Idaho Native to Star in New Natalia Grace Series on Hulu

Every now and then, you stumble across a true crime documentary or docuseries that is so bizarre that it's all you think about for days after you finish it. We’d put The Curious Case of Natalia Grace in that category. Believe it or not, there’s now a link between Idaho and Natalia’s wild story.

The case is so bizarre and so twisted that it’d be hard to explain in one article. Long story short, a couple named Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted a Ukrainian-born orphan named Natalia in 2010. Natalia had already been diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism before the Barnetts adopted her. They believed that she was seven years old at the time of her adoption.

Not long after her adoption, the Barnetts started making some really strange allegations about Natalia. From saying they noticed she had pubic hair when giving her a bath to alleging that she was stockpiling kitchen knives in her room as part of a plan to stab the couple while they slept, they just kept getting stranger and stranger.

Ultimately, the Barnetts believed that Natalia was an adult woman posing as a child and was very dangerous. They had her re-aged, successfully petitioning the court to change her birth date from 2003 to 1989. In 2013, Michael and Kristine moved her into an apartment and abandoned her there.

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Throughout the series, you come to learn through DNA testing that Natalia really was a child when she was adopted and abandoned by the Barnetts. She eventually moves in with a couple named Cynthia and Antwon Mans and that situation gets weird too.

What is Idaho’s Link to The Curious Case of Natalia Grace?

A great deal of Natalia Grace’s story happens in Indiana, Tennessee and upstate New York but Idaho now has a link to the strange tale. As big Grey’s Anatomy fans, we knew that Ellen Pompeo’s extended break from the medical drama was due to her work on a new Hulu series, which is now named Good American Family.

We didn’t connect the dots that the series was a dramatization of Natalia’s story until this trailer played during The Bachelor: Women Tell All.

Good American family gives Natalia’s story the same treatment 2019’s The Act gave Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Naturally, we had to get on IMDB to learn more and that’s when we discovered that Twin Falls native, Christina Hendricks, will play Cynthia Mans in the series.

Rich Fury, Getty Images

Depending on how much of the original docuseries you watched, you either think Cynthia’s a really nice woman or a complete garbage human. We’re excited to see Christina’s portrayal of Cynthia in the show.

How to Watch Good American Family

As we said earlier, this is a Hulu series so you’ll find it there. The first two episodes come out on March 19. The remaining six will be released weekly.