft after the performance. Soon afterward, Emma packed her belongings and left the house for good.Did Nance O’Neil Cause Emma Borden to Leave Maplecroft?A June 1905 article in the San Francisco Call blamed the sisters’ falling-out on O’Neil. According to the paper, Emma objected when Lizzie hosted members of the actor’s company at Maplecroft. It also claimed Lizzie was writing a play for O’Neil.Emma confirmed something had driven her from Maplecroft, but refused to say what it was. “The happenings in the French Street house that caused me to leave I must refuse to talk about,” she said years later. She never moved back, and the sisters remained estranged for the rest of their lives.O’Neil later contradicted the San Francisco Call’s claim that Lizzie had hosted her acting company at Maplecroft. After Lizzie died of pneumonia on June 1, 1927, O’Neil denied ever visiting the house or meeting Emma. If that was true, the party supposedly responsible for the sisters’ quarrel could not have happened as reported.Were Lizzie Borden and Nance O’Neil in a Romantic Relationship?“I’d say they’re definitely romantic, but maybe not sexual,” Cara Robertson, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden told Vanity Fair.Neither woman left anything behind, like love letters or diaries, that shed much light on their relationship. However, a gift from O’Neil to Lizzie, may have suggested a close bond. The actor gave Lizzie an expensive book of poetry dedicated “for my dear Lizbeth with love from Daphne,” according to Vanity Fair.There are even conflicting accounts on how long their friendship lasted. As O’Neil toured, the two women spent less time together. In 1917, O’Neil married fellow actor Alfred Hickman.Interviewed by The Standard after Lizzie died in 1927, O’Neil remembered her as a “frail, little gentlewoman” carrying a great deal of sorrow. She said they never discussed the murders and described their friendship as “ships that pass in the night.” According to O’Neil, they stopped corresponding after they drifted apart.But this doesn’t settle the question, it just leaves no evidence strong enough to answer it. Lizzie and Nance were two unmarried women who formed a close friendship, however briefly. This, combined with Emma’s abrupt departure, added mystery to a household already famous for an unsolved double murder.How to Watch Monster: The Lizzie Borden StoryElla Beatty stars as Lizzie Borden alongside Jessica Barden as O’Neil. Lizzie is the first female subject featured in Monster, with previous seasons featuring Ed Gein, Lyle and Erik Menendez, and Jeffrey Dahmer.Despite rumors about Lizzie’s relationship with O’Neil, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story does not depict the pair as lovers. All eight episodes of the new season are now streaming on Netflix.