I thought my charming husband was the full package - until I discovered he'd faked cancer and cheated on me repeatedly. But it was only when I teamed up with his ex-wife that I found out what a monster he truly is...

A charismatic man with secrets. Two women pitted against one another. Forged documents, a fake cancer diagnosis, embezzlement, a high-speed police chase and an alleged kidnap plot. It has all the ingredients of a page-turning psychological thriller – yet for the women at its heart this is not fiction. Their story is so extraordinary that they not only made it into the hit podcast Ex-Wives Undercover: Liars, Cheaters & Love Cons, it is now being told in a three-part documentary, Don’t Date Brandon, charting how these two women uncovered what they allege was a decades-long pattern of deception, coercive control, stalking and abuse.Amber Rasmussen thought her husband Brandon Johnson was, in her words, ‘the full package’ – 6ft 3in, funny, intelligent and seemingly honest. But that image was shattered when she discovered his multiple affairs, his false claim that he had leukaemia, and that emails from his ex-wife Athena Klingerman, sent to Amber to pit the two women against each other, were fake.Athena met Brandon online in 2007. They married and had a daughter, but divorced in 2012. In 2013, Brandon met Amber on Tinder and, after a whirlwind romance that saw him propose just months later, they married in 2017. But when Amber called the woman she had thought of as her enemy, to her amazement she found Athena’s experience mirrored her own with chilling precision.‘The stories didn’t match. Then it was like, “Wait… what?” And then we started uncovering everything,’ says Athena. ‘It was a huge relief. Finally she knew the truth and I knew I wasn’t crazy. It really lifted this huge weight off me.’Amber and Athena, who both live on America’s west coast, began investigating Brandon’s past, uncovering protection orders and statements from other women describing stalking, intimidation and abuse. Amber experienced this first-hand after she asked him for a divorce. ‘He had masked himself really well,’ she says. ‘He never laid hands on me. But the minute I was actually leaving, he tackled me onto the bed. That was the first time I thought, “I’m scared. This man really could hurt me.”’Brandon stopped her leaving, threatening to commit suicide and to kill Athena because she’d colluded with Amber. He was arrested on charges of unlawful imprisonment and making threats. Athena had endured an equally traumatic experience. ‘When I served him with divorce papers he refused to leave my house. The police came. He threatened to kill himself multiple times. He stalked me non-stop. He tried to attack a man I started dating. I had tracking devices put on my vehicle.’Restraining orders were breached and warnings ignored. Athena and Amber, feeling the legal system had failed to protect them, decided to make sure other women knew the truth. They created the Ex-Wives Undercover podcast to expose Brandon – and help other women spot the warning signs of coercive control. ‘I got to this place in my heart where I was going to tell my truth, and if that helped other people not feel alone then that’s all I was trying to do,’ says AthenaThe podcast grew as survivors of abuse began sharing similar experiences. Domestic abuse professionals got in touch and Amber and Athena were transformed from two former victims into unlikely investigators and advocates. ‘We laid it all out there, the good, the bad and the ugly,’ says Amber. ‘People wrote to us, saying, “Thank you. I feel less alone.”’ Amber Rasmussen, left, and Athena Klingerman joined forces to tell their story in the hit podcast Ex-Wives Undercover: Liars, Cheaters & Love Cons, which has now been made into a three-part documentaryBut the podcast uncovered far more than just other survivors’ stories - one listener pointed the pair towards Brandon’s ‘financial double life’. They learned he was facing criminal charges over an alleged $392,000 embezzlement scheme, convincing them that his deception went far beyond his relationships. Then things took an even darker turn.As the legal pressure mounted on him, Brandon took his and Athena’s 12-year-old daughter from school despite active warrants and what followed was a frantic high-speed police chase. With the girl trapped in the passenger seat, officers were forced to abandon the pursuit rather than put the child at greater risk and fortunately Brandon later let her go, dropping her off to safety with money for an Uber. ‘I was in pure panic. It was utterly terrifying,’ says Athena.The extraordinary sequence of events was all captured by the documentary crew, who had already been following Athena and Amber as they investigated Brandon’s alleged behaviour and their work supporting survivors of coercive control.Their greatest fear was that history might repeat itself, so when they heard Brandon had begun a relationship with a woman named Rachel in California, Amber and Athena faced an impossible dilemma. ‘We went back and forth on what we were going to say to Rachel when we messaged her because we knew we only had one chance,’ recalls Amber. ‘It took about a week before she responded. We were sitting there on edge for a week. She said, “Tell me more” and I said, “Can you call me?” We talked for two hours and I said, “I’m going to give you a whole zip file as this is something you need to have.”’ Amber and Athena created the Ex-Wives Undercover podcast to expose Brandon – and help other women spot the warning signs of coercive control (Amber pictured in the documentary)Despite their warning, Athena and Amber’s worst fears were realised when Rachel ended the relationship, and Brandon allegedly responded with an escalating campaign of intimidation that culminated in a kidnap plot and an attack on Rachel and a friend with a knife and a Taser, threatening to kill them. The attack only ended when Rachel’s friend managed to overpower him moments before police arrived.The evidence Amber and Athena had collected over years - police reports, protection orders and court papers - suddenly became invaluable. ‘We’d kept every document,’ says Athena. ‘When the detectives contacted us, we were able to give them everything.’Detectives later uncovered what prosecutors described as evidence suggesting the attack had been carefully planned. For Athena and Amber, it was the moment years of survivor testimony, painstaking evidence gathering and repeated warnings finally converged, leading to Brandon’s arrest and, ultimately, his conviction. He accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to ten years in prison for assault and attempted kidnapping with intent to rape, sparing Amber and Athena from having to relive years of trauma in the witness box. ‘It was vindication,’ says Athena. ‘After 16 years, somebody finally believed us.’Yet justice is not the same as closure, and just days before I spoke to them Brandon’s parole was brought forward (he’s due for release this week). He’d also been sending messages from prison saying he was ‘out to get them’. ‘My heart just sank,’ says Amber. ‘I called Athena and Rachel and said, “Guys, it’s awful news.”’Yet Amber has reached a point where she refuses to let Brandon dictate her future. ‘I don’t let him take up space in my brain. I don’t let him define my future. I’m still going to live my life,’ she says. For Athena, whose daughter remains central to the story, the news reignited her fears she thought had been put on hold. ‘I’m scared again,’ she admits. ‘My husband ordered a new security system. But I’ve learned to live with it and not to let it weigh me down.’Don’t Date Brandon, Thursday, July 30, 10pm, Channel 4