Now that articles, podcasts, news magazines and miniseries have had their sensationalistic say, Debra Newell, one woman who truly knows what is was like to survive "Dirty John" Meehan, shares the full story - the reality - with the world for the first time.
Debra Newell is nothing if not a surviver. By the time she met John Michael Meehan online, she had live through a near-fatal childhood illness, an attempted rape in her 20s, the traumatic death of her sister at the hands of her brother-in-law, and multiple failed marriages.But despite those tragedies, she seemed to have it all: adoring children, a successful business, and a fabulous penthouse apartment.
Still, to her, there was something missing: the blinding, all-consuming love she first read about while passing time in her childhood sickbed. And she thought she found that love for real with John Meehan.
Debra's story is one of trauma, heartbreak, and deception. But it is also a relatable, inspirational, and hopeful story of forgiveness and, most of all, love: the boundaries children and parents cross to protect and save the people they love; the love one must find for oneself; and the way the illusion of love can be used to manipulate and harm. Told in her own words with the help of New York Times bestseller author M. William Phelps, this book is filled with exclusive sorties about Debra and her family, previously unpublished photos, and the unvarnished, unapologetic, and unbelievable reality of Surviving Dirty John.
Debra Newell is nothing if not a surviver. By the time she met John Michael Meehan online, she had live through a near-fatal childhood illness, an attempted rape in her 20s, the traumatic death of her sister at the hands of her brother-in-law, and multiple failed marriages.But despite those tragedies, she seemed to have it all: adoring children, a successful business, and a fabulous penthouse apartment.
Still, to her, there was something missing: the blinding, all-consuming love she first read about while passing time in her childhood sickbed. And she thought she found that love for real with John Meehan.
Debra's story is one of trauma, heartbreak, and deception. But it is also a relatable, inspirational, and hopeful story of forgiveness and, most of all, love: the boundaries children and parents cross to protect and save the people they love; the love one must find for oneself; and the way the illusion of love can be used to manipulate and harm. Told in her own words with the help of New York Times bestseller author M. William Phelps, this book is filled with exclusive sorties about Debra and her family, previously unpublished photos, and the unvarnished, unapologetic, and unbelievable reality of Surviving Dirty John.
