The new Netflix series Monster: The Ed Gein Story introduces a character who seems to be the serial killer’s only friend and confidante. Played by Suzanna Son, Adeline Watkins is depicted as having a long, close relationship with the “Butcher of Plainfield,” even joining him in his dark pursuits. This has led many to wonder: did the real Ed Gein actually have a girlfriend?
The real story is complicated. While Adeline Watkins was a real person, her romantic relationship with Ed Gein was greatly exaggerated, both by the media in the 1950s and now by the Netflix series for its dramatic plot.
Who Was the Real Adeline Watkins?
In the days following Ed Gein’s arrest in November 1957, a woman named Adeline Watkins gave an interview to the Minneapolis Tribune that would make her famous. She was a 50-year-old woman who lived with her widowed mother in a small apartment in Plainfield, Wisconsin.
In her initial interview, Watkins claimed she and Gein had been in a courtship for over 20 years. She described him as “good and kind and sweet” and said she felt she was “taking advantage of him” because he always agreed to do activities she enjoyed. She revealed that Gein had even proposed to her during their last date in 1955, though not in so many words. She claimed she turned him down not because of any fault of his, but because she was “afraid I wouldn’t be able to live up to what he expected of me.” Even after his crimes were exposed, she told the paper, “I loved him and I still do.”
Watkins’s mother supported the story, recalling Gein as a “sweet, polite man” who always had her daughter home by her 10 p.m. curfew.
The Story Falls Apart
Approximately two weeks after the original story was published, Watkins completely changed her account. In a new article in the Stevens Point Journal, she declared the earlier story had been “exaggerated” and “blown up out of proportion to its importance and containing untrue statements.”
She clarified that while she had known Gein for 20 years, their romantic involvement was much shorter and less significant. She stated that Gein had only called on her for about seven months, and only intermittently. During this short period, he would sometimes stop by her home, and they had attended shows at the Plainfield Theater “a few times.” She also refuted the claims that she or her mother had described Gein as “sweet,” though she did confirm he was quiet and polite. Importantly, she asserted she had never been inside Gein’s house, the very place where police discovered his collection of human body parts and the shrine to his mother.
The real Ed Gein never publicly spoke about Watkins or their alleged relationship, so his side of the story remains unknown.
How Netflix’s ‘Monster’ Adapts the Story
The Netflix series takes creative liberties with the uncertain history between Gein and Watkins, expanding her role significantly to serve its narrative.
In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Adeline Watkins is not just a casual acquaintance but Ed’s “only comfort” and a kindred spirit. The show portrays them as having a shared fascination with death and murder. In one of the series’ more dramatic fictionalized scenes, Adeline even assists Ed in a grave robbery. She is also shown introducing him to infamous figures like Nazi war criminal Ilse Koch, who served as a perverse inspiration for his crimes.
The creators of the show have been open about their decision to amplify her character. Co-creator Ian Brennan acknowledged that the known facts about Watkins are thin and contradictory, noting that she first claimed they were an item and then said she made it all up.
The interpretation of Watkins’s role even differed among the show’s own team. Actor Charlie Hunnam, who plays Gein, shared his personal view:
“My interpretation was that she’s in a large part a fantasy of Ed’s. He finds, whether in reality or in his mind, this sort of kindred spirit with Adeline.”
The creators ultimately decided against revealing her as purely a figment of Gein’s imagination, feeling it would undo too much of the series’ emotional core. They used her character to explore the show’s central theme: how certain images and ideas, once seen, can corrupt and change a person.
A Lasting Mystery
The story of Adeline Watkins remains a curious footnote in the Ed Gein case. What truly happened between the two may never be fully known. The conflicting reports—first a 20-year romance, then a seven-month casual friendship—leave much to interpretation.
Netflix’s Monster uses this historical ambiguity to craft a compelling character who helps audiences explore the warped psyche of one of America’s most infamous killers. While the real Adeline Watkins likely never knew the full horror of Gein’s actions, her on-screen counterpart becomes his partner in darkness.
Also Read: Netflix’s New Ed Gein Series Divides Critics But Becomes a Streaming Hit
Credits: Netflix Tudum, Cosmopolitan UK
