Side-by-side court footage of real Aileen Wuornos and Sarah Paulson in Monster is scarily similar

Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.

A viewer of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story has put a section from the program showing the trial of serial killer Aileen Wuornos alongside the actual footage from the court case, demonstrating just how similar the two clips are.

Sarah Paulson plays Aileen Wuornos in the latest season of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix, which focusses on Lizzie Borden, who was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother, including one explosive and hard-hitting scene that left many viewers reeling.

Although the show is set in the 19th century, as Borden lived from 1860 to 1927, it also features some sections which jump forward in time all the way to 20th century serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men in Florida over a period from 1989 and 1990.

Wuornos worked as a sex worker, and said that she had killed the men in self-defence after they had sexually assaulted her or tried to do so. She was executed by lethal injection in 2002.

The scene, which was shown in the comparison shared on social media by X user @POPin4k, shows Wuornos in court reacting to death sentences for the killings.

Wuornos responds to the news with defiance, saying: "I'll be up in heaven while y'all are rotting in hell."

She then speaks out louder, saying that she hopes the wife and kids of the people in court are raped, before saying: "I was raped, you ain't nothing but a bunch of scum, putting somebody was who raped to death."

The two clips show the original court footage alongside Paulson's performance, mimicking the dialogue and movements exactly - it's a performance which has been meticulously put together to mimic the original footage.

But why is Wuornos' story featuring in a period drama set mostly 100 years earlier?

Speaking to PEOPLE, co-creator Ian Brennan said that they had wanted to include sections on Wuornos to take a look at how different female violence was seen in the 19th century versus the 20th century, and draw a comparison.

The main point of contrast, he explained, was that in 1893 the public found it difficult to believe that Warner would have been capable of murder, while the same was not true of Wuornos.

“That’s why when Aileen Wuornos comes into the show,”he said. “That contrast comes in much clearer ... What is the Lizzie of our world? How is she treated? And how does she lash out?”

Paulson has also opened up about playing Wuornos, speaking about the role to Variety Australia in December 2025 about how she found the role, including that she agreed to take the part without even seeing the script.

“If there’s any opportunity for me to get inside something that has been predetermined by society and have a little look at it through my own particular lens, I’m always going to want to do that,” she said.

She had also spoken to Jimmy Kimmel Live! about the part, making the comparisons about 'female rage', saying: “We’ve got a modern-day - well, it’s not totally present day - Aileen’s story as she maybe admires Lizzie."