• "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" and "Good American Family" both tell the story of Natalia Grace.
• Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted the Ukranian orphan and petitioned a court to re-age her.
• Natalia no longer lives with the Barnetts, who have divorced. Here's what we know about them today.

The complex story of Natalia Grace Mans and the legal saga involving her former adoptive parents has now been adapted for the small screen multiple times.

First came ID's docuseries "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," which premiered in 2023 and aired its third and final season in January. On Wednesday, Hulu released the first two episodes of a new scripted miniseries, "Good American Family."

The ripped-from-the-headlines drama stars Imogen Faith Reid as Natalia, a Ukrainian orphan with a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. She is adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett, a married couple played by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass, respectively.

In real life, the Barnetts eventually abandoned Natalia after claiming she was actually an adult pretending to be a child.

The now-divorced couple, who said they believed Natalia to be six years old when they first adopted her in 2010, accused Natalia of making violent threats against family members — including trying to poison Kristine — and claimed she had pubic hair and menstrual cycles. Natalia has consistently denied all of the Barnetts' claims regarding her violent behavior and faking her age.

After sending their adopted daughter to a psychiatric hospital, Michael and Kristine became convinced that Natalia was secretly an adult and successfully petitioned in court to change Natalia's age from eight to 22, altering her birth year from 2003 to 1989. The Barnetts then moved Natalia into an independent apartment, first in Westfield, Indiana, in 2012, and then in Lafayette, Indiana, in 2013 and left the country, moving to Canada to support their eldest son's graduate education.

In 2019, they faced neglect charges in connection to Natalia's case. Michael was acquitted of the charges in October 2022, and the charges against Kristine were dismissed in March 2023.

"The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" first aired on Investigation Discovery in May 2023 and focused on the Barnett family's perspective. In the second part of the documentary series, titled "Natalia Speaks," which aired in January 2024, Natalia told her side of the story. The third installment, titled "The Final Chapter," premiered in January 2025 and focuses on her departure from the Mans family.

In "Natalia Speaks," Natalia alleged that her adoptive mother, Kristine Barnett, abused her as a child and coached her to say that she was older than she actually was. Michael said in a conversation with Natalia featured in the documentary that his ex-wife also manipulated him, and said that Kristine, who didn't participate in the docuseries, was cruel to Natalia.

When reached for comment, Kristine Barnett said in an email to Business Insider that allegations that she "abandoned" or "abused" Natalia were false, maintaining that Natalia was determined to be an adult by parties other than herself and Michael. She said that she had declined to participate in the ID docuseries.

"The 'evidence' presented on the TV show did not go through the courts or any legal standards to be verified as true," she said.

Here's everything we know about where Michael and Kristine Barnett are now.

Michael and Kristine split in 2014

The Barnetts split up long before they made their claims against Natalia public in 2019.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier reported that Michael Barnett left Canada in late 2013 and moved back to Indianapolis. Per court documents accessed by USA Today, Kristine said Michael moved back to Indiana after an unspecified "incident impacting the children" in fall 2013 before filing for divorce from her in February 2014. Their divorce was finalized four years later.

Michael later remarried, he says in the docuseries.

In 2019, the former couple were charged with neglecting Natalia

While Natalia was legally an adult due to the Barnetts re-aging her in court, she was still classified as a dependent of the Barnetts as a result of her disability.

In 2019, Michael and Kristine were charged with neglect of a dependent, Fox 59 reported citing court documents filed in Tippecanoe County in Indiana. According to the Lafayette Journal & Courier in 2022, the couple were specifically charged with neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent causing bodily injury, neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, and conspiracy to neglect a dependent.

Testifying in court against Michael during his trial, Natalia explained how her rare kind of dwarfism can cause skeletal abnormalities and issues with vision and hearing. According to Natalia, she was unable to bathe herself or use a washing machine due to her mobility issues and subsisted mostly on instant noodles, pizza, and peanut butter sandwiches while living on her own in Indiana.

Michael Barnett was acquitted of neglect charges after a jury trial

Per the Journal & Courier, Michael turned himself in to authorities in September 2019, and bonded out. At the time, records indicated that he lived in Indianapolis.

