credit: Caslit
John Dean is a name everyone is familiar with. He is one of the attorneys on counsel for Former President Richard Nixon and was at the center of the Watergate Scandal. His wife, Maureen Dean, is equally famous after the political scandal and all it entails. The Watergate Scandal remains one of America’s dirtiest secrets and its most significant political moments, and everyone wants to know everything about it. Fortunately, Sean Penn and Julia Roberts – among many others – are bringing the story to life in a new Gaslit series. It tells the story of Watergate, and Maureen Dean – you can call her MO – is at the story’s center.
Who is Maureen Dean?
The real-life Maureen Dean is ready to welcome her 80s with vigor. She was born on October 10, 1945, in LA. She didn’t know her life would become what it did when she was born. She had no indication her life would become public interest or that she would wed three times. Her life is nothing short of fascinating. She wed her first husband at the tender age of 21 in April 1967. In May of the same year, she annulled her marriage. She wed her second husband only a year later, in 1968. Sadly, she’d become a widow before her 24th birthday. It was a terrible moment in her life.
However, it’s her third husband – to whom she is still married – who is the most interesting of all. His name is John Dean, and he’s a famed attorney. Maureen Dean married John Dean in 1972, and they’re still married. They celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2022, and that is nothing short of a beautiful miracle – especially when you take into consideration the many things they went through in their life.
credit: Caslit
How Is Maureen Dean Involved in Watergate?
The Watergate scandal (1972-1974) was huge. John Dean was a White House counsel for disgraced president Richard Nixon at the time, and that’s how Maureen Dean found herself knee-deep in this scandal and this story. Her husband was employed as an attorney for the White House the year they were married. Only two years into their marriage, the president resigned, and her husband was embroiled in legalities and legal issues that would span decades.
Who Will Play Maureen Dean in the Series on Television?
She’s a writer. Her husband has become a producer and a writer. Together, they love to tell their story, and right now, there’s someone else telling their story for them. The lovely Betty Gilpin played the role of Maureen Dean in the 1970s. Dan Stevens plays her husband in the series. Gilpin was born a staggering 14 years after the Watergate scandal began, but she knows all about it playing this character.
She’s famous for many things in the past, but this is the role of a lifetime for the young actress. Not only does this 80s baby get to star in a series with the famous Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, but she also gets to do so by portraying a real person – a real person who is still alive. Talk about intimidating. It’s not a role many actresses would be willing to take. It takes a great deal of bravery to bring a real-life character to life, but it takes an exceptionally brave person to try it out when the real-life person is still living.
credit: Caslit
Betty Gilpin Loved Telling the Love Story of the Deans
Imagine being a woman who goes on a date with a man and has a gut feeling going into it. She did because that is the story. However, the Deans’ love story evolved tremendously, considering they’re now married for 50 years, and Betty Gilpin loved telling this story. She loved becoming an intimate part of such a big story, but also an intimate part of the overlooked story of their love. Telling the story of a woman who didn’t think her relationship with John Dean would extend past a first date to marrying him, to soon suspecting he’s having an affair because of his secretive life, to finding out that his secretive life is the biggest political scandal in the world. She’s doing that, and she’s telling the story beautifully.
If you are planning on binge-watching anything in 2022, this is the show to binge on. It’s worth every second to learn the story of Watergate from the viewpoint of a love story between the ambitious counsel and his new wife. Their story is difficult, but it is also beautiful.
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