Billy Evans, the longtime partner of convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, is defending the couple’s decision to participate in the upcoming A24 documentary You Can See Everything from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
The filmmakers were given access to Holmes and Evans at their home in the days leading up to Holmes beginning her 135-month federal prison sentence following her conviction for defrauding Theranos investors.
Speaking on the All-In podcast, Evans said the decision was not about retrying the case in the court of public opinion. Instead, he said the goal was to give audiences a chance to see Holmes outside the version of her that has dominated headlines, documentaries and dramatizations for years.
“There’s been a lot of media produced on her,” Evans said. “There’s been a lot of people who have told her story. That narrative is pretty ossified.”
According to Evans, Holmes was restricted in what she could publicly discuss about the case at the time, so the documentary was never intended to become a detailed defense of Theranos or her conviction.
“The whole idea was here she is, see her and make up your own mind,” he said.
Evans said his own experience introducing Holmes to family and friends shaped that thinking.
He recalled people close to him questioning the relationship when they first learned he was involved with Holmes, then changing their perspective after meeting her in ordinary circumstances.
“I would tell them, ‘I understand why you feel that way, but just meet her,’” Evans said. “And they would meet her and spend time with her and see her in a totally natural environment, like going on a hike or helping a friend. Every opinion of her would radically shift.”
For Evans, the documentary was an attempt to scale that experience up and let audiences spend time with Holmes rather than simply encounter another interpretation of her.
Whether that was a good idea remains an open question.
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Evans admitted he has not yet seen the completed documentary and acknowledged that the trailer could make Holmes look less than sympathetic.
“I might think this is the dumbest thing I have ever done,” he said.
He also conceded that Holmes “looks insane” in the trailer.
Still, Evans said he is not backing away from the decision. “With this there’s certainly concern, but it’s ultimately our decision,” he said.
Holmes and Evans met in 2017. They welcomed their first child, William, in 2021 and daughter Invicta in 2023.
You Can See Everything comes from Fielder and Oppenheim, two filmmakers known for projects that blur the boundaries between documentary, performance and audience perception – which makes Holmes, already one of the most heavily interpreted public figures of the last decade, an especially loaded subject.
And if Evans’ comments are any indication, the documentary may be less interested in changing minds than testing what happens when audiences are asked to sit with Holmes long enough to make up their own.
You Can See Everything is now playing in theaters.