Per the same publication, an October 2019 gag order meant that anyone involved in the case was forbidden from making public comments about the case.

Michael was acquitted of the charges in October 2022. In the documentary series, Natalia says that Michael reached out to her to speak after the gag order was lifted. During the conversation, he said that he and Natalia had "the same monster" in Kristine, but ultimately stormed out of the encounter after Natalia's guardian, Bishop Antwon Mans, asked him to stop swearing.

A lawyer for Michael Barnett declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.

Michael Barnett also appeared in "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter," which premiered in January 2025. He said that he hoped Natalia would be able to "find happiness."

"I'm just trying to move on. I'm gonna do everything I can to not think about it," Michael said in episode one of "The Final Chapter."

Kristine Barnett's neglect charges were dismissed

Kristine turned herself in shortly after Michael in September 2019, according to the Journal & Courier. At the time, her jail records showed that she lived in Bradenton, Florida, though the charges listed an Indianapolis address.

In March 2023, a Tippecanoe County judge signed the order to dismiss the charges against Kristine, per the Journal & Courier, citing "insufficient evidence" at trial to prove the charges in this case beyond a reasonable doubt."

In 2013, Kristine published the book "The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism" about raising her son Jacob. In a January 10 audio space on X, which Kristine sent to BI via email, she said that the allegations against her interfered with her career as a parenting author and consultant.

"I don't know when I'll be back to work. I want to be back to work," Kristine said in the space around the 2:06:00 mark. "I've been waking up every day for the past five years mourning the fact that my work is gone. I hope I get it back."

• Natalia Grace is a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism who was adopted by the Barnett family in 2010.
• After the Barnetts abandoned her in Indiana, she was taken in by the Mans family.
• Natalia confirmed she was no longer living with them after a docuseries implied they'd fallen out.

The much-publicized true story of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with a rare form of dwarfism whose adoptive parents claimed she was a sociopathic adult posing as a child, reentered public discourse in January 2025, when the third and final installment of ID's docuseries "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" premiered.

But her story is back in the spotlight again a mere two months later, thanks to Hulu's scripted miniseries "Good American Family," which unspools the dueling narratives of Natalia's adoption, starring newcomer Imogen Faith Reid as Natalia alongside Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass as her adoptive parents Kristine and Michael Barnett.

Natalia's second set of adoptive parents, Cynthia and Antwon Mans, appear in the latter half of the eight-episode arc, with Christina Hendricks taking on the key role of Cynthia, the wife of a preacher and an apparently devoted foster mom.

Though the Hulu series hasn't fully delved into the Mans' relationship with Natalia yet, the second season of the ID docuseries presented Natalia's bond with the Mans family as a loving one — until a revelation in the last two minutes threw all that into doubt. Then, days before the January premiere of the docuseries' final chapter, Natalia confirmed she is no longer living with the Mans family.

Here's what to know about where Natalia stands with the Mans family today.

How did Natalia Grace meet her new adoptive parents, Cynthia and Antwon Mans?

When the Barnetts successfully petitioned to change Natalia's birth year from 2003 to 1989, she was classified as an adult on paper — though she was still considered a dependent due to her disability status. After leaving Natalia alone in an Indiana apartment and moving to Canada in 2013, the since-divorced couple faced charges of neglect in 2019. (Michael was acquitted in October 2022, and the charges against Kristine were dismissed in March 2023.)

Natalia previously testified in Michael Barnett's neglect trial that she came to live with the Mans family after meeting Cynthia Mans through a neighbor while she was living alone in Lafayette, Indiana, where the Barnetts had moved her in July 2013. At that time, Natalia said she was 9 years old, though she was legally 23 years old due to the Barnetts changing her age.

Both Antwon and Cynthia Mans featured heavily in the second part of ID's docuseries, "Natalia Speaks," with Antwon accompanying Natalia to receive DNA test results that appeared to determine that her true age is around 22 years old. He also sat in on a confrontation with her former adoptive father, Michael Barnett. Natalia praised the Mans family throughout the series and referred to them as her parents even before they legally adopted her.

