Hulu/IDWith Good American Family currently airing, one pertinent question remains: what is Natalia Grace’s real age? It’s been the subject of much debate over the years, but the third and final chapter of the documentary series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace finally gave us the answer.
ID’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace left viewers in shock when it dropped in 2023. The six-episode docu-series delved into the stranger-than-fiction story consisting of two conflicting accounts from Natalia and her former adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett.
While Natalia Speaks confirmed many of our suspicions, her story was far from over, as was revealed right at the end with the shocking revelation that her new adoptive guardians, Cynthia and Antwon Mans, were “done” with Natalia. The allegations against the Manses and Natalia’s escape are the focus of the third and final season of the docu-series, which aired earlier this year.
The Barnetts only get a passing mention in The Final Chapter, but their 2010 adoption of Natalia is explored in the new Hulu series Good American Family, which tells the tale from multiple perspectives. The first two episodes dropped on March 19, 2025, and they deal with the accusations from the Barnetts: that Natalia was an adult masquerading as a child.
How old is Natalia Grace?
IDEven though Michael and Kristine had Natalia’s age legally changed from eight to 22 years old in 2012, DNA testing has now proved that she was a child while under their care. Her date of birth has since been legally restored to her 2003 birth year, making her 21 years old as of March 2025.
This means that Natalia – a Ukrainian orphan with a rare form of dwarfism – wasn’t older when the Barnetts adopted her. She was six years old at that time, and just nine when they moved her into an inaccessible apartment alone in Westfield and later Lafayette, Indiana.
In the first episode of the 2024 follow-up, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, TruDiagnostic – which performs biological age determination via advanced DNA testing – ruled that Natalia was in her early 20s at that time.
The evidence presented included the fact that Natalia still had her baby teeth in tact at that time. What’s more, if she had been born in 1989 like the Barnetts claimed, that would have made Natalia’s biological mother just 10 years old when she gave birth to her.
Since Natalia’s biological mom claims Natalia was born in September 2003, this is the age she goes by now, as is revealed in The Final Chapter.
When Natalia received the results of the DNA testing, she broke down in tears, saying: “This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts have said right into the trash with a match.
“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 them as some big monster when in reality they were the ones.”
Although Michael appears in Natalia Speaks and even sits down with Natalia, Kristine didn’t comment on the situation. The Barnetts were previously accused of neglect of a dependent but the charges against them were later dropped. It’s unclear whether they will face any consequences in the future.
The same goes for Cynthia and Antwon Mans. The couple initially seemed like they were Natalia’s guardian angels, but the doc’s third chapter investigates numerous allegations of abuse, while exposing their control over their adoptive daughter’s finances.
It’s worth keeping these facts in mind when watching Good American Family, which is airing weekly after its two-episode premiere on March 19. Be sure to keep our guide to the release schedule bookmarked. You can also check out the new documentaries coming to streaming this month.
