EXCLUSIVE: Lady Bird Johnson lived most of her adult life in the shadow of her husband, LBJ, but she emerges in her own right in Dawn Porter’s award-winning documentary The Lady Bird Diaries.
ABC News Studios, in partnership with Trilogy Films, today announced it will release the documentary exclusively on Hulu on Monday, Nov. 13. We have your first look at the film – winner of the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award at SXSW and the Audience Choice Award at the 2023 Hill County Film Festival – in the clip above.
“The groundbreaking documentary looks at one of the most influential and least-understood first ladies, featuring audio from the 123 hours of personal and revealing diaries Lady Bird Johnson began recording after JFK’s assassination and continued throughout her husband’s administration,” notes a release about the film. The Lady Bird Diaries “shines a new light on the former first lady, a meticulous observer, recasting her role in LBJ’s presidency. Porter highlights her contributions as a savvy cultural and political strategist advising former President Lyndon B. Johnson during his toughest decisions in the White House and one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.”
Porter, whose many credits include John Lewis: Good Trouble and Bobby Kennedy for President, said in a statement, “I learned so much making this film. Lady Bird Johnson’s journey is familiar to so many women who work behind the scenes, accomplish the impossible, and take no credit. It was a joy to finally center the camera on her and shine a light on one of the most influential, if not well-known, first ladies of America.”
Lady Bird Johnson with recording equipment.
ABC News Studios
The documentary is based on Julia E. Sweig’s bestselling biography, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, and the eight-part ABC Audio and Best Case Studios podcast, In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson.
“ABC News Studios is proud to partner with award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter on her unique and timeless storytelling of a well-known period in history through Lady Bird Johnson’s personal account,” said Mike Kelley, head of ABC News Studios. “It’s been exciting to experience the journey and momentum of this special documentary since its world premiere at SXSW, which is a testament to the talented team of storytellers.”
The Lady Bird Diaries is produced by Trilogy Films for ABC News Studios. Dawn Porter and Kim Reynolds are the producers. Victoria Thompson and Jacqueline Glover are executive producers for ABC News Studios. Julia Sweig, Adam Pincus and Best Case Studios are executive producers. Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman are executive producers for Sony Pictures Television, Trilogy’s parent company.
In the powerful clip above, Lady Bird Johnson remembers the fateful day in Dallas, November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated and her husband, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson, was sworn in as America’s 36th president.