Antwon and Cynthia, who had multiple other children living in their home when Natalia came to live with them, spoke highly of Natalia in the series. They said she didn't behave in their home in a way uncharacteristic of other children and certainly not the way the Barnetts said she acted with them. But the show did raise one specific incident: Genesis Mans, a child also living with the Mans family, recalled in an interview in episode five that Natalia bit her when she was a baby. Genesis said Natalia told her the incident occurred when Natalia was 10 (legally 24 years old).

"I would say she has been violent in a typical way like most kids do. You know, most kids fight, most kids argue, but nothing unusual to where there was just crazy unrest in that sort of way. There's nothing dangerous about Natalia at all, absolutely not," Bishop Antwon Mans said in an interview in episode five of "Natalia Speaks."

In episode six, Natalia said she remembered "having some behavior issues" when she first met the Mans, and she apologized for her early behavior.

"When Natalia first got with us, there would be moments that she would just be so broken, and just feel like, 'How do I deal with this?'" Cynthia Mans recounted in an interview in episode six.

"Natalia been with us all these years, and let me tell you, we have corrected Natalia, and she's never came at us with the knife or put thumbtacks up on our stairs, or tried to hurt our children," Cynthia continued, referencing allegations from the Barnetts.

Episode six of "Natalia Speaks" depicted Antwon and Cynthia Mans formally adopting Natalia, with both parents wearing T-shirts celebrating their status as adoptive parents.

"It has been a really long journey. I have always wondered if I would be able to find someone that would actually love me. But then I met my parents, and it's been different ever since. It's been a good different," Natalia said in an interview in episode six.

Documents shown in the episode indicated the adoption paperwork was filed in June 2023, about a decade after she began living with them.

The docuseries suggested Natalia Grace and the Mans family had a falling out

In the last two minutes of episode six of "Natalia Speaks," a black screen appears with text that reads, "Two weeks ago, and six months after Natalia's adoption, the producers got a shocking phone call."

Audio of Antwon and Cynthia's voices then plays over a shot zooming in on Natalia sitting on a porch.

"Something ain't right with Natalia," Antwon says. "This girl is tweakin'. I feel like she's the enemy in the house. And she said to us, we have held her hostage. Made us look like we're the enemy."

"Natalia is stabbing her family in the back over a complete lie," Cynthia says.

"She's done other things, too," Antwon continues. "But this was a new low. Natalia does not have emotions for nothing but herself. We're done. We're done with her."

Then the screen cuts to black with the text, "Natalia's story will continue."

Jason Sarlanis, president of crime and investigative content, linear and streaming at Discovery, told The Hollywood Reporter after the episode aired that producers initially believed that Natalia's story, despite being full of "twists and turns," had reached a positive conclusion.

"We genuinely thought Natalia had found a happy ending with her new family, so you can imagine we were all thoroughly shocked when that call came from the Mans," Sarlanis said.

"Our series was already finished and locked, but we instantly mobilized with our producers to ensure that this shocking development was included in our finale," Sarlanis told THR. "Our viewers are so invested in Natalia's case we felt our series needed to reflect the constantly shifting truth of her situation."

"One thing has always proven to be true with Natalia's story — nothing is ever what it seems."

Natalia still interacted with the Mans family on social media after the phone call, but things got messy

Despite the cliffhanger, Natalia appeared to still be on good terms with the Mans family on social media after their phone call to producers, which "The Final Chapter" states took place on December 1, 2023. She appeared in posts from the Mans family's social media accounts, including a Thanksgiving 2023 post on Instagram.

The family's TikTok account, which the Instagram page references, posted on December 26, 2023 that Natalia had launched her own TikTok account under the handle @natgrace20. The post bears several hashtags, including #MamaBabyIsGrowingUp, #MamasForEverBFF, #FamilyIsForever, and #GoFollowBabysPage. According to the timeline presented in the documentary series, the post was likely made after or around the same time as the phone call between the Mans family and the docuseries' producers.

