Latest / Legally Brunette / Killer Thriller: Lela Rochon: He seemed polite and soft-spoken…but date him and it could get you killed.

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Killer Thriller: Lela Rochon: He seemed polite and soft-spoken…but date him and it could get you killed. · Legally Brunette

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Amy roboc and TJ. Holmes present Killer Thriller with your
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: host Alisa Donovan.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Alisa Donovan here back with a new episode
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: of Killer Thriller. Today we are continuing the conversation around
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a story that has clearly struck a nerve, the real
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: life case behind the dating app killer, the Monica White story.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: We are talking.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: About how predators hide in plain sight, how charm can
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: disarm even the smartest among us, and how quickly a
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: seemingly normal interaction can turn into something far more dangerous.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: So our guest today is actress Leila Rashaan, who takes
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: on the role of Monica White in this film.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: As a quick reminder, this movie.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Is based on the real case of Anthony Robinson. Anthony
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: met women through dating apps. He presented as soft spoken, polite,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: even vulnerable, and he murdered multiple women in the DC,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Virginia area and then dumped them in shopping carts, dubbing
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: him the shopping cart killer. Aderie convicted him very quickly
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and he's due to be sentenced this may. Leila brings
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: us inside the emotional reality of a woman who initially
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: trusted this man, then questioned and doubted herself and ultimately
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: had to decide whether to listen to her instincts.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Leila, Welcome to Killer Thriller.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Oh, thank you for having me.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I am very honored to meet you.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I've been a very big fan for a long time,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: so I just wanted to say that straight away, thank you.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: And I spoke with Elizabeth Rome, the director of this film, recently,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and she's wonderful, as you already know, and such a
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: wonderful director and just was singing your praises rightfully, so
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: so this character, you know. But now we're very excited
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to talk to you because you are the voice of Monica,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: and you you brought such a warmth and grace and
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: a kind heartedness to this character. And I just what
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: did you see in Monica that made you want to
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: tell this story?
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: First of all, I couldn't believe that this really happened,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: and that was sort of, you know, wow. And I
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: just wanted her to be dignified and I wanted people
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: to understand where she was coming from. And for me,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: I felt that you have to be very lonely to
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: really want love in your life. And it's you know,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: it's very common that women in a lot of ways
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: want to believe what they want to believe when we
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: want to believe it. And she wanted to believe that
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: this guy was going to work out, and she knew
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: everything in her heart and her soul was telling her
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: it's not right, it's not right, and she didn't listen
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: to that voice in her head.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I think that's so that's at the heart of this
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: whole story, is that so many of so much of
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: this is about that loneliness and that desire to connect
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: on both sides to some degree. And you know, I
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: think that this what's so one of the things that's
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: so scary about all of this is that it starts
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: on such normal circumstances that many, many, many women have
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: found themselves in post divorce and trying to sort of
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: start a new life and date, you know, start dating again.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: And the fact that it's on that these you know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: she wasn't a reckless person, right, she was a hopeful person.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: And do you think that that's do you think that
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that's what makes it scarier, that it's such a thing
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that I mean, millions of people use these apps.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: I think it's scary because she had not a clue.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, who would ever think that somebody was a
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: serial killer. You might think, you know, the first time
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I meet this person, I might be in danger. I
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: have to be careful in all of those things. But
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: you would never think that when you're talking to somebody
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: for weeks and weeks and weeks that they're plotting to
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: kill you. I mean, who thinks that way? Most people
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: don't think that way. You know, you joke and say, oh,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: he could be a serial killer, but you don't really.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Mean it, right, You don't really mean it.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: No, and he really was, which is crazy.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, one of the things that's so effective about
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the film, I think are those the juxtapositioning of what
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: he's really doing and that what Monica is doing when
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: she's texting him, and that you know that reality is
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: very real, Like we never know what someone is doing
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: on the other side of a screen.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: We really don't. And that is like a whoof alarming.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: And talking to her. It is really interesting that she
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: said the Holy Spirit kept speaking to her. The Holy
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Spirit was telling me that he wasn't right, and wow,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: she wasn't really listening to those voices until she did
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: listen to it. And I feel I'm a very spiritual person,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: and certain people I know immediately like this is a person,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: this is somebody to stay away from. And you know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: sort of growing up and coming up in Hollywood in
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: the eighties and nineties, that's all you had was your
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: spirit to tell you. We didn't have computers or information
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: you can get on people to really know who they were.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: You had to just use your judgment. And I think
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: that I love the way the actor Jared plays it,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Jared Joseph, because he's just got a little cringiness to
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: him that makes me uncomfortable, and I'm like going, oof,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: he's playing it so well because he's so cute. You
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: like him and he's a great guy. But then you
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: know something's off. You just can't figure out what that something.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Is exactly, because it's that the politeness and the kind
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: of all vulnerability, and he really did that so well.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: We're that kind of turning on a dime there moments
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: where you go, oh, this guy is not right.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Not right, not right. I think Monica said that the
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: first thing he said to her was, please don't judge me,
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: give me a chance.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Who says that, who says that, who says that?
