Kept Woman’s true story — The true crime behind the film

Lifetime’s Kept Woman explores Jessica (Courtney Ford) and Evan’s (Andrew W. Walker) settlement in what seems like an idyllic suburban neighborhood. Simon (Shaun Benson), the pair’s neighbor, intrigues Jessica: he claims to live alone, yet he buys supplies for more than one person. Jessica’s attempts to discover more trap her in Simon’s snare. 

She wakes up in a 1950s setting, complete with a strange woman dressed in 1950s clothing. Jessica realizes that Evan has abducted her and the woman to keep for as long as he desires. Evan starts a frantic search for his wife, unaware she’s trapped in Simon’s man-made prison. 

Kept Woman resembles the real-life Ariel Castro kidnappings

Lifetime didn’t state whether Kept Woman had real-life inspirations. However, the story bears some resemblance to the infamous Ariel Castro kidnappings. 

Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus and turned them into sex slaves. Castro lured the girls using the promise of a lift before locking them inside his house. 

Ariel tortured and raped the girls until 2013, when Berry and her daughter escaped and alerted authorities to the horrors inside Ariel Castro’s house. The police arrested Castro on 6th May 2013 and charged him with multiple counts of rape and kidnapping. 

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, and rape, earning a life sentence plus 1,000 years without the possibility of parole. He committed suicide one month into his life sentence by hanging himself with bedsheets. 

As far as we know, Kept Woman is a fictional story similar to the Ariel Castro kidnappings. It’s possible that the filmmakers drew some inspiration from the true crime.