Podcast Summary: The Dream – "Dirty Dirty John Redux"

Podcast: The Dream
Host: Jane Marie (Little Everywhere)
Guest: Tara Newell
Date: March 27, 2026
Episode Description: The Dream returns as a reimagined weekly interview podcast, focusing on the "American Dream" and the obstacles—especially individuals and systems—that make achieving it harder. In this episode, host Jane Marie revisits and unpacks the making of the acclaimed "Dirty John" podcast with survivor Tara Newell, exploring issues of consent, profit, and narration of true crime stories, as well as Tara’s personal and professional journey since the events.

Main Theme

The episode dives deeply into the real story behind the infamous "Dirty John" podcast and subsequent TV franchise, centering on Tara Newell—the woman whose real-life ordeal is at the heart of the phenomenon. The discussion focuses on issues of agency, consent, compensation, and the exploitation of survivors in true crime media, as well as Tara’s post-"Dirty John" life and advocacy.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introductions and Tara’s Background

[01:20] Jane Marie introduces herself; underscores her long-standing interest in Tara’s story.
[01:28] Tara Newell: “I am best known for being the survivor of Dirty John Meehan. I fought against him and took his life in self defense. I now have started my own podcast, worked with survivors and I also started... a little side baking business recently too because you know, you just can never do enough things.”
[02:22] Tara explains initial involvement in the Dirty John podcast: “I was the survivor who took him down in self defense.”

2. The Original "Dirty John" Podcast Was Not What Tara Expected

[03:11] Jane and Tara recall how Tara learned about the podcast after much of it was already in production. Jane reveals that her company, Little Everywhere, was originally pitched to produce the show and concluded the story was really about Tara and her mother, not John Meehan.
[04:44] Jane: “We really thought it was a story about the women and some generational trauma... but someone else made it.”

3. Consent, Anonymity, and the LA Times’ Approach

[05:18] Tara recounts how the story first came to the public through local media after her self-defense attack; her identity remained largely anonymous at first.
[06:09] Tara: “I just didn’t know if I wanted my story to be out there because it’s a lot of trauma. It’s family trauma, in a sense.”
[07:33] Tara explains how she was told the LA Times interest was to be “a series of articles,” not a podcast.

4. The Unexpected Shift to Podcast and TV Production

[09:19] Tara’s “zombie” defense technique / the pop culture framing: “When I defended myself against my stepdad, I killed him as if he were a zombie. Like, I literally stabbed him in the eye and that, like, because I watched so much Walking Dead.”
[10:22] Tara says she was not told the interviews would be used for a podcast: “We found out maybe a week or two beforehand that it was going to be turned into a podcast... I was just thinking, oh, like a church sermon… maybe a thousand people.”
[16:17] Tara: “I don’t know if you read the printed version and then... it was basically the same exact thing too.”

5. Questionable Journalism Practices & Lack of Informed Consent

[12:26] Jane: “These aren’t the rules of journalism…”
[21:03] Tara: “...She [my mom] didn't want that in there. That's the only thing she told Christopher Goffard that she didn't want in there was her marriages. And then that was the first thing that he kind of started with.”

6. Feeling Exploited and Excluded

[22:47] Jane: “My feeling… I feel like it was unfair to capture these moments on tape for broadcast without that being made very, very clear... Months of producing a multi episode show using you and your family's voices, and somehow you're the last to know. I personally found that abhorrent.”
[24:56] Tara: “This is when my trauma was so freaking fresh… That makes me pissed, too, because... I'm in the business of protecting survivors now... helping them own their stories where they don't get bamboozled like this. And I'm like, was I just so naive?”
[26:10] Tara shares she justified participating because she thought it could help other women: “I was just... told that I feel that this would help other women.”

7. The Business of True Crime

[27:16] Tara realizes a live show was being staged—without her knowledge or initial involvement. “It was funny that I had to kind of ask.”
[28:32] Merchandising emerges after TV adaptation, with Tara and her family left out of related profits: “There became merch for Bravo.”

8. Lack of Compensation, Signing Away Rights, and Hollywood’s Indifference

[29:13] Tara: “No, I didn’t sign anything. Nothing. Nothing. But how they got us later…”
[31:01] Tara describes meetings at fancy restaurants with producers rather than at traditional business locations.
[34:51] Negotiations: Tara says producers offered $20K for her family to sign over rights: “That is fuck you money in scripted television.” She pushed back, sought advice, and learned the project was already sold to Bravo for two seasons.
[36:27] “I felt like I was pushed into a hard place... It was kind of coercive control a little bit.”

