The real Marie Adler comments on Netflix's Unbelievable for the first time
20 September 2019, 14:24
Marie Adler revealed what she thinks of Netflix's Unbelievable and Kaitlyn Dever's portrayal of her.
The real Marie Adler has praised Netflix's Unbelievable and how Kaitlyn Dever plays her in the series based on her life.
Unbelievable premiered on Netflix last week (Sep 13) and it immediately received widespread critical acclaim. The hit true-crime drama tells the real story of Marie Adler, an 18-year-old girl who was wrongfully charged with a misdemeanour in 2008 after police believed that she lied to them about being raped. Three years later, two female detectives caught Marie's rapist and proved that she was telling the truth. Marie then sued her city and was awarded a settlement of $150,000.
READ MORE: Where is Marie Adler now? The true story behind Unbelievable on Netflix
Marie Adler wasn't involved in making Unbelievable, but now she has commented on the series for the first time.
Fans of Unbelievable will likely already know that the limited series is an adaptation of the award-winning ProPublica article: An Unbelievable Story of Rape. This week (Sep 16), Ken Armstrong, one of the writers behind the piece, revealed on Twitter that the real Marie Adler has now seen Unbelievable and has nothing but praise for the Netflix series and Kaitlyn Dever's portrayal of her.
In an extensive thread, Ken tweeted: "Two weeks ago I got a call, from Marie. She told me she had just watched the series. Watching it was hard, she said. 'I did cry quite a bit,' she said. But she had decided she wanted to and was glad that she did. She called the show 'excellent.'"
He then explained: "I asked Marie if I could share her thoughts on Twitter. She said that would be fine. She brought up one scene in particular—in the first episode, in which she’s confronted by police and recants. Marie has told me before that it can be a struggle for her to put her feelings and thoughts into words. In that scene, she said, Kaitlyn Dever captured her struggle. “It was, like, perfect,” she said."
Ken also revealed that Marie's stayed in touch with her foster mums and forgiven both of them. In reference to watching the female detectives catch her rapist in the series, Marie said: "I felt like they were my guardian angels, looking out for me”. Marie then added: "Seeing him get put away, that was closure for me”.
18/ I asked Marie if I could share her thoughts on Twitter. She said that would be fine. She brought up one scene in particular—in the first episode, in which she’s confronted by police and recants.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
20/ The series shows how two of Marie’s former foster moms doubted her account. Both later apologized to her. Marie forgave both. She kept ties with both. After finishing the series, Marie called both, to reassure them: The show doesn’t demonize you. She encouraged both to watch.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
22/ And watching the last episode, watching the re-creation of the Colorado detectives closing in, provided Marie something she didn’t expect. “Seeing him get put away, that was closure for me,” she said.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
Given how often, real people can be upset with how they're portrayed in true-crime dramas, it's great to hear Marie have such a positive response to Unbelievable. Kaitlyn recently explained to Good Housekeeping why Marie wasn't involved in the series: "She's incredibly strong and she's been through so much, so everyone on the team wanted to respect her privacy."
According to An Unbelievable Story of Rape, Marie is keen to stay out of the public eye. She is currently working as as a long-haul trucker and is also married with two children. We wish her and her family all the best.
