THE story behind Ellen Pompeo’s new show Good American Family is even more dramatic than it seems on TV.
In the Hulu series, Pompeo plays Kristine Barnett, a woman who adopted Natalia Grace, a 7-year-old Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism.
However, Pompeo’s character begins to believe her adopted daughter is actually a fully grown woman posing as a child.
The plot line may seem like it could only come from the depths of a writer’s imagination, but some viewers will be shocked to discover it’s all based on Natalia Grace’s true story.
While the show does take some creative liberties in Hollywood-izing Natalia’s story, it attempts to tell the mind-bending case from everyone’s point of view in an “emotionally authentic” way.
Natalia’s story started in 2010 when she was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett and went to live with them in Lafayette, Indiana.
“We wanted to help somebody who was in danger of never being loved,” Michael Barnett said in the first season of the 2023 docu-series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.
The Barnetts initially got along well with young Natalia, taking her to Disneyland and on new adventures, but everything changed once they settled back into their Indiana home.
Natalia moved in with Kristine, Michael, and their three sons – Jacob, Wesley, and Ethan.
Michael and Kristine began to accuse Natalia of hiding her real age and having “sociopathic” tendencies.
In the docu-series, the Barnetts alleged Natalia had admitted to having a period and had fully grown pubic hair at just 7 years old.
Michael further claimed that Natalia threatened her adoptive siblings.
“She threatened to stab my sons, drag their bodies outside, and bury them underneath the deck,” Michael Barnett alleged in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.
“I promise you within 5 years someone is dead.”
Natalia refuted these allegations, saying she “can’t even bend [her] fingers to grip a knife.”
Kristine also accused Natalia of poisoning her coffee with cleaning liquid, an accusation that has haunted the Barnetts’ son Jacob to this day.
“I can’t share a drink with someone,” Jacob said in the docuseries.
“It’s rooted in this fear that Natalia is coming to poison us.”
Natalia believes the Barnetts were simply trying to recreate the 2009 horror movie, Orphan, with their wild allegations.
Who is Natalia Grace?
Everything to know about Natalia Grace.
- Born: Mykolaiv, Ukraine
- Mother: Anna Volodymyrivna Gava
- Date on original birth certificate: September 4, 2003
- Date on court-adjusted birth certificate: September 4, 1989
- Disability: Dwarfism
- 2010: Grace was brought to the US and adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett
- 2012: The Barnetts successfully petition to change Grace’s age on her birth certificate
- 2013: The Barnetts move Grace into an apartment and move away to Canada
- 2013: Grace eventually contacts authorities and moves in with Cynthia and Antwon Man
- 2019: Indiana authorities charge the Barnetts with child neglect and abandonment because of her disability
- 2023: Michael is acquitted and the charges against Kristine are dropped
- 2023: The Curious Case of Natalia Grace premieres on ID and Max
- 2024: Natalia Speaks airs
The complicated accusations of the story proved to be a “creative challenge” for Pompeo while playing the role of Kristine.
“I was looking for a real creative challenge,” Pompeo told the Associated Press.
“I think this was an opportunity for me to completely disappear into a role. Characters like this don’t come along all that often.”
A BIG CHANGE
The story only gets more complicated when the Barnetts officially petitioned to change Natalia’s actual birth year from 2003 to 1989.
In 2012, Kristine and Michael offered evidence supposedly proving Natalia was actually 22 years old and had conned them into believing she was a child.
Michael claimed to have hired a private investigator who said Natalia’s birth certificate looked fake, Time reported.
The allegedly fake birth certificate, on top of Natalia’s period, led the courts to officially change the young girl’s birth year, making her a legal adult.
In 2013, following the change, the Barnetts relocated Natalia to her own apartment in Indiana and then fled the country, moving to Canada without her.
“I really disliked being the girl who was re-aged and lived in her own apartment,” Natalia told People.
“I didn’t understand why I was alone. I just knew I had this instinct in me to push and survive.
“All I was told was, ‘You’re 22 now. Whenever somebody asks you what your age is, you say you’re 22 and you tried to murder your family.’
“I was taught to lie.”
In The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, Natalia said the apartment she was living in wasn’t suited for someone with disabilities so she couldn’t reach the stove, shelves, or mailbox.
Stranded Natalia was taken in by Cynthia Mans and her husband Antwon, who already had 10 children.
THE TRUTH COMES OUT
A DNA test taken by Natalia proved her real birth year is around 2003 rather than 1989 like the Barnetts alleged.
The case took another dramatic turn in 2019 when the Barnetts were charged with neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent causing bodily injury, and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent for abandoning Natalia in 2013.
At trial, Michael was found not guilty and Kristine’s charges were dropped in 2023.
In The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, the orphan confronts her adopted father, saying, “I was a kid. You were supposed to be my dad.”
Michael said he beat himself up “for not being stronger.”
Following everything that happened with Natalia, Michael and Kristine divorced in 2014.
Michael stood by Natalia’s side, blaming himself for not having the strength to confront his wife, Kristine.
Good American Family is available to stream on Hulu following its release on March 19.
