Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Bookseller Created
There's a Podcast About That!
Get two free audiobooks AND support local bookstores
Make the switch
Send as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Make the switch
Gift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingSurviving Dirty John
My True Story of Love, Lies, and Murder
Narrator
Debra Newell
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
10 hours 55 minutes
Language
English
"Debra Newell's journey, her tale of survival and her openness in sharing her story, is awe-inspiring." —ERIC BANA
Debra Newell is nothing if not a survivor. By the time she met John Michael Meehan online, she had lived through a near-fatal childhood illness, an attempted rape in her twenties, 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 ways the illusion of love can be used to manipulate and harm.
Debra Newell is the founder and president of Ambrosia Home, Inc., headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as the founder and former president of the multi-million dollar company Ambrosia Interior Design, Inc. in Orange County, California. In October 2017, the Los Angeles Times launched a six-part article series and accompanying podcast created by Wondery, titled Dirty John. Dirty John is a story of love, deceit, denial, revenge, and ruin that ultimately leads to a story of survival that chronicled a time in Newell's life between October 2014 and August 2016. The story was adapted into a miniseries, which premiered on Bravo in November 2018 and on Netflix in February 2019. Newell has been featured in People, US Magazine, Harper Bazaar, Forbes, the New Yorker, Vulture, Refinery29, and Bustle to name a few. Additionally, Newell has made appearances on Dateline NBC, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Megan Kelly Today, Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo, Fox News, and Oxygen's Dirty John: The Dirty Truth, amongst many other media outlets. Due to her staggering real-life experiences, Newell now spends much of her time as an advocate for change and awareness helping women caught up in coercive, controlling relationships. She is currently working to criminalize coercive control, a form of abuse that often goes unpunished because of the lack of awareness and existing legal ramifications.