Don’t Date Brandon gave Amber Rasmussen and Athena Klingerman the chance to speak out about their mutual ex-husband, Brandon Johnson, who is currently behind bars on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping with intent to sexually assault.
The three-part docuseries, which is streaming on Paramount+ now, is based on Amber and Athena’s “Ex-Wives Undercover” podcast that they started once they figured out they were both victims of Johnson, who has been described as a con man.
Leading up to his arrest, Johnson had at least 17 protective orders filed against him from six different women that he dated, including both Rasmussen and Klingerman. Johnson also had three counts of domestic violence and one count of entrapment on his record, which he pleaded guilty to before getting a suspended sentence.
Johnson subsequently pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and was sentenced to community service. Despite still having outstanding warrants in Washington for felony theft, reckless endangerment and eluding arrest on protective order violations, it wasn’t until his arrest for assault and attempted kidnapping with intent to rape an ex that he was sentenced to prison time.
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He is currently serving out a 10-year plea deal and will be eligible for parole in 2027. Rasmussen and Klingerman, meanwhile, have been focused on using their platform to raise awareness after their concerns went unheard for years before their podcast.
Ahead of the docuseries’ release, Johnson denied certain claims made by Rasmussen and Klingerman while referring to them as “fabricated.” Johnson pleaded no contest to the charges before the plea deal, which required him to register with the California sex offender registry. He pleaded guilty to 10 counts of attempted theft in the first degree after being charged for stealing from a former employer.
Keep scrolling for Rasmussen and Klingerman’s answers to the burning questions about the docuseries — including Johnson’s possible reaction:
How did you translate the podcast into a three-part doc?
Amber: We took as much as we could. We had to pick the most important elements with the hope that people — if they want the extended version — can go listen to the podcast. But I think we did a really good job of weaving in those high-level themes of what Brandon was up to. It’s challenging though.
Athena: Director Grace Chapman is brilliant and wonderful. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to be a part of this. She at one point said there is so much and it is all impactful and meaningful. She suggested we write down the events that happened that we really want to focus on. She wanted us to feel satisfied with the details of what we chose. We very well knew that there was no way our crazy story — that spanned over 16 years — was going to all be condensed. This was about more than just us. It was all the other women and other scheming and scamming he had done.
How did you figure out what would and wouldn’t be included? Any non-negotiables?
Athena: My sister lost her life in an act of domestic violence. It’s still ongoing, and we obviously weren’t going to throw that into the docuseries. But for Amber and I — when that happened in 2020 — we were so frightened to come out and share what had happened when Amber was going through it. All these women were coming out, and we were figuring [out] all this wild stuff because Brandon’s retaliation is frightening and very real. We’ve all experienced it.
But after my sister lost her life, it was Amber reaching out and saying, “I think it’s time.” We both have this feeling of strength and bravery. Now it’s a matter of life and death for people who might be listening or tuning in, and I think that pushed us to really be brave enough to share it — knowing that he would come after us.
Amber: The podcast and the docuseries are really complementary. There’s things in the docuseries that weren’t in the podcast. People that started that way are getting the cherry on top with the doc. The people who watch the docuseries first, there’s more to the story. There are more women and lots more cons.
Were there any concerns about doing this?
Athena: The challenge that our production team had was getting anybody to speak positively on Brandon’s side. I don’t think he had anybody stepped forward. Then taking into account the publicity it would bring — to ourselves and my family and my children — it was about making sure that they were OK. Specifically [my daughter] Sydney. I really needed to make sure I had her blessing to move forward on this level because she had been through all of it and witnessed so much. In the end it was put out there — cautiously, in her case — and then just for her to see that you can stand up for yourself. We’re helping give other people a voice, a little courage and bravery.
Amber: Having to go back and relive it. Unpacking it and just seeing the massive effect he’s had on so many people’s lives and how we’re just little pieces of it. There’s so many more. It was tough.
How did you go about creating a safe space for the survivors who spoke out?
Athena: When the women would come forward — and even friends of his — they would privately or secretly do it. They were scared because he had retaliated previously. He would call people’s jobs, try to get them fired or break up relationships. Anything that he could do to manipulate or to get somebody to stand down, he would do so. That takes a lot of courage and bravery for anybody on the outside to step up and and and share.
Amber: His high school girlfriend — that was really hard for her. She was not on the podcast because she didn’t even know about the podcast until we were almost all the way through. She said she was the first one to get a restraining order on him and she’s very terrified of him. The fact that she was brave enough to come forward, this is the first time she’s ever spoken about it. It was a big, big step for her, and I’m really proud.
Are you worried about Brandon reacting to this?
Athena: We’re very aware that he always has plans. But I think that it would be crazy of us not to expect him to retaliate at any moment. But again, we just take everything day by day. We can’t sit there and dwell or be overly anxious about what’s going to happen. We just have to move forward, put our voices out there and continue to do what we’re doing and spread the word in a sense that gives us a little bit more protection. Once he does get out, we’ll be on guard a bit.
And he is eligible for parole as early as 2027.
Amber: That’s really soon. We had all hoped for a longer sentence. It’s not going to be long enough for him to even — unfortunately — make a difference. I think he’ll probably be on his best behavior for a little while and he might do some smear campaigns because he’s kind of known for that. But again, once he feels like things have died down, he’s going to be back at it.
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Do you think the docuseries will have an impact as more people learn the story?
Athena: That would be amazing. But with our experience in the legal system, that’s very unlikely. He had those warrants here for evading the police with my daughter in the car. He’s never been charged officially. I know that when he’s released, he’s going to want to come back to Washington — where I am. He’ll need a place to be so he will be in the same state, which is kind of scary. But I think that he’s gonna have to come back up to at least go to court for those outstanding charges unless something was taken care of. But I not-so-secretly hope that he gets sentenced again.
You are six seasons into your podcast. How has it grown? What is next? How does this prove the power of true-crime podcasts and the positive impact it is having?
Amber: Just the women coming together, it shows how powerful we can be. The friendships that have happened. We might have never met one another had this not happened, and it’s unfortunate, but I think we just took our voices back. It shows and we made a difference — and a big one in multiple women’s lives. That’s why we ended up continuing with the podcast and sharing other women’s stories. That was a big surprise for us that there was a need, and multiple people would come up all the time saying, “I want to share my story. You guys actually inspired me and I’ve never talked about it before.”
That’s a super important impact. Everyone has different experiences. So you can pull something you know from each one. A lot of good can come from it.
Athena: We started the podcast as a way to process our pain and get it out there. But now it’s a platform for helping others heal. They say that to us all the time with the women who have come on after us to share, so now with spreading the word and the Don’t Date Brandon series on Paramount+, it’s just the beginning. We’re just hoping to turn this more into a movement.
