12 hours Ago By Liz Calvario
“Good American Family” has taken viewers on a journey, depicting Natalia Grace's story from her perspective, as well as her adoptive parents ' Kristine and Michael Barnett points of view. The finale, which aired on April 30, showed the moments leading up to the Barnetts' trial for neglect of a dependent, as well as Michael Barnett having regrets over the way he and his ex-wife treated Natalia. Actor Mark Duplass tells TODAY.
com that the final episode is one of his favorites because it includes a pivotal moment between Natalia ( Imogen Faith Reid ) and his character, Michael. “We’re speaking the language of television ..
. which is, two characters who have been through this amazing journey,” he says. “And they’re going to sit on a bench together.
And what does that mean to (viewers) from a TV and a cinematic standpoint?” “They’re going to work it out. They’re going to come to understand each other’s things. They’re going to apologize to each other and get along and move on,” he continues.
“And we don’t get that.” In real life, the Barnetts said that Grace, who has a rare form of dwarfism, was a grown woman pretending to be a child. They also accused her of threatening to kill their family, which Grace has denied.
According to a court document from the Court of Appeals in Indiana obtained by TODAY.com, the couple had Grace psychologically and medically evaluated between 2010 and 2012, and successfully filed a petition to change her legal birth year from 2003 to 1989 to make her older. However, per a 2019 affidavit of probable cause, medical records indicated that Grace was not an adult.
A Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital doctor determined Grace was 8 years old in 2010, and a 2012 skeletal survey from the same hospital stated she was 11. The real Michael Barnett admitted that he and his wife were aware of these results, yet still made Grace live alone in 2013 when they left to Canada with their biological children, according to the affidavit. After Grace was living with Cynthia and Ant wo n Mans , who later adopted her, the Barnetts were each charged with six counts of neglect of a dependent and two counts of conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent.
Michael Barnett would go on to be acquitted of his charges in a 2022 trial, while Kristine Barnett’s charges were later dismissed. And this is what the final episode of “Good American Family” loosely depicts. Natalia Grace and Michael Barnett's final conversation in 'Good American Family' In the show, Michael admits that he and Kristine knew Natalia was a kid.
After losing the case, Natalia needs closure from Michael. She goes to his home and asks him if he knew that she was a child. “Why did you adopt me?" she asks.
Michael believes both he and Natalia were victims of Kristine’s abuse, never admitting his faults. He shares that he always wanted a daughter and he wasn't a bad guy. “But Michael, I was a kid.
You were supposed to be my dad,” Natalia tells him, and at one point asks him to say that he hurt her. “Kristine hurt you,” Michael says, looking away. Duplass tells TODAY.
com that Michael isn't capable of admitting he messed up. “Michael can’t really get there because he’s got so much damage and so much pain that I don’t think he can possibly fathom the fact that (what) he has done to Natalia (was) not only as bad as what was done to him when he was a child, but probably worse,” Duplass says. Duplass believes that Michael’s “main goal was to do better for his children than he was done to,” yet he failed.
“For him to actually admit that would be too much. So I was really proud of the way that they wrote that scene. It felt very true and very real and very sad.
” How does Natalia and Michael's conversation compare to real life? On April 12, 2023, Grace and Michael Barnett filmed a reunion for the The Investigation Discovery docuseries “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace." The conversation aired in 2024. As Grace asks Michael Barnett multiple questions, including, "Why did you adopt me in the first place?" He seemingly avoids answering head on, saying, “Many of these questions, there’s not going to be a single answer to.
” Just like in “Good American Family,” he brings up Kristine Barnett’s actions saying, “I’ve learned recently, you and I had the same monster: Kristine.” He calls him and Natalia “incredible victims” of abuse, before claiming he was controlled, misguided and threatened by his ex-wife. He says she would tell him she would take their three biological children away and make sure he never saw them again.
He also says that he tried to leave her and ended in the hospital multiple times. Kristine Barnett did not participate in the docuseries or respond to request for comment..
