Back in 2009, a horror film called Orphan told us the story of a married couple who adopts a 9-year-old Russian girl only to discover that she’s actually a criminal adult passing herself off as a child. The film was loosely based on the true story of Barbora Skrlova, a 30-something woman who pretended to be a 13-year-old and did some very twisted things that were very different than what we saw in Orphan. In 2012, a sad case that made it into news reports reminded people of Orphan. It was the story of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian-born girl with dwarfism who was adopted by American parents who began to suspect she was much older than records said she was. The Grace case has been covered on Dr. Phil and the docu-series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, and now the Hulu streaming service is moving forward with a Natalia Grace-inspired...
- 4/24/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: Dulé Hill and Sarayu Blue are set for key recurring roles opposite Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass in Orphan (working title), Hulu‘s eight episode limited series starring and executive produced by Pompeo.
Written by Katie Robbins, the drama series is inspired by the true story of a Midwestern couple, Michael and Kristine Barnett, played by Duplass and Pompeo, who adopt a girl with a rare form of dwarfism. But as they begin to raise her alongside their three biological children, questions emerge around her age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is. As they grow to believe their new daughter is a threat, she fights her own battle to confront her past and what her future holds, in a showdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom.
Hill plays Brandon Drysdale, the detective investigating the...
Written by Katie Robbins, the drama series is inspired by the true story of a Midwestern couple, Michael and Kristine Barnett, played by Duplass and Pompeo, who adopt a girl with a rare form of dwarfism. But as they begin to raise her alongside their three biological children, questions emerge around her age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is. As they grow to believe their new daughter is a threat, she fights her own battle to confront her past and what her future holds, in a showdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom.
Hill plays Brandon Drysdale, the detective investigating the...
- 4/22/2024
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Mark Duplass is set as the male lead opposite Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Faith Reid in Orphan (working title), Hulu’s eight episode limited series starring and executive produced by Pompeo.
Written by Katie Robbins, who serves as showrunner, the series is inspired by the true story of Natalia Grace and the Midwestern couple who adopted her believing she was a little girl with dwarfism but gradually started to believe she may not be who she said she was.
Duplass will play Michael Barnett, at the time husband of Pompeo’s Kristine Barnett, and adoptive father to Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid).
In 2019, Michael (Duplass), an upbeat Midwestern dad and retail manager, was charged, along with his ex-wife Kristine (Pompeo), for the neglect and abandonment of their daughter Natalia, whom they adopted in 2010. Already in the public eye because of Kristine’s bestselling book The Spark– about raising their son Jacob,...
Written by Katie Robbins, who serves as showrunner, the series is inspired by the true story of Natalia Grace and the Midwestern couple who adopted her believing she was a little girl with dwarfism but gradually started to believe she may not be who she said she was.
Duplass will play Michael Barnett, at the time husband of Pompeo’s Kristine Barnett, and adoptive father to Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid).
In 2019, Michael (Duplass), an upbeat Midwestern dad and retail manager, was charged, along with his ex-wife Kristine (Pompeo), for the neglect and abandonment of their daughter Natalia, whom they adopted in 2010. Already in the public eye because of Kristine’s bestselling book The Spark– about raising their son Jacob,...
- 3/20/2024
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2023, Investigation Discovery dove into the bizarre and fascinating case of Natalia Grace, the Ukranian orphan with a rare form of dwarfism, spondyloepiphyseal, who was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010.
“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which has reached more than 10 million viewers across ID and Max since its debut, follows the story of the young girl, who claimed she was 6 at the time of her adoption; two years after adopting her, the Barnetts petitioned to have Grace’s age legally changed to 22, changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. A year later, in 2013, they moved to Canada and abandoned her.
Michael Barnett, who was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy in 2022, called Natalia a “con artist,” claiming she was an adult masquerading as a child and tried to kill the family. The second season, titled “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks,” debuted in January.
“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which has reached more than 10 million viewers across ID and Max since its debut, follows the story of the young girl, who claimed she was 6 at the time of her adoption; two years after adopting her, the Barnetts petitioned to have Grace’s age legally changed to 22, changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. A year later, in 2013, they moved to Canada and abandoned her.
