Is Michael Barnett in Jail? Here’s What Happened After He Confessed He Had the ‘Same Monster’ as Natalia Grace
The Natalia Grace story isn’t going away any time soon. With renewed interest in her case after Hulu’s Good American Family, some people might wonder where Michael Barnett is now after his divorce from his wife Kristine and when all the facts about his adopted daughter came out.
Natalia Grace is a Ukrainian-born girl who gained media attention due to a controversial and widely publicized case. In 2010, she was adopted by an American family, the Barnetts, who because of her sophisticated language and other behaviors, believed that Natalia had a rare form of dwarfism—instead of being a child, as she and the orphanage claimed, she was an adult with psychiatric issues who deceived them.
In 2019, Michael and Kristine were charged with eight counts of neglect of a dependent after leaving behind Natalia to live on her own when she was eight years old.
Is Michael Barnett in jail?
Michael Barnett is not in jail. In 2022, he was acquitted of his charges after a jury trial in 2022, and the charges against his wife were dismissed. He currently lives in Indianapolis, Ind. with a new wife after he divorced Kristine Barnett. The two were already separated when they were charged.
Meanwhile, Kristine Barnett did serve time in jail and confessed that she did in a now-deleted Facebook post. “For people wondering if I have been to jail, yes,” she wrote“I was booked into the Tippecanoe County Jail. I faced charges and these same allegations at that time.”
“It was a case that should not have been brought,” Kristine continued, saying that she and her ex-husband Michael had been charged with “various levels of causing bodily harm to Natalia due to these allegations.”
In the Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, Natalia and Michael confront each other for the first time after he was acquitted. When Natalia questioned Michael why they adopted her in the first place, Michael said: “I’ve learned recently that you and I had the same monster [in] Kristine, and we are here because we both were incredible victims of an otherworldly type of abuse.”
Natalia asked him to clarify what he meant. “This is not easy,” he said. “I had the same monster you did. I was exceptionally controlled and put down, and threatened, was minimalized. Anything that was who I was was ripped from me and I was guided and instructed to be exactly what she wanted me to be.”
She later forgave Michael for his behavior, but he replied “You don’t have to. I don’t forgive me.” She later consoled him about it. “This was hard but I’m willing to do it. Everyone deserves a second chance to admit their faults,” Natalia said.
