Where Is Lee Broderick Today? Things You Didn’t Know About Him

Lee Broderick is the second-oldest child of the infamous couple, the late Dan Broderick and his ex-wife and killer, Betty Broderick, real name, Elisabeth Anne Broderick. Lee’s mother Betty murdered her ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, and his second wife, Linda on November 5, 1989.

Betty in consequence received a conviction of two counts of second-degree murder and was later sentenced to 32-years-to-life in prison. Betty and Dan’s case received extensive media attention; the case got several screen adaptations as well as numerous books version.

As such in June 2020, the Broderick family drama got a screen rendition by Netflix for the second season of Dirty John, this one called Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. In more than 30 years since the murders, Dan and Betty’s kids have grown up and married and even remain close.

The Broderick children were occasionally used as ammo in Dan and Betty’s prolonged battle of disgust, divorce, and the settlements. Among all of Betty’s children, Lee was/is the one who approached the heartbreaking matter with a more empathetic mentality.

See what she has been up to these days. Read all about how she reacted to her mother killing her father, what is her stance on her mom after all these years, her own personal life, and more.

How Old Is Lee Broderick; Her Birth Details, Childhood, And Education

The now 51 years old Lee Broderick fully Kathy Lee Broderick was born in 1971.

Lee and her siblings grew up near San Diego. She did live with her parents until her late teens, but two years after the divorce of Dan and Betty, Lee started living in Pacific Beach. Kathy apparently didn’t do good academically; she had dropped out of high school.

Lee Broderick Siblings

Lee has three siblings, one sister, Kim, and two brothers, Rhett and Daniel Jr. Kimberly Curtin Broderick or Kim is Dan and Betty’s oldest child.

She released a 2014 book titled Betty Broderick, My Mom: The Kim Broderick Story. In the book, Betty’s eldest daughter opened up about how she and her siblings handled what happened.

In her book, Kim also ascribes visiting her mother in prison as the worst heartache and sorrow she could ever imagine.

Lee Apparently Lives In Idaho With Her Sister, Kim

Both Kim and Lee now live in central Idaho in Hailey, Idaho. Presumably, Rhett also resides in Idaho but it is unclear if he is close to his sisters.

Lee’s other brother Daniel Jr, on the other hand, resides in California.

Daniel followed in his father’s professional footsteps. He is now a real estate attorney in San Diego, California. He also has a wife with three children.

Lee Broderick Father, Dan Was A High Profile Lawyer 

Lee’s father Dan Broderick had earned a medical degree from Cornell, then he’d gone to Harvard Law School. In San Diego, he’d become one of the city’s most successful plaintiff’s attorneys.

He’d also served as the local bar association president in 1987. Lee’s dad was a high-flying attorney with an enviable contact list and a pitch-perfect reputation.

Dan, the prominent malpractice attorney was aggressive, persuasive, and cunning–a $1-million-a-year lawyer at the top of his game.

Lee’s Parents’ Relationship

Betty met Dan in the ’60s and they tied the knot in April 1969 and had five children together; one of which died. Their daughters, Kimberly and Lee, were born while Dan was in graduate school on the East Coast.

Their sons, Daniel and Rhett, on the other hand, were born in California. Betty also had two miscarriages and two abortions. After the birth of her fourth son, Lee’s mother got her tubes tied to prevent further pregnancy.

The Reason Behind Lee Broderick Parents’ Divorce  

People dub Lee’s parents, Dan and Betty’s divorce as “the worst divorce case in San Diego County.”

The separation procedures included gaslighting allegations, restraining orders, and a vicious battle for custody of their four children, Kim, Lee, Daniel, and Rhett. Betty told Los Angeles Times in 1990 that their tempestuous marriage had become truly irremediable by the year 1983.

By then, her ex-husband Dan was pursuing an affair with his legal assistant, a twenty-something ex-stewardess named Linda.

Dan, on the other hand, asserted his marriage to Betty was full of “real incompatibility problems” from the very start. Part of the problem, he said, was his failure to be the “kind of good, loving husband I could have been.”

