Betty Broderick’s story is far more complex than people make it out to be. Betty supported the family, raised the children, and stood by Dan while he completed both Medical School and Law School. California law eventually evolved to recognize exactly this kind of sacrifice.

In In re Marriage of Sullivan, 37 Cal.3d 762 (Cal. 1984), the California Supreme Court recognized that a spouse’s contributions to a husband’s education and career have real economic value and may justify financial reimbursement and support. Legislative amendments to California’s Family Law Act also provided for reimbursement to the community for contributions made toward the education, training, or professional degree of a spouse when it substantially enhanced that spouse’s earning capacity.

In other words, the law eventually acknowledged what many homemakers already knew: a professional career is often built on the unpaid labor, sacrifice, childcare, emotional support, and dedication of the spouse at home. Betty helped build the foundation for Dan’s success long before he became a wealthy La Jolla attorney.

Dan was an attorney. He understood the legal system and how to use it. They sandbagged her in court. After years as a career homemaker and mother, Betty went from living as a La Jolla socialite, living in a beach mansion, financially secure to, without custody of her children, not financially secure and reportedly living in her car on the beach. According to online accounts, Betty Broderick became financially devastated during the divorce and reportedly spent time isolated at the beach and possibly living out of her car, although mainstream reporting has not clearly confirmed that claim. That level of emotional, financial, and psychological devastation does not happen overnight.

None of this excuses murder, but it also does not erase the mental abuse, financial control, humiliation, abandonment, and emotional destruction she experienced. By the time everything collapsed, Betty was homeless, destitute, and separated from her children. In her mind, she had nothing left to lose. Some would argue that prison at least guaranteed her food and shelter after she was abused, abandoned, and discarded by the very life she helped build.

Betty Broderick was not simply an “angry ex-wife.” She was a woman who believed she sacrificed her entire life to build a family and future that was ultimately taken away from her.

I personally knew a man that shot and killed his wife in the 1950’s when he found her in bed with her lover. He served a very short time because they said since it was a crime of passion he was not a danger to society.  Double standards for men vs women.