The Crowded Room is a trending true crime series currently streaming on AppleTV. Starring Amanda Seyfried and Tom Holland, it is drawing huge numbers of viewers. The series follows the case of a young boy, “Danny Sullivan” played by Holland, who is revealed to have Multiple Personality Disorder (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder), and the dedicated therapist, played by Seyfried, who works with him.
Yet while the show itself is fictional, its general plot is based on a true story, and the young Danny Sullivan is based on a real person. Sullivan is based on Billy Milligan and his very real DID diagnosis and court case. The show depicts a quiet, artistic boy working hard to integrate his childhood and multiple personalities, but is that accurate? We wanted to know who was the real Billy Milligan, and where he is now. Here is everything we found out.
Who is Billy Milligan?
Billy Milligan was born William Stanley Morrison in 1955 in Miami Beach, to Dorothy Sands and Johnny Morrison. His mother worked as a singer, while his father tried to help with the parenting and expenses, which he reportedly struggled with. He was alleged to have a gambling and drinking problem, and ended his own life in 1959, after a previous suicide attempt in 1958. After his death, Dorothy moved back to Ohio where she was from, and met and married Chalmer Milligan. Milligan adopted Billy and changed his last name from Morrison to Milligan. Chalmer was reportedly very abusive to Billy, beginning from a young age.
Much of his life and story is reported in Daniel Keyes’s book The Minds of Billy Milligan, which the series The Crowded Room is loosely based on. While the series’ Danny Sullivan was arrested for shooting a gun at his abusive stepfather in a crowded park, the real Billy Milligan’s crimes were apparently far more sinister. Billy Milligan was known as the “Campus Rapist” as he went on a rape, kidnapping, and burglary spree on the Ohio State Campus in 1977. He was ultimately identified by one of his victims, and was sent back to prison, as he was on parole for another rape and armed robbery — and the possession of a gun, and further allegations of criminal acts, violated that parole.
While in prison, Milligan was interviewed by nine different mental health professionals and ultimately determined to have Multiple Personality Disorder, now called Disassociative Identity Disorder. According to the mental health professionals who treated him at the time, the alleged abuse from his stepfather caused his mind to split into somewhere between 10-24 distinct and different personalities. Some of these reportedly included a Yugoslavian man named Ragen, and Arthur, a distinguished British gentleman, two versions of whom were portrayed in the series. Adalena and young David were also portrayed, although there were many others who were not. In fact, there were 14 that received the label “the Undesirables” and others that were small children, escape artists, “keepers of the pain,” and more.
Billy Milligan’s artwork
Similar to Danny Sullivan in The Crowded Room, the real Billy Milligan was an accomplished artist who could paint and draw elaborate works of art. Some of his art is reportedly for sale through various venues, although it is hard to determine the veracity of some of the pieces. Many of his artworks, including some done by various personalities or “alters,” can be viewed in the Netflix documentary Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan.
Unlike Danny Sullivan, Billy Milligan had real siblings, all of whom testified to the brutal and abusive nature of their stepfather. Milligan was the first defendant to ever be found not guilty by reason of insanity due to suffering from this disorder. He put the disorder on the map, and is still one of the most highly recognized and well-documented cases of it to this day. He was sent to a mental health facility following the trial for treatment.
In 1986 he escaped the facility, and was living as Christopher Carr for a brief period of time in Washington State. There is suspicion he may have abducted and murdered his roommate, and he is suspected of two possible murders during his time outside the facility. He was eventually found and returned, although never convicted of the murders.
He was released in 1988, and lived out the rest of his life in relative obscurity. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, and died in 2014 at the age of 59 in Ohio.
Billy Milligan had a complicated and complex life which resulted in an equally complex mind. It is uncertain if we will ever know the depths of what existed behind those icy blue eyes, but what he leaves behind is a legacy of psychological insights the world might not have known otherwise. Because of his trial and well-documented case of DID, the existence and diagnosis of this complicated and fascinating disorder are now more accessible. Thanks to the series The Crowded Room, his life and case are once again at the forefront of the public’s mind.