Warning: The following article contains mention of alleged child abuse.
Hulu’sGood American Familypulls inspiration from real events and people, including Ellen Pompeo’s Kristine Barnett and Mark Duplass’s Michael Barnett. The 2025 drama limited series, created by Katie Robbins, revolves aroundthe Barnetts' adoption of Natalia Grace, an orphan from Ukraine born with a rare form of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia, in 2010.The married couple had three biological sons (Jacob, Ethan, and Wesley) before the adoption, the oldest of whom was diagnosed with autism at a young age. After taking Grace in, Kristine and Michael Barnett began suspecting that she wasn’t exactly who she said she was.
Hulu releases new episodes ofGood American Familyon Wednesdays. The limited series contains eight episodes in total, and the finale, “Blood on Her Hands,” is scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, July 05, 2025.
As shown in the Hulu miniseries,Kristine and Michael Barnett accused Grace of displaying strange behaviorand threatening them with violence. Kristine Barnett even claimed that their adopted daughter tried to kill her. Based on all their alleged observations, they concluded that Grace must have been much older. The couple depicted inGood American Familybelieved Grace was in her twenties, not a seven-year-old child. PerTODAY, Kristine and Michael Barnett filed a petition in 2012 to legally change Grace’s birth year from 2003 to 1989, which was successful. A year later, they parted ways with her.
Kristine & Michael Barnett Moved To Canada After Moving Natalia Grace Into An Indiana Apartment In 2013
The Couple Moved With Their 3 Biological Sons
After legally changing their adopted daughter’s birth year, Kristine and Michael Barnett moved to Canada with their three sons in 2013. However, they didn’t take Natalia Grace with them. Instead, the couple left Grace in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana. According to court documents,Kristine and Michael Barnett left Grace behind to transition to “life as an adult"because they believed she was much older than seven to eight years old.
Good American Family Episode 4 Fact-Check: 4 Biggest True Story Changes & Inaccuracies
Good American Family episode 4 continued the show’s trend of changing key allegations from the original case, and these 4 changes are the biggest.
Kristine and Michael Barnett were able to petition the Marion County Probate Court (perForbes) to legally change Grace’s birth year from 2003 to 1989 because of psychological and physical examinations. One court document refers to “age estimates provided by a primary care physician and social worker” as the reasoning behind the change. So, Kristine and Michael Barnett moved to Canada with their three sons, and Grace stayed behind in Lafayette. Another couple,Cynthia and Antwan Mans, met Grace while she was living alone and ultimately filed for legal guardianship of her in 2016.The adoption officially went through in 2023.
Kristine & Michael Barnett Filed For Divorce In 2014
The Barnetts Are No Longer Together
Not too long after moving to Canada, Michael Barnett filed for divorce from his wife in 2014. However,it took a few years before their separation was finalized.Their divorce became official in 2018. So, as of the writing of this article, Kristine and Michael Barnett, who are played by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass intheGood American Familycast, aren’t together.
Christina Hendricks
Cynthia Mans
Sometime after his divorce was finalized,Michael Barnett married another woman, Jennifer Barnett.However, that relationship reportedly didn’t last either. Court records accessed byTODAYreveal that Michael Barnett filed for divorce from Jennifer Barnett (played by Kim Shaw in Hulu’sGood American Family), and it was finalized in 2022. Aside from that, though, any other relationship that Michael Barnett or Jennifer Barnett took part in is unknown, as is their current marital status.
Michael Barnett Was Found Not Guilty For Neglecting A Dependent In 2022 & Kristine’s Charges Were Dropped In 2023
When Cynthia and Antwan Mans filed for guardianship of Natalia Grace in 2016, Michael Barnett filed an objection. He claimed that “Natalia was an adult,” implying she didn’t need guardians. This resulted in many years of legal proceedings concerning Grace’s case. According toFox News,Michael Barnett was charged with three counts of neglect of a dependentand conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent. In October 2022, a jury found him not guilty on all counts.
Grace also took a DNA test in 2023, which determined she was around 22, further suggesting she was a child when the Barnetts left her.
Kristine Barnett faced similar neglect charges as her ex-husband, but they were dismissed in March 2023 (perWTHR). So, neither of them were ever found guilty of neglecting Grace. However, a 2019 affidavit of probable cause reveals thata Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital doctor examined Grace in 2010 and concluded that she was eight,seemingly disproving Kristine and Michael Barnett’s allegations. Two years later, a skeletal survey deduced she was 11 years old. Grace also took a DNA test in 2023, which determined she was around 22, further suggesting she was a child when the Barnetts left her.
Where Kristine & Michael Barnett Are Today
Both Reportedly Live In Indiana
As mentioned above, the marital statuses of Kristine and Michael Barnett are unknown as of the writing of this article.Michael Barnett is reportedly still living in Indianapolis, Indiana,as of 2023. Meanwhile, Kristine Barnett’s last known address places her in Indiana. However, those records are from 2019, and she might have moved somewhere else in the six years since. Kristine Barnett was living in New Hamburg, Ontario, in 2018, though.
In the years since accusing Natalia Grace of lying about her age, Kristine and Michael Barnett have made many statements on the matter. Kristine Barnett has declared that she never abused Grace while living with her. In a now-deleted 2024 Facebook post, Barnett wrote:
“Natalia was a very much loved and cared for member of my family. She was not abused by anyone in my family. Let’s get straight to these allegations. Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false.”
As for Michael Barnett, he previously accused his ex-wife of manipulating and mistreating him while they were still together. In ID’s 2023 docuseriesThe Curious Case of Natalia Grace(which Kristine Barnett decided not to take part in), Grace confronts her former adoptive father. He explains to her that he “had the same monster you did.“Michael Barnett claimed that Kristine Barnett abused him,as well, which she has since denied.
Good American Family Episodes 1 & 2 Fact-Check: 7 Biggest True Story Changes & Inaccuracies
Good American Family is a dramatization of true events, but the two-episode premiere got a surprising number of facts and allegations wrong.
Despite appearing alongside one another inGood American Family, Michael Barnett and Grace don’t live together. She doesn’t live with the Mans, either. InThe Curious Case of Natalia Grace, she alleged that the Mans abused her, too. So,Grace moved in with Nicole and Vincent DePaul,a couple who tried to adopt her back in 2009 before the Barnetts did, as depicted inHulu’s adaptation of Grace’s true story,Good American Family.
Good American Family
Cast
Good American Family is a 2024 miniseries about a Midwestern couple who adopt a child, initially believed to be a young girl with dwarfism. As they navigate their new family dynamics, they begin to suspect she may not be who she claims to be.
