There have been two dramatic television pieces based on the events of June 13, 1980, within a year of each other: Hulu’s 2022 series. Sweet starring Jessica Biel and the 2023 HBO limited series love death Starring Elizabeth Olsen. If you can’t get enough of this story, you may be wondering where is candy montgomery now And if he’s in jail for the alleged murder of his close friend, Betty Gore.
Biel explained to MY! News in 2022 how he can relate to Candy, despite his character’s alleged crimes. “As we started to get involved and started to really understand who these characters are, just the pathology of what it was like to be a woman in the ’80s, I think I was really able to empathize with these women.” she said. “I could see myself struggling with some of the same issues that they are struggling with.” She continued: “The pressure of being a woman and trying to do everything with a smile on your face, family and work pressures and everything. I feel that.”
Meanwhile, Olsen said Eastern Time a year later that there was no point in comparing her performance to Biel’s and that the HBO series offers a different perspective on Candy’s life. “There is no need to have competition. Stories that are interesting deserve to be told, and each way you tell them will be different. It’s impossible for it to be the same,” she said, even revealing that love death had been in production for two months prior Sweet was announced and Biel contacted Olsen personally. “I think it was more like, ‘Oh, great. It’s good that we’re both acknowledging this because we were filming simultaneously,” Olsen explained. “It was a huge shock to all of us that another show was made when we were already filming. But there is nothing you can do about it.
So Where is Candy Montgomery now? And she went to jail for the murder of Betty Gore? Read on to find out what we know about the real story behind Sweet and love death And if Candy Montgomery is still alive.
What happened to Candy Montgomery?
What happened to Candy Montgomery? Candy, who was born Candice Wheeler, was accused of murdering her close friend, Betty Gore, in Wylie, Texas, on June 13, 1980, after having an extramarital affair with Betty’s husband, Allan Gore. Living with the Gores with her husband, Pat Montgomery, and their two children, Candy met Betty, a high school teacher, at a service at Lucas United Methodist Church in Collin County, Texas, and they became friends. nearby.
Krysten Ritter, Elizabeth Olsen. Image: Love and Death, HBO Max
According Texas Monthly, Candy confessed to the murder in a hypnosis session with psychiatrist Dr. Fred Fason. He claimed at her trial that he visited Betty to pick up a bathing suit for Betty’s daughter, Alisa, who was staying with Candy and her husband for the night. While at Betty’s house, Betty confronted Candy about her affair with Allan, which Candy confessed to but told Betty that it happened “a long time ago”. Candy claimed at the trial that Betty left the room and returned with an axe, with which she threatened Candy so that she would never see Allan again, to which Candy agreed. While picking up Alisa’s swimsuit, Candy apologized to Betty, which she says made Betty mad at her and pushed her into a utility room. Candy claimed that she and Betty had a long fight that resulted in cuts on her toe and head. She also claimed that Betty told her that she wanted to “kill” her. Candy also claimed that she managed to take the ax from Betty and used the blade on Betty in her own defense before her friend could attack her again. Terrified that she had killed Betty, Candy tried to leave the room, but before she could, she claimed that Betty stopped her by slamming her body against the door.
A fight ensued between Betty and Candy, as Betty refused to let Candy leave. During the fight, Betty told Candy to “shut up”, prompting Candy to beat her with the ax to the “point of complete exhaustion”. During her hypnosis session, Candy also claimed that she suffered childhood trauma that was triggered when she was told to shut up. On the day of Betty’s death, Allan was out of town. When he couldn’t reach her wife by phone, he asked the neighbors to see her. After they forced their way into the house, they discovered Betty’s dead body, as Betty and Allan’s 1-year-old daughter Bethany, who had been sleeping in her crib in another room at the time of the incident, was crying and wake up. . A few feet from Betty was a three-foot-long axe, which authorities claimed Candy used to cut Betty 41 times, including 28 times on her head and face.
Shortly after the murder, Betty turned herself in to local authorities and was set on $100,000 bail, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram. After an eight-day trial, where the defense argued that Candy acted in self-defense and the prosecution argued that Betty was conscious when most of the stabbings occurred and that her death was intentional (and that she also showered in Betty’s bathroom after the murder). )—Candy was acquitted of murder charges in October 1980. Psychiatrists testified at trial and claimed that Candy had a “dissociative reaction” that led her to repeatedly stab Betty. The incident was also protected by Texas’ “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows for the use of deadly force if necessary to prevent a violent crime, such as Betty’s violent threats against Candy. Ultimately, Candy was found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense. A jury acquitted her of the murder charges on October 29, 1980. She was not in jail.
Where is Candy Montgomery now?
Where is Candy Montgomery now? According to Texas Monthly, Candy and her husband, Pat, left Texas shortly after the trial in 1980 and moved to Georgia. They divorced four years later. According to Entertainment Weekly, Candy changed her name back to Candace Wheeler (her maiden name of hers) and she still lives in Georgia, where she works as a mental health counselor with her daughter, Jenny.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2022, Biel revealed that she tried to contact a representative for Candy to see if “she was interested in having any conversations.” “She wasn’t interested,” Biel said. To play Candy, Biel spoke with Candy’s attorney, Robert Udashen, one of two attorneys who defended her in her case, whom Biel called a “great resource of information” for Sweet.
Jessica Biel in Sweets. Image: Tina Rowden/Hulu
Biel explained why she was drawn to Candy and Betty’s case because of Sweet. “For 90 percent of their lives, they lived these very normal suburban lives, and then, boom, this crazy thing happened,” she said. “She had to be loved and likeable and nice and kind and someone you can really have your back, and then after this crazy thing happens, I still want you to be behind her weirdly,” she says. Lynskey added of Betty: “I felt like I knew her, and parts of me were parts of her.” She continued: “You’re living in this feeling and sometimes it can feel a bit repetitive, but that’s how depression feels to her, too.”
For her part, Olsen looked back at the women who covered magazines in the late ’70s and early ’80s to see who Candy might look up to, according to an interview with vanity fair. “We tried to understand the kind of pressure and perfectionism that could lead her to [the killing]Olsen explains. “Candy was always trying to create something more for herself.”
She continued: “It’s hard not to think of Hillary Clinton at that moment, especially for a woman who had hopes and dreams of being more than just a wife, a mother and a caretaker…. I also thought about Hillary when it comes to hairdo because there is this [mugshot of Candy with a perm]. But we know that people don’t necessarily get perms for two years in a row because their hair would fall out. We had to invent some [hair] story leading up to the moment.”
love death is available to stream on HBOMax. Sweet is available to stream on hulu.
Image: Courtesy of Open Road Media.
To learn more about Candy Montgomery, read John Bloom and Jim Atkinson’s 2018 book, Love Trials: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs. The true crime bestseller that was the basis for Hulu Sweet series—delves into the case of Betty Gore, a high school teacher from Wylie, Texas, who was murdered by her best friend, Candy Montgomery, on June 13, 1980. “Candy Montgomery and Betty Gore had a lot in common: They sang together. in the Methodist church choir, their daughters were the best of friends and their husbands had good jobs at tech companies in the northern Dallas suburbs known as Silicon Prairie. But beneath the placid surface of their seemingly perfect lives, both women simmered with unspoken frustrations and unanswered desires,” reads the publisher’s description. The book includes exclusive interviews with the Gore and Montgomery families, as well as a gripping account of the Montgomery murder trial. The book is described as a nail-biting story that is sure to “enthrall true crime buffs,” according to Kirkus Reviews.
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