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Red flag yes, yeah, And I think that she just
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: wanted to believe she just wanted love. She just wanted love,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: you know, that's all she wanted, just to have a
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: good time, and you know, not thinking that he was
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: a real killer.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, so this is another question. Do you think
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: that women, I mean, I know what I think. Do
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: you think that we often, you know, we are so
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: willing to believe the best in people and also are
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: willing to self question and say, oh is it me?
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Am I doing something?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: And do you think that's part of what is going
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: on here and something that we as women need to
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: kind of pay more attention to to really listen to
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: that that voice.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I think absolutely. I think what your inner spirit will
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: always tell you what's best and what to do. And
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I think she was insecure because he was so much
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: younger than her. That's the number one. She's freshly divorced.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: That's insecurity number two. And her son had just left home.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: So she's an empty nester. She's bored, she's got time
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: on her hands. And I think the real mond like
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: a White, said that I was bored. I wanted to
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: have fun. You know, she's she was primed for the picking,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: you know, yes, yes, And when you are that kind
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: of person, even like something like the Epstein victims, they
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: know who to pray on. They always know who to
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: pray on. And when he says gotcha, he knew, he knew.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: And I think the only thing that saved her, and
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: that was the first question I had to ask myself,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: is oh, I don't want to give away what happens
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: to her, but I think it was a great part
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: of it, you know, saving her was that she was
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: spiritual and she was different from the other victims.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, did you so tell me about so you spoke
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: with her, then I did, Yes, tell me about that.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Did you meet her in person?
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: You speak on the phone or I did not get
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: to meet her in person, but we spoke on FaceTime.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: We spoke on the phone, and I just felt that
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: she was she was embarrassed. I think she was very
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: embarrassed by what happened. And you know, it's something that
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: you can't be embarrassed about. You know, it happens to people,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: you know, and it's not her fault. It wasn't her fault.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: You know that she was preyed upon. Like I know
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: a lot of people who have met their husband online
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: and been very successful and are still married to this day.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: You just don't know what you're gonna get mm hm.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: So I think that she had a lot of self
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: blame that you know, I hope one day that she
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: recovers from.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I do too, because you know, to your point, these
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: these things happen, and it is not a fault to
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: be vulnerable and to want love like that is certainly
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: not a something to be ashamed of, and it is
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: certainly not a flaw. And do you think that has
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: she seen the film? Did she had she told do
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: her feelings or.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: I do not know whether she's seen the film, And
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I'm very curious about that too. I think I hope,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: and I think that she would be really happy, you know,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: and how I portrayed her because I wanted her to
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: have dignity and I didn't want her to come across
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: dumb or you know, like, oh my god, come on girl,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Like I wanted her to be a woman who was
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: put in a situation that a lot of women would
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: make that choice.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: There's something that is very unsettling about how quickly he
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: tries to insert himself into Monica's life and did that
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: feel like which it seems to be very much the
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: case in reality. Did that feel did that escalation feel
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: realistic to you?
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Did it feel like how?
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Like?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: How do you?
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I felt like it was troubling, and I think it's
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: definitely a red flag. But you sort of think, well,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: is this guy just looking for a place to crash?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Does this guy just not have money or a place
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: to stay. I think that's what most women are usually
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: afraid of. Does he want me for my money? Does
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: he want me for you know, comfort or place to live?