Lee Broderick Parents Fought A Messy Divorce Battle 

Dan filed for divorce from Betty in September 1985; the legal battle would run for five years. The fight for child custody and property issues was dramatic.

During the divorce, Betty spray-painted the interior of the $325,000 hillside home they had shared. Lee’s mother rammed her car into Dan’s front door, left obscene messages on his answering machine, and defaced court documents, writing “God” where his name should have been.

Betty said Dan used his legal influence to win sole custody of their children. She claimed he sold their house against her wishes and excluded her from her rightful share of his income. In her memoir, Betty revealed she was pregnant nine times during her 16-year-long marriage to Dan.

She also stated her ex-husband did not allow her to use birth control. Dan countered by having the police arrest Betty, sending her to jail and even to a mental hospital.

Lee’s father also tried to control her by withholding from $100 to thousands of dollars a month from her support payments. He docked her for behavior he deemed inappropriate. He also obtained a temporary restraining order to keep her out of his house.

When Betty threatened him, Dan wrote her curt letters in the coldest legalese. Amidst all these, Dan had full custody of all four children.

The Day Lee’s Mother Killed Her Father And His New Wife 

Lee’s parents, Dan and Betty’s dynamic took a whole new turn on Nov 5, 1989, when the latter shot and killed Dan and his new wife, Linda Kolkena, at their home in Marston Hills while they were sleeping.

Betty used her .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver for the killing. Three of the bullets went through the couple, and Dan and Linda died.

After mortally shooting her ex-husband and his wife, Lee’s mother pulled the telephone out of the wall so he could not call for help. The mother of four went on trial a year later, but the jury failed to reach a verdict.

A second trial began in September of 1991, and in that jury found Betty guilty of second-degree murder. In February of 1992, a San Diego judge sentenced Lee’s mother to 32 years to life.

She has been in the hands of the California Department of Corrections ever since. Several years after the start of her prison time, she remained in the public eye through the media.

Lee Broderick And All Of Her Siblings Testified Against Their Mother, Betty Broderick

All of Betty’s children testified to the court at their mother’s criminal trial in 1991. Her eldest child, Kim testified highlighting her mother’s erratic behavior post-divorce.

She stated her mother had told her in a phone call, “I wish you were never born,” and “I hate your guts.” Kim alleged Betty also called her a “traitor” on more than one occasion.

While speaking to People in 1992 to share what her mother would tell her in calls from jail, Kim said,

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.”

What Lee Broderick Said About Her Mother Killing Her Father? 

Betty’s second daughter, Lee also testified in court. In fact, she was the first person her mother called after firing the gun in Dan’s home.

During the trial, she recalled the devastating call she received from her mother in November of 1989. Lee reported her mother confessed to killing Dan and Linda to her. Kathy’s mother reportedly told her on the call, “The bitch is dead.”

Lee Spoke In Favour Of Her Mother’s Release; Her Other Siblings Didn’t 

Up until late 2010, Lee and her siblings had largely divided opinions about their mother’s fate. While she testified against her mother in her conviction, Lee, in 2010, vouched for her mother’s release. Kathy said she missed her father, but told the board her mother could live with her if they let go of her.

“She should be able to live her later life outside prison walls,”

or so were Kathy’s words according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Agreeing with this was her youngest brother, Rhett who said,

“I just remember thinking, ‘Wow.’ I wasn’t really surprised,”

Rhett apparently predicted something like that was going to happen as such he told Oprah,

“On multiple occasions [my brother and I] went to my dad and said to him that we wanted to live with my mom and that not having her kids was driving her crazy—and that she could do something extremely irrational if she didn’t have us.”

On Oprah, Kathy’s brother described her as a nice lady and said that everyone would have liked her if they had spoken with her on any topic other than his dad.

Rhett said keeping his mother in prison wasn’t really helping her. He told Oprah how she was not a danger to society—the only two people she was a danger to are dead.

Lee’s Sister, Kim, And Brother, Daniel Jr Refused To Vote For Their Mother’s Parole 

Betty’s oldest child, Kim, on the other hand, denied requests from her mom to write a letter supporting her release from prison. At that same parole hearing in 2010, eldest son Daniel Jr also said his mother was still “hung up on justifying what she did.”

