Barbara "Barb" Denning was an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary Maximum Security. She was the older sister of Carol Denning and Debbie Denning. She is also one of the three main antagonists of Season Six, along with her sister and Linda Ferguson. She is portrayed by Mackienzie Phillips and her younger self is portrayed by by Lauren Kelston.
Personality
Compared to her younger sister Carol, Barbara was more popular and self-confident during their youth. Though less intelligent and harsh than Carol, Barbara was still a very smart and deceptive woman. According to Carol, Barbara used to play a victim in most situations, which was probably the reason why their mother visited only her oldest daughter in the prison.
After getting thirty more years added to her sentence, Barbara became dependent on oxycontin. Despite this, she was still much friendlier and humorous than Carol. Nevertheless, many inmates from D-Block were visibly terrified of her, as one of them once got a burnt face from melted milky-way due to backbiting her.
Her father was shown to have been abusive in some manner, perhaps a cause of Barbara's sociopathic tendencies.
Physical Appearance
As a young girl, Barbara had black hair and was very pretty with white teeth and brown eyes. She was also tall. However, as she got older, Barbara's drug abuse became evident when her skin became blotchy and her teeth yellowed. Barbara has a scar on her left cheek from when Carol attacked her with a shiv when they were younger. Barbara had light brown hair in her later years which became messy, sometimes tied up in a pineapple hairstyle.
Biography
Before Litchfield
As teenagers, both Carol and Barbara worked in an eatery as waitresses. One evening, while Barbara worked at the bar and Carol on tables, a man entered and asked a separate waitress for a glass of ice. The waitress misheard, assuming he said "the Classifieds". The waitress went to the store to buy a newspaper and handed it to the customer. Confused, the customer informs the waitress he asked for a "glass of ice". The waitress later relayed this tale to Barbara and Carol, who both burst into laughter ("Be Free").
Barbara and her family moved around the country a lot to cater to her youngest sister, Debbie, and her gymnastic competitions. This angered both Carol and Barbara. When their parents reveal once more that they are moving, this time to to Plano, Texas, they older sisters are infuriated. Whilst they watch a school assembly in which their sister is competing, Carol suggests murdering their sister as a joke, showing Barbara that she has sketched different scenarios, such as feeding Debbie Yoplait with glass shards. Barbara shows discomfort towards this at first, but this almost immediately fades as she adds her own advice.
A young Barbara watches her youngest sister perform.
At home, Barbara and Carol argue with their parents over moving once again to cater to Debbie's competitions. Their father gets confrontational when Barbara mentions she knows people who will let her stay with them until she graduates. The two parents leave, saying they will be home later and that Barbara and Carol are expected to stay home on their last night in town to look after Debbie.
Debbie asks her sisters for help releasing some tadpoles she has been keeping as pets. Carol threatens to kill Debbie's tadpoles. Barbara steps in and tells Carol to stop and let Debbie release her tadpoles at the lake, however, this is Barbara and Carol's plan to kill Debbie. At the lake, Carol remains in the car while Barbara takes Debbie to the lakeside. Debbie reveals that she dislikes moving as much as Carol and Barbara and had asked her parents to stay but they didn't listen to her protests to which Barbara seems to empathize. Barbara tells Debbie the tadpoles will die from the cold after she releases them, but Debbie informs her of the adaptions tadpoles have for winter. Impressed, Barbara tells Debbie that she's "alright", but this is interrupted when Carol runs at Debbie with a hatchet. Barbara tells Debbie to get into the car and lock herself in. Debbie obeys her eldest sister, and runs to the car. Smiling, Barbara and Carol start to push the car towards the lake. Debbie realises she cannot get out; the locks in the inner doors don't work, as Carol has removed them. Together, Carol and Barbara roll the car into the lake while Debbie screams and begs for them to spare her. The two sisters then watch the car sink as Barbara hums "She's a Maniac" before walking away ("Chocolate Chip Nookie").
Arrival at Litchfield
At Litchfield, shortly after their arrival, Carol and Barbara are together in the same cell block. Barbara listens to Carol as she tells the story of the classifieds/glass of ice mix up, but as if it happened to her. Barbara interrupts Carol's story and tells the group that it instead happened to her, and not Carol. The two argue and begin a fight. This is what caused the original rivalry between C-Block and D-Block when the sisters are seperated ("Chocolate Chip Nookie"). In the 1980s, when Frieda Berlin is incarcerated, Carol and Frieda begin selling drugs out of the library. Barbara arrives to confront Carol and Frieda about mutually agreed-upon rules that had been breached between the cell blocks on what contraband they may sell. Barbara attempts to intimidate Frieda and Carol, until Frieda pulls a shiv out on Barbara and her gang, causing them to walk away. As a result, Carol commences an ambush on the opposing dorm during a game of kickball, after realising that her stash has been stolen. Carol stabs the ball during her turn as a symbol of war, and charges at Barbara and tackles her to the ground. Carol demands Barbara confess what she did with the contraband, but Barbara denies all knowledge and says that it was most likely Frieda who took it. This is later revealed to be true and the reason that Frieda got moved to minimum security ("Look Out for Number One").
Season Six
Barbara is the leader of D-Block. Daddy reports to Barbara and sells her product. After an attack on C-Block's cheese manufacturing jobs that unwittingly compromises the smuggling of drugs into the prison, Barbara becomes upset when Daddy can't find another way for them to sneak in the drugs, as not only is it their side hustle but also Barbara herself is addicted to them. To buy time, Daddy gives Barbara some bath salts to sniff. This causes her to hallucinate and lands her in the hospital ward. Whilst there, she bonds with Nicky and decides to get clean.
After she becomes sober, she decides to go after Carol. She sets up a plan to kill Carol while she's getting a haircut in the salon, alongside Red who has become Carol's confidante due to their mutual hatred of Frieda. However, Nicky foils Barbara's plan when she embeds a note into a bottle cap meant for Red (telling her to get out) which is found by CO Copeland who does not know who wrote it. Barbara accuses Nicky of being the one to have foiled her plan, but Nicky is able to convince her otherwise. Later, CO Copeland puts both Barbara and Carol in the same solitary confinement cell. She stays there all night watching the two of them hoping that they'll fight each other, as she stands to gain money from an underhand fantasy game between the COs. Unfortunately for Copeland, nothing happens so Copeland releases them back into their respective cell blocks.
Once back in D-Block, Barbara rallies her girls and tells them about her plan for getting back at C-Block. The gang war is supposed to go down during the kickball game but both Carol and Barbara aren't there. Instead, they've hidden in a utility closet together. They both change into B-Block (Florida) pink scrubs with the aim of getting in and murdering Frieda in all the chaos. and wait for the fight to begin. Unfortunately for them, their plan goes awry when the fight never breaks out and instead the C- and D-Block girls just play kickball. Barbara and Carol turn against each other. Barbara ends up getting her throat slit while Carol simultaneously gets a shank in her back.
Relationships
Family
- Ronnie Denning (father)
- Alice Denning (mother)
- Carol (younger sister; deceased)
- Debbie (younger sister; deceased)
Friendships
Enemies
- Carol (younger sister; deceased)
- Frieda Berlin
Appearances
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Six | ||||||||||
| "Who Knows Better Than I": | "Shitstorm Coming": | "Look Out for Number One": | "I'm the Talking Ass": | "Mischief Mischief": | "State of the Uterus": | "Changing Winds": | ||||
| Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | ||||
| "Gordons": | "Break the String": | "Chocolate Chip Nookie": | "Well This Took a Dark Turn": | "Double Trouble": | "Be Free": | |||||
| Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||