In the upcoming Starz film Gaslit, Julia Roberts transforms into Martha Mitchell, credited as the first person to publicly accuse President Richard Nixon of involvement in Watergate – and as the first trailer promises, it’s “based on a crazy but shockingly true story.” .’
With 70s hair and wardrobe, the 54-year-old Roberts transforms into Martha, who was 53 at the time of the Watergate break-in and married former Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell.
While past films and TV series have largely focused on the men involved in the story – from Nixon himself to journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – the new film, which premieres April 24, highlights Martha’s role in the drama.
Nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” for her frankness with the press, Martha was a controversial but generally beloved figure until she suspected in 1972 that Nixon and his re-election committee were responsible for the Watergate hack.
Not one to remain silent, she repeatedly complained to the press, resulting in White House officials portraying her as crazy and drunk, and one terrible weekend, she was held as a “political” prisoner in a hotel room where she was reportedly beaten and drugged.
Julia Roberts plays Martha Mitchell in the Starz series Gaslit, which premieres April 24.
Martha was married to John Mitchell, who served as Nixon’s Attorney General and later chaired the presidential re-election committee.
Martha is considered the first person to publicly accuse President Richard Nixon of involvement in Watergate.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1918, Martha graduated from the University of Miami and worked as a teacher and secretary.
Her first marriage was to US Army officer Clyde Jennings Jr. in 1946. After the birth of their son, the couple separated and eventually divorced in 1957.
A few months later, she married John Mitchell and they moved to Rye, New York.
About ten years after they said “Yes,” in 1969, Mitchell was named Nixon’s Attorney General in 1969, and the couple moved to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
Marta quickly became the subject of press attention due to her willingness to speak and express her candid opinion. She definitely had a lot to say and was politically inclined, first calling the Vietnam War protesters “liberal communists” and then stating that the Vietnam War “stinks”.
She has been publicly critical of Democratic politicians, but has also spoken out about racism, desegregation, and the Supreme Court.
In 1970, the New York Times called her “the most talked about and garrulous woman in Washington”.
Martha, who was also known for drinking and smoking, didn’t think she was drawn so fairly.
Marta quickly became the subject of press attention due to her willingness to speak and express her candid opinion. She definitely had something to say, and she was politically minded.
In March 1972, her husband became head of the Presidential Re-Election Committee (officially abbreviated as CRP, but often referred to as CREEP) for the 1972 campaign.
“Why do they always call me outspoken?” she said, according to Timeline. “Can’t they just say I’m being honest?
Her outspokenness could occasionally give the Nixon administration headaches. Although Nixon sometimes approved of her—generally she supported him and criticized the Democrats—she did not always follow the party line.
And few people in Nixon’s early years knew how much of a hindrance she could be. According to her biography, Martha eavesdropped on her husband’s phone calls, eavesdropped on his work meetings, and even read his papers to keep abreast of events.
In March 1972, her husband stepped down as Attorney General to head the Presidential Re-Election Committee (officially abbreviated as CRP, but often referred to as CREEP) for the 1972 campaign.
Later reports will show how CREEP has been involved in money laundering and illegal bribery funds, among other nefarious deeds.
But all of this might have remained in the dark were it not for what happened on June 17, 1972: That night, five men were caught breaking into and robbing the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel.
When robbers were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, Martha became suspicious and called a reporter friend.
A CREEP guard stopped her, ripped the phone off the wall, and reportedly beat her and held her captive.
At the time, the Mitchells were with other Nixon officials in Newport Beach, California when John received a phone call to alert him to the news.
He left immediately to return to Washington, but told Martha to stay and enjoy his vacation without telling her what was going on.
But Martha suspected that something was wrong, and two days after he left, she found a newspaper in which she read about the Watergate break-in. In the report, she recognized one of the robbers, former CIA officer James W. McCord, and guessed that her husband and the president were somehow involved.
Eager to talk, Martha called United Press International reporter Helen Thomas and complained to her that she was “sick of everything going on” and that if her husband didn’t get out of the “dirty political affairs” she would leave him.
But before she could say more, CREEP security guard Steve King, whom Mitchell had left to look after his wife, entered her hotel room and turned off her phone.
Martha said that after that, King would not let her leave the hotel room.
“Since then, I haven’t seen anyone – I didn’t allow them to eat – and literally held them captive,” she said.
After leaving prison, she continued to speak to the press, urging Nixon to resign and complaining about “outrageous and dirty campaign gimmicks.”
Later, James W. McCord, Jr., a Watergate conspirator whom she came to know on the news, confirmed that what Martha said was true, that she was “essentially” kidnapped so she wouldn’t know what was going on.
Martha later said that King kicked her and put his arm through the window, which required her six stitches.
She also said that King called the doctor and together they held her on the bed while the doctor pulled down her pants and injected her with a tranquilizer in her ass.
She called herself a “political prisoner”.
King later became chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and Donald Trump appointed him ambassador to the Czech Republic.
As soon as Martha left the hotel a few days later, she called Thomas back at UPI.
“I love my husband very much, but I’m not going to put up with all this dirty stuff,” she said, according to the Slate Slow Burn podcast.
“I am black and blue,” she said. They don’t want me to talk.
But she talked, often called reporters, and often in the middle of the night. She complained about “outrageous and dirty campaign tricks … and dishonest acts” in politics, accusing some officials of lying.
“I love my husband very much, but I’m not going to put up with all these dirty things,” she said.
Mitchell will be found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury against Watergate and is serving 19 months in prison.
Faced with an ultimatum from his wife and a desire to silence her, Mitchell withdrew from the Nixon campaign and returned with her to New York.
However, Martha spoke.
In March 1973, she told The New York Times that she believed someone was trying to make her husband a “goat” for Watergate and she “wouldn’t let it happen”, stating that Nixon was responsible.
‘Mr. The President must resign immediately,” she told UPI in May 1973.
“He bleeds people,” she added of Nixon. “He sucks out every drop of blood and then throws them off a cliff.”
However, Mitchell remained loyal to his old boss, telling a reporter, “Martha’s late-night phone calls have been good fun and games in the past. However, this is a serious problem.”
Martha didn’t like her husband’s support for Nixon.
She told Helen Thomas: “I love him very much. He loves me because I stood up for him. But he’s defending the president who planned it all. I am under surveillance day and night. I’m not a fool.
But he was not the only one who discredited her. White House officials and people close to Nixon portrayed her as mentally ill and spread gossip that she was an alcoholic.
Nixon’s allies slandered her as mentally ill and a drunkard, with Nixon later saying that “if it wasn’t for Martha” then “there wouldn’t be Watergate”.
Eventually, amid impeachment proceedings, Nixon resigned in 1974.
Finally, in September 1973, Mitchell left her.
But although Martha was not taken seriously, new evidence surfaced, and, in the end, amid impeachment proceedings, Nixon resigned in 1974.
Her husband will be found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury against Watergate and is serving 19 months in prison.
Martha was never really justified in the press. Just a year later, she was diagnosed with advanced multiple myeloma and died at the age of 57 on May 31, 1976.
A year later, Nixon seemed to hold Martha responsible for his downfall.
“I am convinced that if it were not for Martha, God rest her soul, because in her soul she was a good person. She just had a mental and emotional problem that no one knew about. If not for Martha, there would be no Watergate,” he told David Frost in 1977.
“The thing is, if John had kept an eye on that store, Watergate would never have happened. Now, am I saying here, at this late moment, that Watergate should be blamed on Martha Mitchell? Of course not. It could have happened anyway. Other things may have caused this. Who knows?’