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: So I think she might have been leary, like, oh,
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: was he trying to use me? He just wants to
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: stay here? But she did in real life end up
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: letting him stay with her, and it was her birthday
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: that really happened. And instead of the niece, he was
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: actually hitting on the nephews and that was a change
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: that was made to the script by the network. And
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: interestingly enough, that told me a lot about him. And
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: I think it says that he didn't really like women
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: at all. You know, there was a hut there for
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: women because he was hitting on the nephews, not the woman.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: And Monica said that was what she used to get
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: him out of the house. She said, have you ever
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: slept with a man? And he said I have, and
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: she said, I don't do men who's sleep with them? Well,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: sleep with other men. And that was how she got
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: him to leave.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I mean, thank goodness.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean everybody has a red line, and that
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: was her red line. She was like, have you ever
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: slept with a man? And that's a question that you know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: women have to ask questions. And when you ask somebody
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: a question that's a yes or no answer, you got
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: to be really ready to accept that answer and make
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: your decision in regards to that answer. Don't not ask.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: You know, that told her everything she needs to know
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: about him.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: You know, Oh, that's such a good point, just about
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: women asking questions like we have to ask and she
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you know, I really do hope that she feels some
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: kind of redemption and power, Like she really comes off
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: as a.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Hero in this movie. You know, she really does.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: She's the only one that survived, not the kibaway at
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: the ending, but she really is the only one that survived.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: So when I first sat down and figured out what
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: I wanted to do with the character, I had to say,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: why does she survive? Why is she the only one
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: that survives. And I felt like the only thing that
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: I got from the story and from the script was
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: it was because of her religion. It was because of
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: her beliefs. And then to talk to her midway through
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: the movie that she said the Holy Spirit was telling
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: her he wasn't right. It said a lot about you know,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: it wasn't like the other women they met. They had
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: drinks at the bar, they went straight back to a
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: hotel with him. She was like, no, no, no, I
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: want to get to know you. I want you to
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: get to know me. I want to know each other.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I want to talk to you. And I think in
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: that relationship she was able to get something on a
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: sort of maternal almost relationship going with him, where he
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: opened up to her in ways that he hadn't the
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: other victims. In that I think that made her a
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: lot more human, which probably kept her alive.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Right, That's what I was going to say, That probably
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: is one of the things that saved her life. Yeah,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: it's really quite a beautiful message in that regard that
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: if you know, when you try to truly have a
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: genuine connection with another human being, it's nothing short of
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: life saving in many ways. And you know, because so
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: many of the things that we talk about on this
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: podcast are these really terrible, tragic things that happen, but
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: it's we're talking about human beings and how you know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: everyone is coming from a place of need and some
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: or lack or both, and you know, ultimately people do
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: we just want to have love and connection. And so
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I think she's pretty pretty miraculous. What do you think
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that people misunderstand about predators like Anthony?
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: I think, well, they're hard to understand. I think usually
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: there's a mental illness there some some way somewhere, and
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: I think that those signs were there as far as
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: their conversations and the things he had been through and
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: the lies that he was telling. You know, she pauses
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: every time he tells her a lie, and she questions it,
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: but yet she's scared over it until she doesn't until
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: she's forced not to. But I think with predators and
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: people like that, I think anything that strikes you as strange,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: and anything in your spirit that says, uh uh, this
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: is not right, this doesn't feel right, you have to
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: follow that little voice inside you. And I think that's
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: what saved her, you know, And I think, like we said,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: just the hesitation to really get to know a person.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're going to let them inside your body.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Don't you want to know who you're letting in? Yes? Yes,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: I mean I would you know? Who are you? You know?
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Don't you care? Right?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: There's I mean, I think that's also a part of
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: there's such a disconnect. I mean, that's a whole other
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: conversation about you know, what's happening in society and like
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: our disconnect with one another. And this is, you know,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: one of those things that we can't you can't replace
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: that human connection. And it's you know, tragic to me
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and many I mean because.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: You know, think about it a long time ago, when
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: there wasn't a dating apps and there wasn't the Internet.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: It was all based on you meeting someone in person, yes,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: and talking to them on the phone and having a
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: human connection and talking them for hours possibly and you know,
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: running into them several times or over time. You know,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: you're not going to get to know somebody behind a
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: computer screen and typing. You're just not going to get
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: to feel who they are, right, And you have to
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: take the time to get to know somebody, and you know,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: sometimes no judging that might be a short time, you know,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: you know, but you got to listen to those voices
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: that tell you better, and you got to be cautious
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: no matter what, you know, meeting in a public place,
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: like she tried to do everything she thought was right,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: but she had a soft spot in her heart and
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: it really we really lizen. I really tried to play
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: to the fact that she was a Christian woman and
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: she did believe in helping people, and he needed a
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: place to stay, and it was all those things that
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: sort of made her vulnerable.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Has this case and making this movie changed your I mean,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: I know you're married.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I married.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I met my husband before these apps were really a thing.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: So and I always feel like, oh, dear God, I
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: don't know how.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: What I would do.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: But has doing this changed your feelings about apps in general?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Like do you have friends that are on them currently?
