Is ‘Dirty John’ Real? The True Story Behind Bravo Drama

“Dirty John,” Bravo’s new scripted series, is super creepy. A woman thinks she has finally met her match, but after they get married, she learns that he isn’t at all who he said he was. The most disturbing detail of the TV show? It’s a true story.

“Dirty John” is based on a true crime podcast of the same name. It follows the story of Debra Newell (Connie Britton in the TV show) who falls for a guy she meets online, John Meehan (Eric Bana). He seems to have it all. He says he’s a doctor who recently returned from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders, and he seems intelligent and like a family man. Debra fell hard and fast and eloped with him after two months, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Debra’s family, however, didn’t approve. They often didn’t like the men Debra dated because her forgiving personality often made her ignore red flags. Her daughters thought it was suspicious that John always wore his scrubs but had dirty fingernails. He wasn’t very forthcoming when they asked him questions. They received odd, misspelled texts that didn’t sound like their mother, and Debra kept complaining about money going missing from her wallet. They hired a private investigator.

A P.I. revealed that John was a drug addict, had been to jail multiple times and had a warehouse that had hardly anything in it, except a backpack with zip ties, what Debra’s daughter Terra told Megyn Kelly was “basically a kidnap kit.” He also had a nursing degree but no doctorate. When Debra confronted John, he had an answer for everything and even a lawyer who said he was the victim.

Debra and John separated, got back together and separated again. Their story came to an end when John eventually attacked Terra in a parking lot. He stabbed her several times before she managed to get the knife out of his hands and killed him in self-defense.

So how much is the show like the real story? It seems to stay pretty true. Many family members, including Debra, met with the cast and writers, an experience they didn’t have on the podcast.

The “Dirty John” TV show will, however, change a few things. It speeds up Debra’s suspicion of John so that it isn’t just about her blindly falling for this man. “Dirty John” also adds a rehab element that didn’t exist in the real story in order to make viewers a little more understanding of why Debra wanted to take him back. The final showdown with John and Terra will also be a bit slower.

“That happened so fast,” showrunner Alexandra Cunningham told Variety. “I wanted to make sure it was accurately portrayed, but there [are] a few things that were embellished because it’s TV. … You’ll really get to see it from a good perspective of how to survive if you were in that position.”

The series has the stamp of approval from Debra herself. She is thrilled with Britton’s portrayal of her, but she wasn’t sure what to think of Bana’s John. “I said, ‘Eric, I don’t know whether to slap you or kiss you,’” she told Us Weekly. “I have a little bit of mixed feelings here. He played the part very well.”

“Dirty John” premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.