The First Wife: John Meehan's Reign of Terror

Tonia learns that John is leading a double life and using drugs that he steals from his job as a nurse anesthetist. She digs more, and discovers he has a long history of criminal activity. When she confronts him about it, he begins to terrorize her and her family. Tonia gets a restraining order, but John shows up at her house with a weapon and things take a terrifying turn.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Tonia prepares to begin the podcast about her life with John Meehan, her daughter Abby gets a Facebook message from a man claiming to be John’s long-lost son, allegedly conceived during Tonia and John’s engagement. The revelation prompts Tonia to re-investigate her marriage to John, and discover what else she doesn’t know about him and their relationship. She remembers their storybook courtship and marriage, and how it began to fall apart.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You can listen to The First Wife: John Meehan's Reign of Terror full podcast on Thursday, July 22.  Many people listened to the Dirty John podcast, about a scheming psychopath who infiltrates the life of a woman and ultimately dies at the hand of her daughter. But there was an overlooked story, now being told in full, for the first time. Tonia Bales, John Meehan’s first wife, recounts the harrowing story of her life as John’s wife and mother of his two daughters. Tonia reveals the abuse she suffered from the man who started as her soulmate and became a terrifying emotional terrorist. Through new interviews with the people who knew her and John best and exclusive archival materials, Tonia learns that there’s a lot about her traumatic marriage that she never knew, including one bombshell that will change her and her daughters’ lives forever. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.