Michael Barnett, who was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy in 2022, called Natalia a “con artist,” claiming she was an adult masquerading as a child and tried to kill the family. The second season, titled “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks,” debuted in January.
- 2/5/2024
- by Emily Longeretta
- Variety Film + TV
Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and Lifetime’s The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard both opened with stellar ratings, highlighting the continued success of true-crime on television.
In fact, it’s the “Barbenheimer of true-crime,” according to Warner Bros Discovery exec Jason Sarlanis.
Sarlanis, President, TBS, TNT, truTV, ID & Hln for Linear & Streaming at Wbd, said, “What [Lifetime] was able to do with Gypsy Rose and we had with Natalia Grace was like our own little Barbenheimer of true-crime happening. That only really happens if you’re willing to find the good things and find the optimism in every single meeting.”
Sarlanis was speaking Monday at Realscreen in New Orleans on a panel alongside Lifetime’s SVP Original Programming Brie Miranda Bryant; Scout Production co-founder David Collins; WME partner and agent Ryan McNeily; and Susie Jones, head of factual at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
ID launched...
In fact, it’s the “Barbenheimer of true-crime,” according to Warner Bros Discovery exec Jason Sarlanis.
Sarlanis, President, TBS, TNT, truTV, ID & Hln for Linear & Streaming at Wbd, said, “What [Lifetime] was able to do with Gypsy Rose and we had with Natalia Grace was like our own little Barbenheimer of true-crime happening. That only really happens if you’re willing to find the good things and find the optimism in every single meeting.”
Sarlanis was speaking Monday at Realscreen in New Orleans on a panel alongside Lifetime’s SVP Original Programming Brie Miranda Bryant; Scout Production co-founder David Collins; WME partner and agent Ryan McNeily; and Susie Jones, head of factual at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
ID launched...
- 1/29/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Investigation Discovery is touting the success of The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace.
Natalia Speaks debuted on January 2, with new episodes released over the first week of the year. Since then, the two-season series has reached more than 10M viewers across linear and streaming, the Warner Bros. Discovery group said.
Natalia Speaks was also the highest-rated series for the network since the first installment of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace debuted in May 2023. ID did not provide the actual rating.
According to ID, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace is also doing well on streaming. It has become the No. 1 series on Max during the week the second installment debuted in terms of viewing accounts, and it is among the “most successful” returning series in the history of the platform.
The company would not say how much viewership came from linear TV vs. streaming.
Natalia Speaks illuminates Natalia Grace...
Natalia Speaks debuted on January 2, with new episodes released over the first week of the year. Since then, the two-season series has reached more than 10M viewers across linear and streaming, the Warner Bros. Discovery group said.
Natalia Speaks was also the highest-rated series for the network since the first installment of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace debuted in May 2023. ID did not provide the actual rating.
According to ID, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace is also doing well on streaming. It has become the No. 1 series on Max during the week the second installment debuted in terms of viewing accounts, and it is among the “most successful” returning series in the history of the platform.
The company would not say how much viewership came from linear TV vs. streaming.
Natalia Speaks illuminates Natalia Grace...
- 1/12/2024
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
Many viewers are wondering exactly what happened during the ending of Investigation Discovery's The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace first premiered on Investigation Discovery (ID) on May 29, 2023 and was also added to the Max streaming service simultaneously. The six-episode Season 1 of the documentary detailed how Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace Mans was brought into the home of Michael and Kristine Barnett and all the controversies that followed.
A second season of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, subtitled Natalia Speaks, was recently released on ID and Max, featuring Natalia's side of the story.
Read full article on The Direct.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace first premiered on Investigation Discovery (ID) on May 29, 2023 and was also added to the Max streaming service simultaneously. The six-episode Season 1 of the documentary detailed how Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace Mans was brought into the home of Michael and Kristine Barnett and all the controversies that followed.
A second season of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, subtitled Natalia Speaks, was recently released on ID and Max, featuring Natalia's side of the story.
