By Lizzie Borden’s sister Emma Borden doesn’t appear all that much in Netflix’s newly released show “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.” However, when she does, she leaves quite an impression as the more accomplished sibling of the household whose inner turmoil plays out during the infamous trial for the gruesome Aug. 1982 murders of the pair’s father and stepmother.
But what was she really like?
The true story of Emma Borden doesn’t quite match that of the “It Girl” character in the series, which was released Sept. 17. While Emma, played by actor Billie Lourd, is portrayed as a foil to her awkward, spinster sister Lizzie, the real-life eldest daughter wasn’t a popular gal, swimming in suitors and often away from home. Rather, experts and historical accounts show that Emma Borden was attached to her younger sister and lived for years, upholding a promise she once made to look after Lizzie Borden.
“More than a passive bystander, she was the emotional rock, the financial guardian, and ultimately, the keeper of secrets that would remain buried forever,” the Lizzie Borden House wrote of Emma Borden on its website.
What Is Emma Borden Like on ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?’
In the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan series, Emma is considered the superior child by her stepmother and father. Most of the time, she’s not home, instead spending her days with suitors.
In one scene during the second episode, Emma reveals that high society man Bard Wainwright is courting her. And in that same episode, he asks for her hand in marriage. Emma responds by collapsing elegantly on the fainting couch before enthusiastically agreeing to tie the knot.
“Emma comes and goes with the wind,” Lizzie, played by Ella Beatty, tells maid Bridget as she watches the private engagement through a crack in the door. “Everything a girl could want just falls into her lap.”
In a private conversation with Lizzie, Emma reveals that she has no such intentions of marrying Bard, but plans to string him along “just like the last two.” The eldest daughter explains to Lizzie that she isn’t interested in being “hog-tied to one man for the rest of your life.”
In another standout moment in the conversation, Emma reveals that she will be inheriting the bulk of their father Andrew Borden’s fortune due to her strong will. Lizzie, on the other hand, will be relegated to just 5% of the wealth because she, instead, is “feebleminded.”
Viewers don’t see much of Emma until much further in the series, when she walks into the crime scene and discovers her father’s gory cadaver on the couch. Emma jumps to conclusions and upon seeing her sister, immediately accuses Lizzie of being behind the murders.
While Lizzie is being detained as a suspect, Emma visits the younger sister and expresses doubt around her innocence. She reveals that on their late mother’s deathbed she had promised to always protect Lizzie, but that the shifting narratives and unusual sequence of events make it all difficult.
But when it comes to her actual testimony, Emma makes a resounding defense of Lizzie and is among the key figures who contribute to the younger Borden’s exoneration.
After the trial, Emma turns to laudanum and alcohol to cope with her depression. Gone are the days that men are interested in marrying her, as the Borden name has turned into “a bit of an albatross,” she says. And near the end of the show, she decides she can no longer tolerate the idea of being under her sister’s roof, leaving Lizzie for good.
“I hope that on your deathbed, you admit what you did,” Emma says in her last words to Lizzie.
What Was The Real-Life Emma Borden Like and Where Was She During The Murders?
The “Monster” version of Emma Borden is a sharp departure from the real-life woman. Emma, it turns out, was a quiet, highly conservative person, according to the Lizzie Borden House. And there were simply no records of her ever having a suitor.
As for her relationship to her stepmother, Emma Borden was said to be more resentful of Abby Borden than Lizzie Borden was. Emma, who was 14 when her father remarried, always called Abby by her first name.
“Perhaps her grief foreclosed a warmer relationship with the woman she viewed as her mother’s replacement,” author Cara Robertson wrote in her book “The Trial of Lizzie Borden.”
Robertson also suggests that Emma may have “felt she served as mother to Lizzie and resented Abby’s intrusion.”
And unlike what the show depicted, Emma was not the main beneficiary of the Andrew Borden fortune. In fact, Andrew had used his resources to buy Abby’s family a home — something that did not sit well with the Borden sisters.
“We know that from that point, both Lizzie and Emma blamed their stepmother for their father’s actions,” Robertson previously told TODAY.com “Even though he tried to equalize matters by deeding over some property to them, they viewed their stepmother as having played this negative role in siphoning away Borden money to (Abby’s) family.”
One aspect of the Netflix series’ portrayal of Emma does ring true, however. Robertson’s book points out that Emma once spoke of the promise she made to her mother.
“When my darling mother was on her deathbed she summoned me, and exacted a promise that I would always watch over ‘Baby Lizzie,’” Emma said, according to Robertson’s book.
On the day of the murders, Emma was visiting friends in another town, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, some miles away from the family’s home in Fall River, the book mentions.
It wasn’t until Emma received a telegram that afternoon that she learned about the double homicide, according to the Lizzie Borden House website.
What Was Emma Borden’s Role in The Murder Trial?
During the famous trial that shocked the nation, Emma Borden stepped up, using her inheritance to retain former Massachusetts Governor George D. Robinson along with other heavy-hitting attorneys to defend her sister.
What’s more, Emma put on an invaluable performance during her testimony. As Robertson writes, Emma was the key defense witness who provided the “most potent character support for her accused sister.”
“Fortunately, Emma was up to the difficult task: ‘There was no swaying of her slender form, no dropping of her straight-cut eye, no quivering of her tight-shut mouth,’” Robertson wrote in her book.
What Happened to Emma Borden After Lizzie Borden Was Acquitted?
Though Emma and Lizzie lived in peace for a stretch of time after the murders, moving into an estate they called “Maplecroft” in Fall River’s affluent neighborhood of the Hill, the calm didn’t last forever, according to Robertson’s book.
Following the trial, Lizzie attempted to start a new life, rebranding herself as “Lizbeth” and ingratiating herself with the theater crowd. Emma, Robertson wrote, strongly disapproved. The much more conservative, elder sister sought the advice of her pastor, who encouraged her to move on.
In 1905, more than a decade after the murders, Emma left and never spoke to Lizzie again, according to Robertson’s account.
Emma died just nine days after Lizzie. According to the Lizzie Borden House, Emma was unaware her sister ever died.
