What started as a dream hire for a wealthy couple and their newborn baby spiraled into a nightmare — when the nanny allegedly refused to leave their $1 million upstate New York farmhouse.
Barbara Molnar seemed like the answer to all of Jamie and Philip Nordenström’s prayers when she answered their Nanny Lane ad that summer — or so Jamie thought, she told The Cut.
Jamie recalled that Molnar — a mother of four with two grandchildren — was “definitely, absolutely in love” with kids. She was soon hired part-time, working 18 hours a week at $25 an hour.
Her background as both a mother and a nanny was exactly what the new parents needed. She baked teething biscuits and read German storybooks to their baby girl — whom they hoped would grow up “at least” bilingual — inside the couple’s beautifully restored $1 million Colonial farmhouse in Hillsdale, the article said.
Philip and Jamie Carano Nordenström are suing their ex-nanny, Barbara Molnar, who allegedly refused to leave their $1 million Hillsdale farmhouse — turning what should have been a simple parting into a full-blown nightmare. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Although the Nordenströms’ Nanny Lane ad mentioned that a “guest house is provided,” the couple had been looking for a full-time caregiver for their young daughter. When Molnar asked to move in that December, they allowed her to stay rent-free, with Jamie hoping to avoid giving her legal tenant status, The Cut reported.
Before long, the situation unraveled, as Molnar began breaking every rule the Nordenströms had in place, Jamie told The Cut.
Molnar had been warned the guesthouse was off-limits to pets, but she brought her yellow Labrador, Hudson, and asked if her youngest son could stay over Christmas break from boarding school. By mid-January, she was still there, Jamie added.
Barbara Molnar, accompanied by her 12-year-old yellow Lab, Hudson.
Molnar allegedly refused to tidy up after herself in shared areas — and when Hudson left messes in the garden or the house, she reportedly ignored them, Jamie told The Cut.
Despite the tension, the couple tried to keep the peace — with Jamie noting that Philip and Molnar’s son played chess together, or they’d pay her to whip up extravagant French meals.
By June, when the Nordenströms returned from Sweden, they found teenagers hanging out at their pool, no space in their fridges for groceries, and a vacuum stuffed with dog hair — a scene straight out of their worst nightmare, The Cut reported.
After shutting down the party, Jamie thought the chaos was over — until Molnar woke her with a ruckus in the kitchen. When confronted, the nanny was furious that her son had been embarrassed in front of his friends, Jamie told The Cut.
“The whole situation was so bizarre. We didn’t really know what to do,” Jamie said.
Molnar made her home in an annex just steps away from the family’s main house. Jamie Carano Nordenstrom
Molnar claimed to The Cut that the Nordenströms knew Hudson was moving in — and that Jamie herself encouraged her to throw her teen an end-of-year bash.
Jamie fired Molnar following the party — but begrudgingly agreed to help her find somewhere else to live and cover her pay until month’s end.
Almost immediately, Molnar cited tenants’ rights, confronting Jamie with her claim: “You don’t know the law. This is my home, my furnished apartment. This is my designated parking space,” the Cut reported.
Jamie recalled that Molnar completely snapped after the pool party. Jamie Carano Nordenstrom
"We knew, at that point, that she had engaged with us to gain access to our home," Jamie recalled, as she began uncovering the past of her once-trusted nanny who had suddenly changed.
Molnar may have had a clean criminal record, but she had a history: in 2021, she faced a landlord-tenant dispute and, according to records obtained, wound up owing the couple $27,617 plus interest.
Under state law, a lawyer explained, Molnar was a licensee — permitted to live rent-free without a rental agreement. The Nordenströms’ attorney issued a 10-day notice demanding she leave, but she didn’t budge.
Tensions boiled over — cops were called, each side filmed the other, and the couple even involved animal control over Hudson.
In one text that The Cut reviewed, Molnar told Jamie: “I am interviewing for several jobs and once that is secured, I promise you, I cannot get away from you and this place fast enough.”
Living under the same roof, the women quickly began recording each other. Barbara Molnar
“You are now night and day, 180 degrees from the kind and generous person you were when we started,” the nanny added.
The Nordenströms eventually filed a lawsuit against Molnar, claiming she was "a professional con-artist, with a well-documented history of ingratiating herself with well-off individuals, unlawfully occupying their property in bad faith, and then refusing to leave and abusing the protections afforded by eviction laws,” according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
On Sept. 10, a judge commanded Molnar to leave the premises and additionally granted the Nordenströms a temporary protective order.
In a dramatic turn, Molnar filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the couple in August. Jamie Carano Nordenstrom
When Molnar finally left, Jamie was shocked to find the guest house soaked in urine — laid out so deliberately that she doubted it could have come entirely from the dog, the homeowner told the outlet.
She described the mattress and comforter as completely soaked, with the rugs so waterlogged that the liquid had seeped straight through the floorboards.
“Maybe it was a bear,” Molnar told the Cut while claiming she’s the real victim, who’s “going to be completely discredited and slandered.”
The New Jersey-born nanny, now a private chef in Hillsdale, said she was once a high-end model for French designer Guy Laroche before marrying Pasquale Fabio Granato. Together, they had three children and launched the celeb-favorite Serafina Fabulous Pizza in New York. After their divorce, he sent the kids to European boarding schools, where she would go to see them, she told The Cut.
She went on to have her youngest son with a French wine heir — and is suing him for $5 million in child support, the outlet reported.
Molnar filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Jamie in August, a move her former boss dismissed as “baseless and frivolous, AI-generated,” also describing her as mentally unstable in a counter-filing.
Ultimately, the court intervened, placing restraining orders on both women.
