It doesn’t take much to make us feel a bit weepy right now, so we’re not sure we’re prepared for the emotional tsunami of Netflix’s new documentary A Secret Love.
The streaming service’s latest factual offering tells the powerful and heartwarming 65-year love story of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, a couple who are now settling into a retirement home.
The two women began their relationship in secret after meeting in 1947 – a time when the world was less accepting of LGBTQ people – and the documentary highlights the evolution of queer rights over the ensuing years.
At this time, Terry played baseball professionally as a catcher in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which many may remember was the subject of the 1992 film A League Of Their Own, starring Madonna and Geena Davis.
The trailer for A Secret Love debuted on social media on Wednesday evening, and had many people feeling emotional as Terry and Pat discussed how they were forced to conduct their relationship covertly.
“We always wore dresses, makeup,” Terry explained in the two-minute clip. “The whole thing. Anybody who was not gay, they simply didn’t know.”
Having grown up in a conservative family, Pat believed she’d be forced to spend her adult years “living a lie.”
“I loved my mother, but she would’ve disowned me,” she added.
A Secret Love story was produced by Ryan Murphy, who has been prolific in telling the stories of LGBTQ people in a number of dramas, including Pose, The Politician and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace.
The documentary is also directed by Terry and Pat’s great-nephew, Chris Bolan, who hopes that viewers will come away from it “having seen parts of their family, their loved ones, their lives reflected” in some capacity.
A Secret Love begins streaming on Netflix from Wednesday 29 April.