Watch: Billie Lourd Has a Message for Lizzie Borden’s Sister Emma Over 100 Years After Parents’ Murders
Billie Lourd is slicing up some sympathy for her character.
Well over a century after Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the 1892 murders of parents Andrew Borden and Abby Borden, the Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story actress—who plays her older sister Emma Borden—shared a message to the eldest Borden girl.
“I’m sorry, brutal,” Lourd exclusively told E! News at the New York City premiere for the Netflix series on Sept. 16. “I’m sorry, girl.”
After all, Emma continued to support Lizzie (played by Ella Beatty in the anthology series) as she stood trial for the murders. Once the then-32-year-old was acquitted in 1983, the sisters moved to a 14-room home in their hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts, which they named Maplecroft.
They lived together for more than a decade until Emma, disapproving of her younger sister’s relationship with actress Nance O’Neil (played by Jessica Barden), eventually moved out. The sisters spent the final two decades of their lives without any contact.
For Lourd—daughter of Carrie Fisher and Bryan Lourd—channeling a sisterly bond with Beatty came naturally.
“It happened right away,” the 34-year-old told E!. “Ella Beatty is one of the most magical creatures on this planet. I love her so much.”
“The second I met her, we just fell in love. It was so easy to fall into this relationship because she’s such a wonderful, warm, talented, magical being,” she continued of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening‘s youngest child. “I just adore her. So, this was easy work for me to play her sister.”
Although Lourd—who shares kids Kingston, 6, and Jackson, 3, with husband Austen Rydell—quickly found her footing as the quiet, religious Borden sister, she admitted that it was Monster creator Ryan Murphywho first knew she was the right fit.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix/Suzanne Tenner/Netflix
“I’ve done seven seasons of American Horror Story, two of Scream Queen and now this,” she reflected. “Every season I get to do something so different and so many things that I think that I couldn’t do. He can see in me before I know in myself. I feel so lucky to get to play around like that. It’s the greatest gift as an actor.”
“I’ve been a witch and aerobics instructor, a doctor,” she added. “Who would have thought I could be a doctor? It’s the wide variety of roles that I get to play. That is just the coolest, greatest gift of all time.”
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story premieres on Netflix Sept. 17.
While fans wait to see Lizzie Borden’s gruesome story, keep reading for more TV shows to watch.
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