The Ugly Truth(s) Behind Good American Family
The “real-life Orphan” case is stranger than fiction.
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Ellen Pompeo is narrating another TV show. But this time, the narrator is … unreliable? Good American Family is Pompeo’s first big proj away from Grey’s Anatomy and even necessitated her scaling back involvement in the titular role of the medical drama. Another limited series based on a true-crime story? Yes, another one. Like Monsters before it, the show intends on dramatizing multiple sides of the narrative. The trailer claims it’s “inspired by multiple stories, perspectives, threats, interpretations,” and “accusations.” But what are those stories, and what is the truth?
What is Good American Family about?
Good American Family stars Pompeo as Kristine Barnett. She and her husband, Michael (Mark Duplass), adopt Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid), who has a rare form of dwarfism. But Kristine starts to suspect something is off with Natalia, even suspecting she may be older than her adoption papers claim.
“I want people just to think about how they look at things and what kind of judgments they make based on the way people look,” Pompeo told Variety. “I think we just need to check our own biases and question why we believe what we believe.”
Oh, this is that real-life-Orphan case, right?
That’s certainly how the media portrayed it. Here’s what happened IRL: The Barnetts adopted Ukrainian Natalia Grace in 2010. In 2012, the family successfully petitioned to have Natalia’s date of birth changed from 2003 to 1989, changing her legal age from 8 to 22. They then put Natalia in an apartment by herself and moved from Indiana to Canada.
Natalia Grace was taken in by Cynthia Mans (played by Christina Hendricks) after she noticed Natalia had trouble caring for herself. No duh — she was 8! Mans believes the Barnetts used the plot of Orphan as inspiration for how to abandon their adoptee. The Barnetts maintained that Natalia was simply of Orphan age and exhibiting Orphan-style sociopathy.
However, as part of Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, Natalia took a DNA methylation test, which determines age by how much one’s DNA has changed over time.
So we finally know the truth about Natalia Grace’s age?
According to the test results, Natalia Grace was 22 at the time of filming the ID docuseries, which made her 8 at the time the Barnetts left her in a Lafayette, Indiana, apartment. “This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts said right into the trash with a match,” Natalia said in 2023. “This is so big because, literally, this has been 13 years of just two people lying their butts off. They ruined a kid’s life. They painted [me] as some big monster when, in reality, they were the ones.”
What else does the doc say?
Docs, plural. The first season focused on the Barnetts’ side of the story, while The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks was dedicated to her version of events. Alongside the evidence of Natalia’s real age, the second season shares her allegations of abuse by Kristine Barnett, including getting pepper-sprayed twice. There is also evidence that Natalia had been a victim of human trafficking in Ukraine.
Where is Natalia Grace now?
She is living in a community of little people in New York State. The final season of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace alleges that the Mans family abused Natalia as well. With the help of the first family that tried to adopt her, Natalia escaped and was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, according to People.
When does Good American Family come out?
The first two episodes drop on Hulu on March 19 with six more episodes following on a weekly release schedule. All seasons of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace are streaming on Max.
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