Who is Sophie Brunet? Connection with Michael Peterson explored as she comments on HBO Max's The Staircase

The Staircase, an HBO Max true crime mini-series, tells the strange and disturbing story of North Carolina author Michael Peterson, who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen.

In 2001, she was discovered dead at the bottom of a staircase in the couple's home.

Michael Peterson was eventually released from prison after entering an Alford plea.

Michael is shown kissing a lady ahead of his trial in the first few episodes of the HBO drama. The lady was Sophie Brunet, an editor on the original 2004 documentary about the case, and Juliette Binoche plays the role in HBO Max's adaptation.

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What is known about Sophie Brunet and her association with Michael Peterson?

A 13-part documentary series by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade was shot over a decade about the case and is now available to stream on Netflix. HBO Max's series is a recent screenplay of the same case.

As the editor of the 2004 project, Brunet was involved in the tale from the start. De Lestrade went on to film a two-hour special in 2012-2013 and three more episodes in 2018.

Although she never met Peterson very early on in the project, she developed a friendship, which would later take a romantic turn, with him through correspondence.

Peterson was freed from prison on a $300,000 bond on December 16, 2011, and placed under home arrest with a tracker, pending a retrial.

Michael Peterson entered an Alford plea to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in February 2017. Peterson's sentence was made to amount to time already served, allowing him to leave jail permanently.

According to de Lestrade, Brunet and Peterson are thought to have continued dating after his release, staying together for about 12 years.

Brunet can be seen with Peterson's family in the courtroom, celebrating his release in Episode 10 of The Staircase documentary, filmed in 2011.

The couple dated until May 2017, according to de Lestrade. He further claimed that her relationship had no bearing on her editing.

"This is one of the incredible things that happened during those 15 years. Life is really full of surprises. They had a real story, which lasted until May 2017. But she never let her own feelings affect the course of editing."

Michael Peterson, 78, revealed that their romance ended because he refused to live in Paris.

Michael Peterson said:

"We made plans to live in Paris. Then I went and realized, no, I can't. I can't live in Paris. I don't speak French. I'm too old. I couldn't afford to live in Paris and my children, and grandchildren were in America."

He also revealed that Brunet thought he was innocent, similar to Brunet's stance on HBO Max's The Staircase.

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Sophie Brunet, in reality, has never commented on the detailed aspects of the case. However, she appeared miffed that the series has misrepresented some angles of her life - like her relationship with Peterson began later than represented in the series and that it had no bearing on her editing decisions.