Ed Gein’s Girlfriend & Her True Story Explained

SPOILERS for Monster: The Ed Gein Story are ahead!

Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story introduces us to his girlfriend, Adeline Walker, but the depiction is far from accurate. Ryan Murphy’s unnecessarily salacious and unquestionably controversial series Monster is back, focusing on serial killer and grave robber Ed Gein, who inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

While the series side-stepped past seasons’ criticisms of harming victims’ families, Monster: The Ed Gein Story still elicited ire because of the way the show handled the story and characters based on real-life people. The show took creative liberty to a disturbing length.

One particularly important character was Adeline Watkins, Ed Gein’s girlfriend. While she’s based on a real-life woman, Monster: The Ed Gein Story’s depiction of her relationship with Gein was far from the truth.

Adeline Watkins Was Ed Gein’s Suspected Girlfriend

Adeline Watkins Admitted To Dating Ed Gein, But The Exact Time Frame Is Unknown

Image via Netflix

After Ed Gein was arrested for the murder of local hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, a woman named Adeline Watkins spoke to the papers about having a romantic relationship with the murderer. According to the Wisconsin State Journal (via Newspapers.com), Watkins said they were together for twenty years, and he proposed to her two years before his arrest.

The Wisconsin State Journal interview references an interview with the Minneapolis Tribune, in which she said, “I loved him and still do.” However, she claimed that she turned down the proposal because, “I guess I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to live up to what he expected of me.”

She mentioned during the interview that he was “sweet” and “polite,” and enjoyed reading books. They also supposedly went to a movie or tavern together. She mentioned that they discussed recent murders, with Ed Gein saying how wrong the murder was.

However, two weeks later, she walked back her involvement with Ed Gein, saying some quotes were fabricated. She said in the Stevens Point Journal (via Newspapers.com) that they dated on and off for seven months, despite knowing each other for 20 years. They only went to the Plainfield theater a couple of times.

Watkins also said she’d never entered Gein’s house. This assertion is important because the house of horrors is where Ed Gein kept his exhumed bodies and everything made out of skin.

Adeline Watkins’ Role In Monster: The Ed Gein Story Explained

Monster Puts Adeline In An Accomplice Position

The way that Monster: The Ed Gein Story portrayed Adeline Watkins was offensive, to say the least. The show fabricated large swaths of the story, but this was particularly egregious because they made her an accomplice. In the show, she’s the one who introduces him to the concept of murder through pictures of the Holocaust.

She’s the one who tells him that he needs to have sex with dead bodies, since they can’t say no. (For the record, Ed Gein consistently denied that he engaged in necrophilia, making it dubious for them to show the sex onscreen and tie Adeline Watkins into that.)

Adeline even knows about Ed Gein robbing graves and desecrating bodies, and she doesn’t do anything to stop him. Then, at the end of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, they imply that she is also becoming a serial killer due to mental illness.

I want to make this crystal clear. There is zero evidence that Adeline Watkins knew of or was involved in Ed Gein’s crimes.

What Happened To The Real Adeline Watkins

Adeline Watkins Stayed Private After Ed Gein’s Arrest

To answer a question that has been asked frequently online, Ed Gein did not kill his (maybe) girlfriend, Adeline Watkins. After his arrest, she distanced herself from the case following a few newspaper interviews.

There’s nothing public to suggest that she ever visited Gein in the mental facility, as in Monster: The Ed Gein Story. It’s unknown what became of her after the few newspaper interviews.

Sources: Wisconsin State Journal, Minneapolis Tribune, Stevens Point Journal, Newspapers.com