Read full article on The Direct.
- 1/6/2024
- by Nathan Johnson
- The Direct
Natalia Grace’s former adoptive mother, Kristine Barnett, denied the abuse allegations leveled against her by her ex-daughter in the new ID docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.
“She was not abused by anyone in my family,” Barnett wrote in a lengthy Facebook post yesterday, Jan. 4. “Let’s get straight to these allegations. Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false.”
Grace’s surreal, unnerving story garnered national attention last year thanks to the first part of the ID docuseries.
“She was not abused by anyone in my family,” Barnett wrote in a lengthy Facebook post yesterday, Jan. 4. “Let’s get straight to these allegations. Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false.”
Grace’s surreal, unnerving story garnered national attention last year thanks to the first part of the ID docuseries.
- 1/5/2024
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
The second season of ID’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace concluded Wednesday night with a surprise ending that left audiences with even more questions about the story of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace.
The six-episode series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, is a follow-up to the 2023 docuseries that focused on Natalia’s adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, and their claim that the child, who’d been diagnosed with the rare dwarfism condition spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, was actually an adult woman who terrorized their family from 2010 to 2013.
Over the course of the three-night special, Natalia tells her side of the story as she seeks to find answers to questions of her own about her real age and why no one in the Indiana community where she alleges she was in fact victimized by the Barnetts intervened, including Michael, whom she confronts face-to-face for the first time...
The six-episode series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, is a follow-up to the 2023 docuseries that focused on Natalia’s adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, and their claim that the child, who’d been diagnosed with the rare dwarfism condition spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, was actually an adult woman who terrorized their family from 2010 to 2013.
Over the course of the three-night special, Natalia tells her side of the story as she seeks to find answers to questions of her own about her real age and why no one in the Indiana community where she alleges she was in fact victimized by the Barnetts intervened, including Michael, whom she confronts face-to-face for the first time...
- 1/5/2024
- by Brande Victorian
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The incredible story of Natalia Grace took another shocking turn on Wednesday night (January 3) in the closing moments of Investigation Discovery‘s docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks. For those unfamiliar with the case, Grace, a Ukrainian-born American, was adopted in 2010 by Michael and Kristine Barnett, who believed her to be a six-year-old orphaned girl. What the couple didn’t realize was that Grace has a form of dwarfism called Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. Over time, the Barnetts became suspicious that Grace wasn’t actually a child. They also accused her of trying to harm them and their children, including attempting to poison Kristine and pushing Michael into an electric fence. The Barnetts eventually had Grace’s legal age changed from 6 to 22 and bought her an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, where they left her as they moved with their family to Canada in 2013. The couple, now divorced, was later charged with abandoning Grace,...
- 1/4/2024
- TV Insider
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace has taken the world by storm. The Ukrainian orphan, diagnosed with the rare dwarfism condition spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, gained notoriety when adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett accused her of being an adult “sociopath” instead of a child. In 2012, the family legally changed Grace’s age from 8 to 22, leaving her alone in an Indiana apartment, resulting in felony child neglect charges in 2019. Michael was acquitted in 2022, and charges against Kristine were dropped in 2023. Now, Natalia Grace shares her perspective in ID‘s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Grace Speaks, addressing her father, Michael, and revealing her true age in a pivotal scene. Here are five burning questions about Grace ahead of the final episode. Who is Natalia Grace? Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan who arrived in the U.S. in 2008, was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010. The Barnetts questioned her age,...
- 1/3/2024
- TV Insider
Did you hear the one about the little girl adopted by a couple who then insisted she was actually an adult and was trying to kill them? There’s a decent chance you did. More than 10 million viewers tuned in to The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, the ID docuseries that never met a horror movie music cue it didn’t like. Such numbers, of course, make a follow-up all but mandatory. And so, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, all six episodes of it, is here to brighten up your New Year,...
- 1/1/2024
- by Chris Vognar
- Rollingstone.com
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace burst onto screens earlier this year and told the story we'd heard so much about.