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Yes? I do, and I just feel for them, I
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: really really do. And you know, nieces, nephews, young people
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: who use them, they use them and they should use them.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Otherwise you're not going to meet anybody in the house.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: You're not going to meet anybody at home sitting there.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: But it's just, you know, it's a tale to be cautious,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: and to be very cautious, you know about that person,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: you really have to vet them in many many ways.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: You have to you know, figure out who knows them,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: meet their family, meet their family first or at the
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: same time. But they have to be totally open with
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: you and honest with you to make a pure judgment.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: You cannot just meet a stranger in private or in
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: a strange place, or let them know where you live
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: or you know. That's another thing. He goes immediately to
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: her house the first time they meet, and that is
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: a no, no no, that's a no no because she
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: felt for him, because he didn't have a place to stay.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: He didn't make arrangements to stay anywhere.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Else, right, And I've read also that the wife his
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: or his ex fiance Sky that you speak about in
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: the in the film as well, that she really did die.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: But now there is a question of whether or not
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: he was responsible for her death. Like this this man,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: there are still things that are unfolding about the crimes
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: that he has committed, which is super scary.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: But he uses that with her as like.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: A tool to be vulnerable and show that he has,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: you know, has had difficulty in his life and tragedy.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: He manipulates her and makes her feel sorry for him
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: because he lost Sky and really Elizabeth and I realize
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: we assumed he killed her, he killed her, but it
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: shows his sense of mental illness that he thinks. You know,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: he's told hisself that she died and it's not his
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: fault because that's what he's told himself. And you tell
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: yourself something enough, you'll believe it, and he believes it,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: you know, because he's not okay. This man is not okay.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's being sentenced in May of this year for
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: maybe it's the other crimes. I know he was convicted
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: of two, but there are two to four others that
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: are still.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I think they're building the case on.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Right, because there was six victims, right right, and all
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: different types of women, all different types.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that seems to you know, track with your comment
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: before about him generally hating women like it didn't there's
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: no you know, because at first it seemed like, oh,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: he likes older women, but then you his first victim
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: was twenty nine or something, so there really isn't any real.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You know, specific code.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: How did you in playing a real person who is
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: still very much alive and that you have spoken with
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: and got to know, certainly a little bit. What kind
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: of responsibility do you feel in portraying someone that's still alive.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: It used to freak me out because I've played real
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: people many times. I think first time I remember is
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: I did the original Mister Missus Loving story with Timothy
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Hutton years ago, and I was so afraid to speak
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: to her because I just didn't want to not do
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: her justice. And I just really try to analyze the script,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: go by what's written, go by the story, and think
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: of what makes sense. And then I'm always very fearful
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: to talk to that person because I feel like it's
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: going to mess up my head or mess up my choices.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: And then when I spoke to Mildred Loving and she
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: had this soft, real sweet way of speaking, and she
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: was an older woman at the time, I just went,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: oh my god, I had her exactly right, you know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: because you can only go by what's written. And I
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: think in a movie years ago I did with Halle
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Barring and Bibica Fox called White The Fools Fall in Love,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: we played three widows that were fighting over Frankie Lyman's estate,
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: and those were real people. And the woman that I
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: played was the only one that was still living at
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: the time, and she said to me she was really
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: happy I was playing her. But she said to me
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: at the premiere, She's like, I wasn't that homely. I
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: had a little bit more sas to me, you played her,
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: and I was like, well, that's the way they wrote it.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: You know. You can only go by what they write
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: on the page and use your creativity with that, you know.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: But I just I'm always fearful playing a real person.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Whether they're going to be happy with it or whether
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: they're not going to be happy with it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: You just don't know, right, I Mean, some of us
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: have magical memories about our pasts, you know, like we
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: think we maybe we're a little more elegant than we were.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Than we think we were that we really were. But
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: it's hard. I don't think anybody would. I mean, that
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: would be a strange thing for somebody to play you
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: and play your life like. I don't think anybody would
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: make you really happy unless you see them as some
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: improversion of yourself.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Right right, right?
