The Staircase: Kathleen Peterson's family 'retraumatised' by HBO series | 60 Minutes Australia

for people who watch the staircase it's an extraordinary thrilling ride but it's your life isn't it yes yeah it i understand why people are interested in the story there's there are a lot of twists and turns i would say the original experience was something that we did to help our dad and so it was positive but as the new iterations are coming out it's it's getting a lot more negative in what way is it negative do you think i think because actors are playing us as as characters and writers wrote a story based on the documentary but not actually close to any of the actual events i don't watch the hbo max series but to hear you know see advertisements for it it just popped up on my instagram feed and i just quickly closed it things like that where uh people are bothering me about it and asking me questions and assuming that my family made a lot of money or okayed the series how much of that is about feeling like you've lost control over the your story over your experience it's been hard to have control over our story for a long time as soon as my dad was arrested we it felt like we gave up our rights to our own story a long time ago but at least with the french documentary the staircase i was friends with the filmmakers and i they listened to us but then with this new hbo max series we are totally out of control there's there's nothing that we could have done and can do to change it and so we have to just sit here and deal with the consequences of it do you think that they could have created a series but done it differently or would you prefer that there just was no more no more talk of the staircase it would be wonderful if it was no more i wouldn't want to watch my mom die in three different ways just i really wish that this series hadn't re-traumatized my family the trauma runs so deep in myself and my family that i can't even look at the billboards without shaking i haven't watched the staircase the original documentary in over a decade because i can't relive that to be exposed to that fraud the lies that were told in court i mean you know as a documentary maker as an observer it's an extraordinary story as you said earlier twists and turns i mean it is stranger than fiction it truly is it was incredibly frustrating to hear the lies and having to stay composed and not jump up and scream like i wanted to but i i feel almost lucky that i was prepared and not completely blindsided by it what was the most traumatic aspect of the trial for you that's a that's a hard question to answer because there were so many incredibly sad things that happened during the trial i would say the examination of my birth mother and watching that examiner lie on stand because she didn't have all the information and having the assistant district attorney flash images of our mother who had been deceased for 18 years to us to make us cry um that was a tough one when you know that your dad is innocent and you've been really really feeling like oh no there's no way that people could think he was guilty watching every juror say it watching to hers crying while they're saying it it was very hard at the beginning of the trial i went to dad and i said dad i don't know what to do but i'm so angry and i wake up and i can barely move my body feels it and that's when my dad said well anger really only hurts you it doesn't hurt the people you're angry at but i do think as i've gotten older i do think anger is a propelling agent and so there there is a bit of anger in me that's propelling me to work to make the independent documentary film industry stronger and better and i think that that's something that i can do is advocate for other people in other films i think that's a positive hello i'm tara brown thanks for watching 60 minutes australia subscribe to our channel now for brand new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minutes segments and full episodes of 60 minutes on nine now dot com dot a u and the nine now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 137,793

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Tom Steinfort, Sarah Abo, karl stefanovic, 60Mins, #60Mins, the staircase, colin firth, toni collette, michael peterson, kathleen peterson, margie blakemore, hbo, drama, hollywood, adaptation, true crime, murder, mystery

Id: eAbM9lyccCo

Length: 5min 58sec (358 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 12 2022