You\u2019ve seen Wuornos before<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve heard Wuornos\u2019 story.<\/p>\n
The notorious figure became well known around the globe when actor Charlize Theron took on the role in Monster, a 2003 film that gained the star much praise during award season.<\/p>\n
Theron transformed her physical appearance for the role, gaining at least 11kg, donned prosthetic teeth and shaved her eyebrows to portray her real-life character.<\/p>\n
The role earned her a gong for Best Actress at the 76th Academy Awards and another for Best Actress in a motion picture at the Golden Globe Awards in the same year.<\/p>\n
Theron\u2019s role was hailed as \u201cone of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema\u201d by film critic Roger Ebert.<\/p>\n
Charlize Theron transformed into Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster. Photo \/ Supplied
Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her portrayal of a serial-killer in the 2003 film Monster. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Who was Aileen Wuornos?<\/p>\n
Wuornos was a sex worker who murdered seven of her male clients between 1989 and 1990, shooting them dead along major highways across central Florida.<\/p>\n
After an intense investigation, she was finally apprehended in January 1991 and formally convicted of multiple murders.<\/p>\n
Her first reported murder was that of 51-year-old shop owner Richard Mallory in 1989. He was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest two weeks after he engaged with Wuornos. Throughout the investigation, Wuornos maintained that she killed Mallory in self-defence after he raped and physically assaulted her.<\/p>\n
Construction worker David Spears, 47, followed with Wuornos reportedly shooting him six times in 1990. Her third victim, Charles Carskaddon, 40, also met with his death the same year.<\/p>\n
Retiree Peter Siems was alleged to be her next killing. While the body of the 65-year-old was never found, Wuornos\u2019 palm print was found on the handle of his car door. She was not formally charged for his murder.<\/p>\n
Salesman Troy Burress, 50, and former police chief Charles Richard \u201cDick\u201d Humphreys, 56, were next in line followed by her final murder in 1990, shooting dead 62-year-old security guard Walter Jeno Antonio.<\/p>\n
After serving six years on death row, she was executed by lethal injection in Florida in 2002.<\/p>\n
She reportedly declined her final meal, requesting a simple cup of coffee and spent her final evening with her childhood friend, Dawn.<\/p>\n
Her final words were: \u201cI\u2019d just like to say I\u2019m sailing with the rock, and I\u2019ll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus, June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aileen Wuornos shows a side no one has been before in the new Netflix documentary. Photo \/ Netflix<\/p>\n
A troubled life lived<\/p>\n
Born in Michigan in 1956 to devout Christian parents, Wuornos\u2019 childhood is best described as troubled.<\/p>\n
She was raised by her grandparents after her mother left when she was 4 years old, which fuelled her lifelong struggle with abandonment issues. Her father was jailed for seven years for abusing a 7-year-old girl before taking his own life in prison.<\/p>\n
Wuornos fell pregnant at the age of 14 after being raped and was reportedly sent to a residence for unwed mothers. She was forced to give up her son for adoption after his birth and when her grandparents died, she was turned over to state care with her brother.<\/p>\n
Wuornos spent the majority of her younger life living in and out of various foster homes and documents years of abuse she endured as a child before ultimately running away to live a life off the streets.<\/p>\n
In her early 20s, she hit the road hitchhiking through Florida, supporting herself through prostitution and minor crime.<\/p>\n
Her tough life meant that Wuornos was forced to fend for herself on the streets, forcefully admitting \u201cI\u2019m tough!\u201d in one recorded interview.<\/p>\n
Christina Ricci (left) played Aileen Wuornos\u2019 girlfriend Tyria Moore alongside Charlize Theron in Monster. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The shocking twist no one saw coming<\/p>\n
In a twist that no one \u2013 apart from maybe Wuornos herself \u2013 could\u2019ve predicted, viewers have been left torn over the newly released documentary, with some claiming it has completely changed their views on what unfolded in Wuornos\u2019 life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new Aileen Wuornos documentary pissed me off so bad. She had an awful life. She was a victim of misogyny, sexism and homophobia. Didn\u2019t deserved to be on death row. F*** the judge, the prosecutor, the reporters and anyone who didn\u2019t showed her a little bit of sympathy,\u201d one person slammed on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited the bar where serial killer Aileen Wuornos got captured. I\u2019ve watched docs about dozens of serial killers, and she\u2019s the only one I\u2019ve felt sympathy for. If you\u2019re not familiar with her, read up about her online and watch the movie Monster with Charlize Theron,\u201d another commented.<\/p>\n
And another shared: \u201cAileen Wuornos\u2019 story broke my heart. A woman crushed by cruelty and failed by justice. They ended her life instead of saving her. Rest in peace, Lee, the world let you down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, other viewers said the detailed doco managed to confirm their conflicted feelings about the killer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have watched different documentaries about Aileen Wuornos yet I\u2019m always ready to watch a new one. This Netflix documentary is so much more detailed, I would say. It confirms what I always believed: Aileen Wuornos should never have been executed. Life in prison, best option,\u201d another added.<\/p>\n
Aileen Wuornos died by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Photo \/ Getty Images
Convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos during an appearance at Volusia Court, Florida, in January 1991. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
A victim or cold-blooded killer?<\/p>\n
The social reaction to the doco is exactly what director Emily Turner was aiming for \u2013 a push to understand Wuornos\u2019 \u201cwhy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is so confusing and so complex, which runs so in the face of how we like women to be,\u201d she told Tudum.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd something that felt really important to me was that we weren\u2019t here to make an apology piece about what she\u2019d done. I hope that people come to really different conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n
By telling her story through unseen, archived footage, creators were able to present Wuornos as a traumatised character drawn to a life she didn\u2019t want \u2013 and from there, though they can\u2019t change any outcome, viewers can come to their own conclusions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much easier to write off someone who\u2019s done such heinous acts as a cold-blooded murderer [rather than] a deeply damaged human,\u201d Turner said. \u201cActually, she was made, and that\u2019s chilling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers is now streaming on Netflix and you can catch Charlize Theron\u2019s portrayal as the controversial figure on Tubi.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve seen Wuornos before Of course, it\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve heard Wuornos\u2019 story. The notorious figure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[74,87029,95,1863,8530,634,859,156,9787,1364,14235,1094,111,43,139,69,3111,4517,23941,87028,21413,427,75030,20424,87030,1530],"class_list":["post-124835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-after","tag-aileen","tag-and","tag-back","tag-carried","tag-death","tag-documentary","tag-entertainment","tag-female","tag-her","tag-killer","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-past","tag-penalty","tag-revisits","tag-serial","tag-story","tag-twentythree","tag-violent","tag-wuornos","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}