One post on the @natgrace20 account, previously viewed by BI, was a video of a woman who appeared to be Natalia wishing her followers a happy 2024. A December 29, 2023 post on the account featured photos of Natalia with the Mans family.

"2023 was amazing but 2024 is gonna be awesome," the December 29, 2023 post's caption read, accompanied by the hashtags #newbeginnings, #fyp, and #family4ever. It also tagged the Mans family's account.

"i love you so much my forever baby," the Mans family account replied to the post.

"I love you mama," the Natalia account replied.

On January 5, 2024, after "Natalia Speaks" aired, the Instagram account appearing to belong to Natalia was updated to let people know that she was safe. The post did not explicitly reference her relationship with the Mans family, nor the ending of the show.

"I am okay and doing well and thank you all for your support and prayers," read the caption. "I wish I could tell you more Abt the show but I signed an agreement with the show to keep things confidential for now. I will let you guys know when I can for sure, but just know I am okay. Love y'all! #safe #livingmybestlife."

Later posts indicated that things were more complicated. One February 2024 TikTok on the Mans family's account reads: "Life can be so hard when raising kids. I miss my daughter so much and I will never understand why things are like this."

Another February post on the Mans family's Facebook page said they and Natalia had "disagreements" but she was still their daughter and they didn't hate her. It also claimed that the audio from their phone call to producers had been edited, and did not reflect the "full audio" of the conversation.

A representative for ID did not return a request for comment from BI.

In a March 2024 TikTok video, Cynthia Mans said that Natalia was no longer active on their account, or any account, as she'd decided to leave social media. Another post later that month said Natalia no longer lived with the family and that she wasn't speaking to Cynthia anymore.

"I miss my baby so much," she said.

As of January 3, 2025, all posts on the @natgrace20 TikTok account had been deleted or set to private.

Previous requests for comment from BI sent to the Mans family's Instagram account and the Instagram account appearing to belong to Natalia in 2024 did not receive a response. Natalia's Instagram account was wiped as of January 3, 2025.

On March 14, 2025, Cynthia Mans family shared a video on the family's TikTok with the captions #MyDaughters, #MyMinis, and #ILoveYouAll. Natalia was not included in the slideshow of images.

Natalia Grace confirmed in January 2025 that she's no longer living with the Mans family

In a People cover story published days before the premiere of "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter," Natalia said that she was living in New York with the DePaul family, who previously attempted to adopt her when she was a child.

Natalia told People that while she was living with the Mans family, she "learned how to be a mother," assisting in raising other children in the family. The publication reported that Antwon learned that Natalia was dating a man named Neil and removed access to her phone. People also reported that on the new episodes of the show, neighbors allege that Cynthia and Antwon Mans had physically abused Natalia while she lived with them.

Natalia would not confirm or deny those allegations to People. However, in "The Final Chapter," Natalia does reveal that she was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), a condition in which children do not form healthy relationships with their caregivers.

Antwon and Cynthia Mans did not respond to requests for comment from BI sent to their personal Facebook profiles, their family Facebook page, and an email listed on the Facebook page. They also did not respond to People magazine's requests for comment.

People reports that Neil, Natalia's boyfriend, contacted the DePaul family, and they organized a plan to help her leave the Mans family in the middle of the night. In December 2023, Nicole DePaul drove to Nashville, where the Mans were located, to pick up Natalia, as shown in a preview from the docuseries.

Natalia has lived with the DePaul family — Nicole, her husband Vince, and daughter Mackenzie, who all have dwarfism too — since then. Nicole told People that their relationship was typically smooth, though it had its difficulties.

"Did she probably do weird things in the past? Yeah," Nicole told People. "[But] when you take in a child, you take that child as your own. You don't just get rid of them when they don't fit into your puzzle."

Natalia told People that she informed her adoptive mother, Cynthia, that she wasn't "kidnapped or dead" once she left the Mans family. Now, she is preparing to one day live on her own by studying for the GED and learning how to drive. She also told People that she met Neil, her boyfriend, for the first time in person after leaving the Mans family.

"It's been a big learning curve for me. For the most part, I've made peace," she told People. "It is definitely a blessing to be alive today. And there's nothing I can do to change the past."