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Meet Alexis, a 17-year-old fun, party girl who likes to rebel and flaunt her sexuality.
Meet Madison, a 28-year-old assertive and direct lesbian who wants nothing to do with men.
Meet Beth, a reserved and soft-spoken 10-year-old who is scared and traumatized by abuse.
All of these women—and more—make up Jane Hart, the subject of A&E Network’s Many Sides of Jane which chronicles the life of a 28-year-old mother from Boise, Idaho living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. The six-part series explores what life is like for the young woman with more than nine different identities as she juggles her two young boys and navigates her complicated relationship with her mother and her past.
“My parts and I don’t always see eye to eye,” she says in the trailer, between footage of discovering a tattoo that one of her personalities got that she didn’t consent to, and finding a dating app on her phone.
The cameras capture her private day-to-day life, including her intense therapy sessions, as new memories emerge helping Jane as she continues to unlock mysteries surrounding her Dissociative Identity Disorder and her childhood trauma that caused it.
Her identities can appear at any time and are typically triggered by stress. Diagnosed only three years ago, she is on a journey to understand what caused her illness as well as figure out how she can best co-exist with her many “parts” as they each emerge to try and make themselves heard.
“The goal is not to get rid of my parts,” she says when talking about healing. “It’s to help them work better together.”
She has nine distinctly identified “parts,” although there are more inside that are either not as developed or haven’t felt safe making themselves known at this stage in therapy.
Her identities include:
- Janey is six years old, innocent and childlike, and has no memory of Jane’s abuse nor had to endure it.
- Beth is 10 years old, reserved and soft-spoken. She is scared and traumatized from enduring a majority of Jane’s abuse.
- Jaden is an 11-year-old tomboy and very defensive of Jane’s abusers.
- Alexis is a 17-year-old energetic, fun, party girl. She is the rebel and loves flaunting her sexuality and being in control.
- Madison is a 28-year-old lesbian who wants nothing to do with men. She is assertive, direct and is a protector of Jane and all her “parts.”
- Jerry holds all the anger about Jane’s past abuse and prevents her from fully feeling the emotion of anger.
- Ashley is 19 years old and has only recently made herself known in therapy. She is beginning to establish a good rapport with Jane’s therapist so that she can begin to tell her story.
- Jeffery is a male part who is still a bit of a mystery.
- A new non-verbal “part” has just started to emerge unexpectedly. This “part” comes out in association with new flashbacks and does not yet have a name.
Throughout the series, Jane comes to terms with past abuses that occurred during her childhood and her relationship with her family under the watchful care of her clinical psychologist.
“We are proud to partner with Jane as she bravely opens up her private life to our viewers to ultimately remove the stigma attached to Dissociative Identity Disorder, help spread awareness and hope, while showing the world that they are not alone when it comes to their own mental health struggles,” Elaine Frontain Bryant, executive vice president and head of programming for A&E, said in a statement.
A&E has partnered with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, to share information and resources for individuals and their family members who may be affected by mental illness. These resources include an on-air PSA featuring Jane Hart, end-card information with NAMI’s HelpLine, a discussion guide and more.
Many Sides of Jane is produced by Renegade 83, LLC, an Entertainment One (eOne) company for A&E Network. Executive producers for Renegade 83 are Jay Renfroe, David Garfinkle and Erica Hanson. Executive producers for A&E are Elaine Frontain Bryant, Shelly Tatro and Brad Abramson. A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights.
Many Sides of Jane premieres January 22 at 10 p.m.
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