Where is the Real Michael Barnett Now? He Called His Ex-Wife a ‘Monster’ After Natalia Grace Confronted Him
The case of Natalia Grace has barely left the general consciousness, and it’s already being revisited, thanks to Good American Family. The limited series starring Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass is based on the controversial adoption of Natalia Grace by Kristine and Michael Barnett. The Ukrainian-born girl, who was born with a rare form of dwarfism, was adopted by an American family in 2010, but the couple soon came to believe that instead of being a child, she was an adult with psychiatric issues with a plan to deceive them.
Natalia Grace’s story has been depicted in two different television series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (which was retitled The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks for its second season) and Good American Family. The first one is a docuseries, while the second one is a more fictionalized account of the case. But just as with the first time the story was brought to the screen, there are once again questions about the case the story is based on—and particularly about the Barnetts, who were charged with abandoning and endangering a dependent.
In 2013, Kristine and Michael Barnett moved Natalia Grace, who at the time was only 10 years old, to an apartment by herself and left the country for Canada. They also successfully petitioned the court to change her birth date from 2003 to 1989, believing her to be an adult. Later, prosecutors investigating the neglect case found evidence that supported Natalia Grace’s original 2003 birth date, including Natalia Grace’s birth mother.
But where is Natalia Grace’s adoptive father Michael now? Are he and Kristine Barnett still together? Here’s what we know about Natalia Grace’s adoptive father.
Where’s Michael Barnett now?
Michael and Kristine Barnett separated in 2014, and the two were already separated by the time they were charged. Michael Barnett was acquitted of the charges against Natalia Grace and lives in Indiana now. Michael Barnett appeared during the docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and seemed to not only support Natalia Grace’s allegations against his ex-wife but also alleged that he was also mistreated.
“This is not easy,” he said on the show. “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.”
The conversation between the two that was caught on camera represented the first time the two had seen each other face to face outside of a courtroom in years.
Kristine Barnett’s response to the accusations by both her ex-husband and Natalia Grace was to say, in a since deleted Facebook post, “Michael Barnett and Natalia Barnett may have the same monster, but that monster is not me. That monster, whether it’s mental illness, sociopathy, or whatever it actually is, may be different for each of them. But it’s within their own psyche.” To this day, she has taken no accountability for leaving Natalia Grace to her own devices at 10, while Michael Barnett has.
