
Warning – This post contains spoilers for Netflix’s Dirty John.
When Debra Newell met John Meehan for a candlelit dinner in October 2014, she thought she had met the man of her dreams.
He was charismatic, handsome and he was a successful anaesthetist who had just returned from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders.
Right from the beginning, however, Debra’s daughter Terra Newell was incredibly suspicious of John.
And in the end, Terra’s instincts were spot on.
After marrying John two months into their relationship, Debra soon learned John’s true side. In reality, he was a compulsive liar and a manipulator who was set on driving a wedge between Debra and her family.
When Debra finally left John, he spiralled out of control, attacking Terra in the car park of her apartment building while brandishing a knife.
Luckily, John dropped the knife and a struggle ensured between the pair, ending with Terra stabbing John 13 times.
Now, nearly three years on from the attack which left John Meehan dead, Terra is still dealing with the trauma.
The trauma has affected her so badly that she was “wary” of meeting Eric Bana, who plays John Meehan on new Netflix series Dirty John.
“[Debra] came up to me and said, ‘I don’t know whether to hug you or slap you’ because she’d seen the whole season,” Eric told Metro.
