We were abused. Grumpa told us to throw Court Orders in the trash. And other revelations from Aunt Brie's deposition
It took two years, but the first of the Walsh houshold finally sat for a deposition. Aunt Brie and her husband both spent several hours with attorneys and swore to tell the truth. The couple and faced significant retaliation from Grumpa and Grimma, and as a result. Her father demanded that Court Orders be thrown in the trash, and her mother instructed family members to ostracize her.
Aunt Brie and her husband, now live in Savannah, Georgia with their children and one of the two youngest Walsh daughters. Aunt Brie tells some hard truths at her deposition about abuse, druggings, and the reasons why she and her younger sister fled the Chappaqua Estate.
Highlights from Brienne Walsh Deposition:
1) Yes, we were abused.
2) Mom moved to San Franicso to get money from Dad and the Walsh family was well aware of it.
3) Estranged now, Aunt Brie's family put terrible pressure on her to lie, take down her writings about the family from her blog, throw court orders in the trash and threats of lawsuits if she did not.
4) She describes the dysfuntional household where Evie is kept, now fled by one of "The Twins." She had enough of being treated as one of Grimma's dolls.
5) She provides communications with her family about Mom's drugging of Dad that shows the family knew what Tara did and the harm that was caused.
1) Yes, we were abused.
Brienne confirms in her deposition that her childhood was abusive and that it was bad enough that Grimma and Grumpa were sued for custody.
Q: "I'm asking you to think back on your childhood and to just – and if you had to describe it, would abusive be one way that it could be described?"
A: "Yes, I would."
Mom's Aunts attempted to emancipate her.
They called CPS dozens of times in attempts to free her from Grimma and Grumpa.
Q: Sure. You used the term 'emancipation.' What did you mean by that?
A: Again, this is a good example of me writing without being concerned for fact. I don't know, and I really truly don't know if my sister was filing for emancipation for my – for herself or if she was – if my aunts were going to take custody over her. You would have to ask her. Or you could call the court documents.
2) Mom made no secret of the fact she had gone to San Francisco to 'take [Dad's] money' and do him harm.
Her text messagess with her siblings express no concerns for Mom's safety, or her plan for Dad.
Q: Can you read the first paragraph of your brother Brendan's email?
A: Yeah she called me last night to say the same thing – [she's] just with Steve to take his money and then she will leave. I get the impression that she is now planning to head back here and is greasing the skid so everyone is happy to see her.
3) Throw court orders in the trash, says Grumpa.
The pressure finally drives her to move to Savannah, GA near her husband's family. Aunt Brie has since become estranged from her family. [Update: Aunt Brie was not invited by the Walshes to her Grandmother's funderal in May.]
Then the lawyers delivering subpoenas set a court date to compel us to appear. Mine is next week. When Caleb saw this, he got very angry and said that we are just going to go to the depositions and get them over with. When I told my family about this they wanted to have a quorum so they could scream at us for betraying the family. My family called me multiple times to scream at me that I didn't know what I was talking about. I could just throw out the paperwork and ignore the subpoena.
Mom threated legal action against Aunt Brie
She sent her notices that she intended to sue her for defamation.
"Two weeks ago, I wrote about moving to the suburbs. In that time, my sister has threatened me, and sent me legal actions letting me know her intention to sue me for defamation in court... All of this has made Caleb and I seriously reconsider moving to the suburbs... Instead, we're talking again about Savannah, where we frequently are our most happy." - Excerpted from 10/15/19 post titled "The Preview of This Should Scare Family Members Away From Reading Further" from "A Brie Grows in Brooklyn."
Aunt Brie and her husband are now ostracized by the Walshes
Aunt Brie confirms that neither she nor her husband are speaking to her parents. On 4/1/21 Aunt Brie talks about learning of her grandmother's death, "Caleb who came home from his studio, found me lying on my back on the floor while the kids fought in the bathtub, and rubbed my feet. Caleb who just got how painful it was that my parents called my sister to tell her about my Nana's death, but never called me." - Excerpted from 4/1/21 blog post titled "Does Marriage Accrue Value As Time Passes?" from "A Brie Grows in Brooklyn"
4) The oldest of Aunt Brie's younger adopted Walsh siblings moved to Savannah, Georgia
Though three years apart, Grimma forced them to dress alike and concluded they too shared the same hereditory Walsh mental illness, despite being adopted from Korea. Aunt Brie shares that Grimma had lied and told one of The Twins was told that her adoption paperwork had not been finalized in an effort to prevent her fleeing the nest.
The eldest of the two turned 18 on April 24, in the midst of it all. Before the pandemic hit New York, she had made plans to move out, on her 18th birthday, and in with a friend. The friend’s mother had agreed to house and feed her until she went to college. The friend’s mother told her two weeks after the lockdown begin that they no longer had room for my little sister. My parents are rich beyond imagination, but my little sister has no money. They never completed her adoption paperwork, so she has no social security card, and no way to get a legal identification. She cannot apply for a job. She was going to fly down to Savannah this week to come live with us, but she cannot legally board an airplane. - Excerpted from 6/29/20 blog post titled "If You Treat A Living Thing Right" from "A Brie Grows in Brooklyn"
5) Aunt Brie shares a text exchange with her friends regarding Mom's drugging of Dad
The communication leaves no question the family knew the severity of the crime and references another strange incident of a Walsh family member playing tricks with Seroquel.
Aunt Brie: Brendan wonders if you've ever taken Seroquel, Mark.
Mark: no, I don't think so
Aunt Brie: That shit will put you to sleep.
Mark: I looked it up. It sounds just like trazodone.
Aunt Brie: It's way more intense than that. Brendan gave me some for a flight to China, and I couldn't move for 14 hours. That's what Steve said Tara drugged him with.
Mark: Thinks she did
Aunt Brie: No it did happen without his consent but the lines were blurred *
* Aunt Brie goes on to explain that Mom excused her actions by claiming the bodyguards and nanny conspired to put the Seroquel into Dad's wine too. This is contradicted in sworn depositions. In fact, the nanny was the person who caught Mom and warned Dad what was happening, causing Mom to immediately fire her. Later, on the stand, Mom explained that she did it because, "We were living as a family. I made a family decision." Following the same logic Grimma uses to justify her approach to medicating the Walsh children.