Missing from the story was Natalia's input, as we were essentially told one side of a story, which doesn't always give the whole picture.
Natalia's adoptive father, Michael Barnett, was front and center throughout the initial run, revealing how he and his then-wife came to be in the care of Natalia.
On The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, we'll see Natalia reunited with Michael as they go through the bombshells from the first season, with Natalie offering input.
The next chapter "offers exclusive access to Natalia Grace Barnett as she shares her story and confronts her former adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett's accusations head on," ID teases.
Throughout six parts, we see Natalia open up about her adoption saga and her family's allegations from Natalia's perspective,...
Missing from the story was Natalia's input, as we were essentially told one side of a story, which doesn't always give the whole picture.
Natalia's adoptive father, Michael Barnett, was front and center throughout the initial run, revealing how he and his then-wife came to be in the care of Natalia.
On The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, we'll see Natalia reunited with Michael as they go through the bombshells from the first season, with Natalie offering input.
The next chapter "offers exclusive access to Natalia Grace Barnett as she shares her story and confronts her former adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett's accusations head on," ID teases.
Throughout six parts, we see Natalia open up about her adoption saga and her family's allegations from Natalia's perspective,...
- 11/22/2023
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace features a perplexing and controversial story surrounding Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian-born child who was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett. The case gained widespread attention when the Barnetts questioned Natalia’s age and claimed that she was an adult posing as a child.
Over a decade has passed since the Barnetts welcomed Natalia into their family, leaving fans curious about their current endeavors. In light of the captivating docuseries, here’s a look at the latest developments in the lives of Natalia, Kristine, and Michael.
Photo via Discovery ID Natalia gets ready to share her side of the story following ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’
Back in April 26, 2010, Michael and Kristine adopted Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine, into their family. Initially, they believed Natalia was only six years old, but later, they began to suspect that she might be much older than what they were originally told.
Over a decade has passed since the Barnetts welcomed Natalia into their family, leaving fans curious about their current endeavors. In light of the captivating docuseries, here’s a look at the latest developments in the lives of Natalia, Kristine, and Michael.
Photo via Discovery ID Natalia gets ready to share her side of the story following ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’
Back in April 26, 2010, Michael and Kristine adopted Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine, into their family. Initially, they believed Natalia was only six years old, but later, they began to suspect that she might be much older than what they were originally told.
- 6/10/2023
- by Perry Carpenter
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
There’s more to the story of Natalia Grace Barnett than what viewers saw in ID’s shocking three-episode docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace. Soon, viewers will get to hear Natalia’s side of her twisted adoption saga when she speaks out in a new documentary set to air later this summer on ID. It will also stream on Max.
“I want to tell people what really happened. Because I didn’t get that chance,” Natalia says in a first-look teaser for The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks (via YouTube).
‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’ explored a strange story of adoption gone wrong Natalia in ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks’ | Investigation Discovery via YouTube
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace explored the strange case of Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a rare bone growth disorder that causes dwarfism. In...
“I want to tell people what really happened. Because I didn’t get that chance,” Natalia says in a first-look teaser for The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks (via YouTube).
‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’ explored a strange story of adoption gone wrong Natalia in ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks’ | Investigation Discovery via YouTube
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace explored the strange case of Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a rare bone growth disorder that causes dwarfism. In...
- 6/1/2023
- by Megan Elliott
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Investigation Discovery (ID) wrapped up its three-part documentary series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, on Wednesday (May 31) night. It told the unbelievable story of a couple adopting an adult they accused of pretending to be a six-year-old Ukrainian orphan. Now, Grace is getting to open up in a two-hour follow-up documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, where she will share her side of this unusual case, which is also set to be adapted into an eight-part Hulu scripted series starring Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Reid. “This is my side of the story, and I’m going to say what happened because I never got a chance to say what happened,” Grace says in a trailer shared by Et Online. Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett, a now-divorced couple from Indiana, adopted Grace in 2010, thinking she was a six-year-old girl. The couple, who didn’t realize Grace had...
- 6/1/2023
- TV Insider
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