The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace: Over 10 Million Watched This Real-Life Horror Show
"Have you watched 'The Orphan?' [sic] It's just like 'The Orphan.'" So starts the ID documentary series "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," and it's a claim that is hard to disagree with. Released in 2009, "Orphan" depicts the fictional events of an adoption gone wrong. After Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) adopt who they believe to be a young girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), they ultimately discover she is an adult with dwarfism masquerading as a child. Esther's presence becomes far more insidious as soon as she starts trying to murder her adoptive parents.
Interestingly enough, the film was released a full year before the events of "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" occurred. In a terrifying example of life imitating art, the Barnett family adopted the Ukrainian orphan Natalia in the spring of 2010. According to The Independent, the family was under the impression that she was 6 years old but soon became suspicious after she displayed intelligence beyond her years. The documentary covers these startling events over multiple episodes and has caused viewers to flock to their respective Investigation Discovery and Max applications. As reported by Variety, over 10 million people tuned in during its initial run, which began on May 29. Be it from the fascination with the glaring similarities to the ending of "Orphan," or the questionable response from the Barnett family, it proved to be one of ID's most popular productions of the past few years.
A follow-up has already been scheduled
"The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" has drawn in so many viewers that continuing the story was an obvious choice. The six-episode series covers several disturbing allegations, such as domestic abuse in the household, but at the end of it all, a mystery remains. Was Natalia the villain the Barnetts painted her to be? Or was she a victim in her own right? These are questions that may be answered in "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks."
"Natalia will share her side of the story of what happened behind the closed doors of the Barnett family home and address allegations against her head on," the statement for Warner Bros. Discovery reads. "After years of being cloaked under a gag order due to the subsequent legal proceedings around the 2019 arrest of her adoptive parents, Natalia has been unable to tell her story." The two-hour follow-up documentary will tell the story from Natalia's perspective, who has stated that the Barnett family wasn't entirely truthful. Claiming that Natalia was an adult who was trying to kill them, the adoptive family effectively abandoned the girl they were supposed to be in charge of.
Since then, she was adopted by another family who maintains that Natalia has not had any episodes and is actually a teenager at present. Viewers will have to decide for themselves what the truth is when the special airs in the summer of 2023.