What Happened To The Real Rebecca Godfrey After Under The Bridge

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Hulu's Under the Bridge

Summary The Reena Virk case inspired Rebecca Godfrey's writing career, leading to the creation of both fiction and non-fiction books.

Godfrey's character in Under the Bridge serves as a narrative touchpoint, connecting the book and miniseries while showcasing the author's personality.

Despite her tragic death from lung cancer in 2022, Godfrey has a novel and Hulu's miniseries Under the Bridge releasing posthumously.

After the Reena Virk case depicted in Under the Bridge, the real Rebecca Godfrey went on to have a notable career. Hulu's newest miniseries explores the attack and murder of a 14-year-old named Reena Virk. Under the Bridge includes the characters Cam Bentland and Rebecca Godfrey as emotional and narrative touchpoints for the audience. Cam was created from scratch as a representation of the issues within the Victoria Police Department at the time of Reena's death. Meanwhile, Rebecca Godfrey is a fictionalization of the author whose eponymous book inspired the miniseries.

In Under the Bridge, Rebecca Godfrey arrives in Victoria when the murder of Reena Virk occurs. She has a direct connection to the girls at Seven Oaks before they're arrested. Moreover, she becomes involved in the actual investigation because of her background with Cam. In reality, Rebecca Godfrey didn't have an active role in the case investigation, engaging as a journalist instead. Despite this, the inclusion of the character helps connect the book and miniseries while showing off Godfrey's personality at that time. It also increases interest in Rebecca Godfrey's life during and after the events of Under the Bridge.

Related What Happened To Rebecca Godfrey's Brother, Gabe, In Under The Bridge Hulu's Under the Bridge tells the true story of Reena Virk's 1997 murder case, while also including real elements of Rebecca Godfrey's family tragedy.

Rebecca Godfrey Wrote Two Books Inspired By Reena Virk's Murder Case (& Wrote More Novels After)

Rebecca Godfrey Diverged From The Reena Virk Murder Case With Her Third Book

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Rebecca Godfrey became involved in the Reena Virk case long before publishing Under the Bridge. According to her interview with Jenny Offill of Electric Lit, author Rebecca Godfrey lived in New York at the time of Reena Virk’s murder. She discovered the crime after reading the article “Grisly Killing of Girl, 14, Startles a Town in British Columbia,” which came out in the New York Times two weeks after the murder. At the time, she’d nearly finished writing her first fiction book, The Torn Skirt, about a teenage girl who becomes involved in crime in Victoria, Canada.

To get close to the children involved in the Reena Virk case, she took on a job reporting for a women’s magazine. In the four years between the murder and the publication of the novel, the true story of Under the Bridge influenced later drafts of her fiction book. She then went on to write the eponymous true crime book after investigating the crime and finding a much different side of the perpetrators. Despite the fact that Reena Virk’s murder influenced two of her books, her third book – originally titled The Dilettante – had nothing to do with the crime.

Rebecca Godfrey started her historical fiction novel after receiving a fellowship from MacDowell. The Dilettante focused on the young life of art collector Peggy Guggenheim and her brief affair with writer Samuel Beckett. Sadly, Godfrey only completed ten chapters of the novel before her untimely death. However, the novel was completed by her friend Leslie Jamison using Godfrey’s notes. On November 18, 2024, Random House announced on their Instagram that the novel will be published under the name PEGGY and released on August 13, 2024.

Godfrey Wrote Exposes On Influential Women & Curated An Art Gallery Show

Author Rebecca Godfrey Worked To Combine Multiple Art Forms

Godfrey was inspired to make this show after taking a photograph of her seven-year-old daughter swinging upside down in a tree.

After finishing Under the Bridge, Rebecca Godfrey expanded into related areas of interest. She began teaching writing at Columbia University. The writer profiled many influential women. Two notable examples are her coverage of Robyn Doolittle for Flare and Barbara Sukowa for Nowness. Robyn Doolittle is a Toronto Star reporter who led the investigation into a video of then-Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford smoking stimulants and being homophobic. Barbara Sukowa is a prolific German actress who has acted in the title role in Hannah Ardent and Lola. Godfrey’s coverage of these women is more uplifting to read than Under the Bridge.

In addition to this, Godfrey curated a multimedia art show called Girl in Trees that was shown in Germantown, New York in October 2016 (via Columbia University School of the Arts). Artists provided writing, photos, and other visual arts. Godfrey was inspired to make this show after taking a photograph of her seven-year-old daughter swinging upside down in a tree. She sought out art pieces that captured this same focus on girlhood and nature. Artists who contributed to the show included novelist Jenny Offill, poet Nick Flynn, and screenwriter Stephanie Savage.

Related Under The Bridge Review: Hulu's Haunting True-Crime Miniseries Fills The True Detective Void Bolstered by Lily Gladstone, Under the Bridge chronicles a real-life crime by showing viewers just how close to the surface haunting brutality lurks.

Rebecca Godrey Died From Lung Cancer In 2022 At Age 54

Godfrey Survived For 4 Years After Her Lung Cancer Diagnosis

On October 3, 2022, author Rebecca Godfrey died from complications of lung cancer at the age of 54 years old. Her friend and colleague Mary Gaitskill recounted Godfrey’s final days in The Paris Review. The author learned that she had stage four lung cancer in 2018, and her prognosis was only six months to one year left to live. Despite all the expectations, she lived for four more years. During this time, she spent time with her family and friends.

Godfrey continued to work on her novel about Peggy Guggenheim. She even dictated parts of the book from her hospital bed shortly before her death. Additionally, she collaborated with writer-director Quinn Shephard on Hulu’s Under the Bridge. As such, she’s posthumously credited as an executive producer on the project. Rebecca Godfrey is survived by her daughter, Ada, and her husband, Herbert Wilson.

Sources: Electric Lit, MacDowell, Random House Instagram, Flare, Nowness, Columbia University School of the Arts, and The Paris Review