REALITY TRUE STORY: 5 QUESTIONS FROM SYDNEY SWEENEY'S HBO MOVIE ANSWERED

Reality, the HBO biopic starring Sydney Sweeney, depicts the true story of whistleblower Reality Winner, and the actual events of her life are as fascinating and distressing as the ones shown in the movie. Reality is the first movie by playwright Tina Satter, and it follows the title character after she has released secret government documents to the press. With the plot in media res, the action starts with Reality being confronted by FBI agents with a search warrant. During the investigation, Reality converses with Agent Taylor (Marchánt Davis) and Agent Garrick (Josh Hamilton), and the transcript of what they say to each other overlays the rest of the movie.

Reality is a tense, claustrophobic, one-room "bottle" movie that does an admirable job of showing both sides while hinting at how Reality Winner’s rights may have been violated in an intimidating environment. The film has a 97% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes thanks mostly to Sweeney, who has proved that even in poorly received movies like Voyeur she can deliver a star-making performance. Reality chooses to focus on one moment of Reality Winner’s story to explain the larger picture, but some questions are left unexplored in the movie, and those are worth answering.

Is Reality Winner The Woman's Real Name?

Despite the seeming unreality of her name, Reality Winner is indeed the given name of the real person who is depicted in Reality. According to Intelligencer, Reality's father, Ronald Winner, is the reason for the name choice. Her mother, Billie, had the final say on Reality’s older sister’s name, Brittany, so the parents decided it was only fair Ronald got to choose the name of the next child. Ronald got the idea after seeing a t-shirt that read, “I Coached A Real Winner," and since he always had big aspirations for his children, he thought that a name like that would set the bar high.

What Documents Did Reality Winner Leak?

The nature of the documents that Reality Winner leaked, as depicted in Reality, was that they contained sensitive content regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. After the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City, Winner became increasingly interested in geopolitics and Arabic languages. She became fluent in Farsi, Dari, and Pashto and worked as a translator for the United States Air Force (via The Atlantic). After her time in the military, Reality joined a government contracting agency, Pluribus International Corporation, as a translator. Reality mostly translated documents about the Iranian Aerospace program, but her role saw some other files cross her desk.

One of these documents she had access to was five pages, marked “top secret," and detailed evidence that Russia attempted to access U.S. election infrastructure in order to influence the 2016 presidential race. Winner continued doing her job with growing discontent and finally decided she had to leak the information she'd seen. Winner anonymously sent these documents to The Intercept, a non-profit publication that had also been instrumental in handling Edward Snowden’s leaked documents. On June 5, 2017, The Intercept published the documents under the title, “Top Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election." Later that day, it was reported that Reality Winner had been arrested.

Related: Snowden True Story: The Movie's Biggest Changes To The Real NSA Leaks

How Did The FBI Discover Reality Winner Was The Source?

When Reality Winner anonymously dropped off her documents to The Intercept she must have still assumed there was some risk. However, she probably did not think The Intercept would mishandle her leak to the point that FBI agents would be apprehending her moments after the story was published. It is the common journalistic practice to verify any leaked documents or evidence, but what isn’t common is to share unfiltered evidence with federal agencies under review. Inexplicably, this is exactly what The Intercept did (via NPR). An Intercept reporter shared pictures of Winner’s documents, which the FBI was able to trace using microdots (a digital thumbprint) that led to her printer.

While this was a huge misstep on the part of The Intercept, the FBI may have still been able to track down Winner. With her growing disillusionment, she was not silent about her general feelings on the blatant corruption she believed her government and those in her company were engaged in. She often tweeted and texted her frustration with Donald Trump and how her company portrayed other whistleblowers in a black-and-white light. There were only a few people who had access to and could have printed that document out, so even if The Intercept had not erred, it is likely that Winner's involvement would have been discovered.

What Was Reality Winner's Trial Like?

Reality Winner was brought to trial and charged with “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet." The Intercept’s parent company, First Look, covered all of Winner’s legal expenses. The entire trial lasted over a year, during which time Winner’s character was frequently challenged. The search of her home revealed private diaries with scribbled notes that included references to burning down the White House. After her arrest, Winner called her sister from jail and jokingly made comparisons to Orange is the New Black and that she would “play the cute white girl” to garner sympathy in court.

Though these comments all could conceivably stem from any 25-year-old millennial being performatively ironic or dramatic, they combined to paint a bad picture of the defendant. The online world is filled with millions of people commenting inappropriately to be ridiculous, offensive, funny, or just to have the chance to speak unfiltered with the security of anonymity. Winner not only discovered that her online persona could be used against her, but the tone she brought back into the real world was not safe from examination either. It was an ironic twist of fate considering her job primarily involved translating ideas and words that others had intended to be kept secret.

How Long Was Reality Winner Sentenced To Prison For?

Reality Winner was found guilty on June 26, 2018, after she requested a plea deal. Her sentence was five years and three months followed by three years of supervised release. According to NPR, this was the longest sentence for a federal defendant who had leaked classified documents to the media — a whistleblower, in other words.

Related: What Happened To The Theranos Whistleblower, Tyler Shultz From The Dropout

Where Is Reality Winner Now?

After serving three years in prison, Reality Winner was released early on good behavior in June 2021 (via NBC News). Since her release, Winner has kept her head down and out of the spotlight for the most part. She did give an interview to 3News in February 2023 from her home in Corpus Christi, Texas, and discussed her feelings on the ordeal. Winner said in the interview that while she truly thought she was doing work that was in the best interest of the country, she understands what she did was illegal. She has come to accept responsibility for her actions and doesn’t believe she was treated unfairly.

Life will not be completely back to normal for Reality Winner until November 2024, at which point her curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day, will be lifted. It’s unclear what the real-life Reality character will be doing seven years after her life was completely changed. It is even more unclear exactly how the United States government and populace will feel about the treatment of either this "traitor" or "hero" — depending on who’s speaking — after her sentence is completely served.

2023-06-01T15:40:34Z dg43tfdfdgfd