9. Consulting Role and Some Redemptive Moments

[37:46] Tara: “I was... basically a consult and I was paid.”
[39:04] She negotiated the production only owned her story for a year (advises other survivors to do similar).
[42:15] Final compensation: “I ended up getting 100 grand total for the podcast and the TV show and everything else... It was through the LA Times to produce this.”

10. Cultural Impact and Lingering Resentment

[44:36] Tara describes the surreal experience: “My story's so huge and stuff... it got made into a coin term.”
[45:58] Jane: “Knowing that your story is getting huge... that might have felt like, you know, some sort of payback or, you know, currency at the time.”
[47:48] Tara: “It makes me sad that I had to take someone’s life. It doesn’t make me sad, necessarily, that they’re dead... If they’re living not in fear anymore, then that makes me at least happy because I took away some of their pain for them, and I’ll take that pain and I’ll carry it.”

11. Final Reflections on Agency and Representation

[49:26] Jane: “What do you make of it now, that whole experience of being cut out of your own story?”
[50:08] Tara: “They did listen to me about how I wanted my attack... That was something they actually wanted a lot of accuracy in.”
[53:17] Jane: “...People didn't know this part of the story. I don't think people understand that this is how it can work.”
[54:12] Tara: “I just think of how many adaptations of O.J. Simpson… Even though they won a case, they haven’t seen that money.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

[03:11] Jane Marie: “...the story's actually about you and your mom and not about this guy.”
[12:26] Jane Marie: “These aren’t the rules of journalism.”
[16:32] Jane Marie: “Including the flim flam artist, which is like, I'll never forget that phrase.”
[24:56] Tara Newell: “...I'm in the business of protecting survivors now and... I'm like, was I just so naive?”
[26:33] Jane Marie: “This would have ruined my career if I'd said yes.”
[34:51] Tara Newell: “I basically told them that is fuck you money in scripted television.”
[36:27] Tara Newell: “I felt like I was pushed into a hard place... coercive control a little bit.”
[39:04] Tara Newell: “They own my story rights for a year. And so that was helpful. And I tell every survivor to do this if they get into agreement.”
[42:15] Tara Newell: “So I ended up in this project, ended up getting 100 grand total for the podcast and the TV show and everything else.”
[44:36] Tara Newell: “My story's so huge and stuff... it got made into a coin term.”
[47:48] Tara Newell: “It makes me sad that I had to take someone's life. It doesn't make me sad, necessarily, that they're dead.”
[53:17] Jane Marie: “People didn't know this part of the story. I don't think people understand that this is how it can work.”
[54:32] Jane Marie: “You’re the central character. It’s not him. That’s what I don’t understand.”

Important Timestamps

01:28 – Tara's introduction as the survivor of Dirty John
05:18 – First press coverage and early anonymity
10:22 – Surprise revelation that interviews were for a podcast, not just print
12:26 – Discomfort with the journalistic process and lack of transparency
24:56 – Trauma, healing, and feeling manipulated during negotiation
29:13 – No initial contract signed for the use of Tara’s story
34:51 – Negotiations over payment and realizing the show was already sold
36:27 – Coercive tactics by Hollywood execs
42:15 – Disclosure of financial compensation received
44:36 – Cultural impact and “Dirty John” becoming a coin term
47:48 – Tara’s feelings about taking a life and aftermath
49:26 – Final reflections on lack of agency, representation, and some say in accuracy

Tone & Language

The conversation balances candid humor (even in the face of exploitation and trauma), righteous indignation at media practices, and hard-earned wisdom. Both Jane and Tara are unfiltered—alternating between laughter, exasperation, and moments of empathy as they confront abuses of power in true crime storytelling and Hollywood.

Final Notes – Empowerment and Moving Forward

Tara is now using her experience to help fellow survivors, founding the nonprofit Tara’s Safe Haven for trauma survivors ([57:11])—providing safe, supportive, pet-friendly housing and therapy focused on long-term healing.
Both Jane and Tara hope increased awareness will help other survivors retain more agency and compensation in how their stories are told.

For more information on Tara's nonprofit: terras safe haven.org