Smile at Lindsay Clancy trial 'an honest mistake,' reporter says

Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald on Sep 2, 2026

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PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The freelance journalist caught on camera smiling during a tense time in the Lindsay Clancy trial said it was “an honest mistake.”

What she doesn’t want to see lost in the social media fury is her childhood bond with Clancy and how mental health care is lacking in America.

“Lindsay is not a monster,” Brittany Romano told the Herald. “She had no control. I grew up with Lindsay in Wallingford, Connecticut, and we would do simple things like play capture the flag.”

Romano intended to bring that personal connection to a story for Vanity Fair, but the magazine pulled her credentials, and she is moving on. “If that moment is going to define me, I’d rather be smiling than frowning,” she added.

The Herald reached out to Romano to seek her side of the story. She said others around her were joking about her spilling water on her shoes, and the camera caught that moment. There was no disrespect intended, she said, for the enormity of the Clancy story.

She added that the Court TV cameraman warned her she was seen live, smiling and winking back at the camera, and that the storm was sure to follow.

“It was an honest mistake,” she added, “and I’m not a perfect person.”

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