More than a decade ago, Amber Rasmussen met Brandon Johnson on Tinder and fell head over heels in love with him. Although Mr. Johnson’s “crazy” ex-wife, Athena Clingermann, was annoying and frequently texted him about their young daughter, Mr. Rasmussen overlooked the red flags and eventually married Mr. Johnson in 2017. Soon after, things began to fall apart rapidly. Turns out Klingerman wasn’t the problem. It was Johnson.
Paramount+’s latest true-crime documentary series, “Don’t Date Brandon,” explores how Johnson lied and got away with almost all but murder charges. The documentary reveals that while married to Rasmussen, Johnson lied about working for Nike, faked cancer, and continued to cheat on his wife. He also launched a fake co-parenting app and pretended to controversially communicate with Clingerman about their daughter.
The three-part documentary, which premiered this week, follows Rasmussen from discovering Johnson’s deception to ultimately breaking up with him and being harassed by his ex-girlfriend after their divorce. Rasmussen obtained an order of protection against Johnson after he allegedly made suicide threats and stalked her over the years, including trespassing and GPS tracking. Don’t Date Brandon also tells the story of how Rasmussen and Klingerman, long-time adversaries, finally came to terms to discuss the red flags they had missed about each other’s ex-husbands. Rasmussen discovered that Clingerman also obtained an order of protection against Johnson. Johnson led police on a high-speed chase with his daughter in his car and managed to escape.
In 2020, Rasmussen and Klingerman launched the podcast “Ex-Wives Undercover” to warn others about Johnson. The podcast prompted more victims to come forward and new details and stories about Johnson’s tragic past to emerge. In 2023, three years after the podcast began, Johnson was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault and attempted kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault. He also pleaded guilty to 10 counts of attempted first-degree theft in a separate fraud case.
Variety spoke with Rasmussen and Klingerman about why they wanted to make the documentary and how they feel about their ex-husband being released from prison.
Brandon will be eligible for parole in May 2027. Did you have any hesitation about turning your podcast into a documentary series that would reach a global audience and perhaps infuriate Brandon?
Athena Klingerman: Yes. We thought about it long and hard. Because you’re right. This story is now reaching an even wider audience. But we needed to get the word out, so it was worth it in the face of any consequences. At this point, I feel like I’m just going to keep moving forward. Let’s expose Brandon for who he is because he represents many other Brandons. At the risk of backlash, it’s worth reaching out to a wider audience and letting others who may be going through this know that they’re not alone.
In addition to these two, the documentary features several other women Brandon allegedly abused, including Rachel, who was responsible for his arrest. Were you the reason they decided to participate in this series?
Amber Rasmussen: Of course, we reached out to them[the producers]but it had to be their personal decision whether or not to participate. One of the women, one of his first girlfriends, was very scared[to join the series]. She’s still scared of Brandon. In fact, she reached out to us after the podcast went live on TikTok, but she was very reluctant because she was so scared. But after talking to[the production]she felt better and felt like this was something really important to share.
Are you worried that Brandon will be released in 2027?
Klingerman: That’s right. I heard rumors that he has a plan. He’s already out of prison and thinking about his next steps. No wonder he believes his lies. He doesn’t believe what he did was wrong. In my opinion, he believes his ex-wives drove him crazy. He will make excuses that take no responsibility for what he has done. yes. I’m so scared thinking about him leaving.
Are you hopeful that this documentary might help extend his sentence?
Klingerman: I don’t think there’s a legal chance of that happening, but I know that because I’ve seen other documentaries do similar things in the past. It kind of lights a little fire in the ass of the justice system. The only thing I can hope for is that (law enforcement) will take the other criminal acts he committed more seriously. Other than that, all we can do is take each day as it comes. We just need to stay in the present moment. Keep fighting and always be there when he’s not around and be very careful.
Rasmussen: We really served our purpose. We wanted to go out and not date Brandon. So even if he gets out of prison, changes his name, or whatever, his face will still be there. So the women who are going to be involved (with him) in the future will hopefully be able to go back to documentaries and podcasts and gain knowledge that we collectively didn’t have. Knowledge is power.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