He argued the prison shouldn’t let her go yet. There was also another parole hearing in 2017 for the Brooklyn-born convict, however, the opinions of each of the children remained the same.

Betty ultimately didn’t receive her parole and she can’t go before the board again until 2032. Former Mrs. Broderick is currently serving her sentence at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

What Did Betty Say About Her Children, Lee, Kim, Daniel Jr, And Rhett? 

Talking about her children, Betty in her 2015 memoir, said,

“I absolutely adore my children, from the first moment of the day to the last, and still do. They were my priority and I wanted so badly for them to have a happy childhood.”

Despite their mixed feelings about their mother killing their father, all the siblings visit their mother for her birthday, for Mother’s Day, and at least once in the summer.

Betty set the conditions herself as she didn’t want her children to come for Christmas or other big holidays.

In an interview, the California inmate said she didn’t want all their memories of those times to be of visiting their mother in prison.

Lee Broderick Didn’t Have A Good Relationship With Her Father; He Cut Her Off From His Will

Lee reportedly had a troubled relationship with her father. As a matter of fact, Dan amended his will before his death to exclude his second daughter from inheriting any of his fortunes.

Dan never mentioned why he excluded Lee from the will but it is believed it had something to do with her problems in school and with drugs, not because of her relationship with her mother. According to the L.A. Times, Dan’s will stated they divide his estate equally among his all children but Kathy.

Dan amended his will on Aug. 9, 1988, to include this phrase:

“I specifically make no provision in this will for my daughter, Lee Gordon Broderick.”

Lee at the time was 18. Amidst the will amendment, Lee said she had known her father was going to do so.

She said, “He had told me before that he was going to write me out, but I didn’t think he would. But he did.” Dan also didn’t allow her to have a key to his house — even though she lived there part-time — because he didn’t want Betty to have access.

In an interview, Kathy confessed how she would knock on the door, and, if nobody was home, she’d have to go somewhere else.

Betty Would Physically Harm Lee Broderick 

Lee’s relationship with her mother Betty was also anything but ideal. As Lee’s older sister, Kim, told Los Angeles Times, Lee couldn’t escape Betty’s temper. On one occasion, she got beaten with a fly swatter.

“Lee would always say, ‘Your spankings don’t hurt me,’ — you know, she was bratty,”

Kim said.

To Lee’s answer, Betty would reply saying, ‘OK, next time you’re bad I’ll hit you with a fly swatter.’ Kim reported Lee would have big welts all over her legs whilst she would grab her younger brother Danny and hide in the closet.

Kim added it was not uncommon for her mother to throw frozen food or to hit Kim and her headstrong sister, Lee.

Despite all these, Lee apparently was the first person Betty called after shooting Dan and Linda in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 1989.

Is Lee Broderick On Social Media? 

Although Kathy is quite hard to come by on Instagram, she was suitably exertive on Facebook up until early 2021. Throughout her time on FB, Betty’s second child mostly posted TBT pictures of her family, especially of her father and her siblings.

Though despite all that something that is in the haze is the understanding of Lee Broderick’s professional life. Due to her moderately toned-down life people outside the Broderick circle hardly know about her workaday busyness or her these days’ pursuits.

Betty once told Lee was a computer wizard, however, whether or not she is still in the same line of work is ambiguous.

Does Lee Have A Husband/Partner? 

While it is rather cryptic in the present, Lee, in the past, did have a boyfriend during the time when her mother killed her father and during subsequent trials. In fact, Lee’s then-partner, Jason Prantil was among the many people who testified at the court in the trial of Betty Broderick.

To say more, just after the shootings, Betty went to the apartment where Prantil & Lee Broderick lived.

As of recent, however, it is unclear who Kathy’s partner is. It has been ages since Lee sat up for an interview wherein she might have disclosed her personal or marital life.

And although she was fairly active on Facebook until 2021, Lee never bothered to mention who she is having a relationship with.