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: So do you so?
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Monica, clearly, as we've talked about, survived because she ultimately
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: followed her gut instinct, And do you think that that's
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: something that women often ignore.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: All the time. I think all the time, especially in dating,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: you ignore the voices all the time because you want
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: it to work, because you're desperate to be happy. If
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: you're searching, you're searching. And I think that we're picky,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: but not always, you know, it's you try to give
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: people a chance, because sometimes you can be too judgmental
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: and too picky, and you have to give people a chance.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: You have to get to know them before you say, Okay,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: you know, he's all right, you know, or maybe I
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: can live with this, maybe I can't live with that,
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: you know. I think we tell ourselves stories in our heads,
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: and that can be dangerous because sometimes we tell ourselves
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: the wrong stories and you look back years later and say,
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: you know, I knew that was wrong the day I
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: met him, and I follow my instates.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: It's, you know, selling ourselves short.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Also, you know, accepting less than what we really deserve.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Sometimes.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: I think the scene in the film on the Bus
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: where Anthony's on the bus and the woman next to
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: him just starts to ask him what he's doing, like
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: where he's going and.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Why, and he says, you know, that.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: About doing horrible things and then sort of the more
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: you do it, it just becomes okay, like you just
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: kind of get used to it. And I found that
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: very chilling, and I'm wondering if you know, if that
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: was based in something real or was that sort of
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: an interpretation.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: That they made. It was very, very impactful, I thought.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I think that what I liked about the story is
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: you have her, and you have the girl in the
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: bar that says I'm leaving and he goes why and
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: she said, because I'm just not feeling it. And I
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: think it was important to have a balance of people
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: who instinctually could read him as dangerous and not write.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: And I think that you had to have that balance
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: because everybody didn't fall for him, you know, there had
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: to be some people that didn't. And I think that
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: that was just good writing that we saw both sides
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: right right.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Was there any scene in the film, either when you
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: watched it or when you were shooting that that really
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: just has stuck with you, that feels like.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: This just stayed with you.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I think the confrontation when she says, you know, I
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: was willing to give you everything. It's just that you
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: said those things to Jasmine her niece, and I think
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: that is hermost that's the heart of the story. You
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: know that this woman was willing to give him everything
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: if he had just been right. And that's that's embarrassing.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: It's it's hard to say, and it's so honest and
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: it's so truthful that she was willing to give him everything.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: What does that say? That's a lot. That's that's clear, clear,
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: just full vulnerability that I'm this open. I'm going to
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: share my home, I'm going to share everything I've worked for.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you everything. But she said those
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: things to my niece. But you did something bad, you
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: did something wrong. You showed me who you are. You
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: blew it. And I think it's even bigger than that
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: because he did just blew it. He ended up being crazy,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: a killer.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that will that scene as to fall because you
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: really see your performance in the whole movie is terrific.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: But I do remember that moment as well, and you.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Really feel the utter deflation and disappointment that she has
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: in him, Like, I really I believed something good in
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: you and you really you really let me down.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I it's very strong.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: What do you hope that women take away from Monica's story, I.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Think be careful and dating somebody twenty years younger, I
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: think that's a red flag. I mean, I'm not saying that,
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: you know, you can't have some fun, but that's a
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: lot of years, and I think you need to be
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: careful of what a man that young wants from you, Like,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: stop kidding yourself. You may be fabulous, but very few
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: are that fabulous that you know somebody years younger, which
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: he was. I think she was fifty, he was thirty.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: But also I just want them to be careful. You
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: have to be careful. You have to bet who you're
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: going out with and who you're dating even you know,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: there's a story of the other story of the girl
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: who met a guy and he was just married him everything,
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: and deep into the marriage she finds out he wasn't
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: who he was online. So you know, don't lie to yourself,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: be honest with yourself and really ask those important questions.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: And if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, okay.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: The Dating app Killer the Monica White Story premiered last
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: Saturday on Lifetime and it is streaming now on Filo
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: and you must watch it. Leila's performance, Jared's everybody. It's
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: so strong and I just am honored to have spoken
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: with you.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Leila.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here and I wish
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: you the best.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. It's been fun.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: Thank you,