Is michael barnett gay
The Changing The Game director spoke to DIVA about the importance of telling uplifting trans stories
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGES BY FOTON PICTURES
This year has not gotten off to the best start for trans rights in the US. January isn’t over but it’s already seen the new president, Donald Trump, sign an executive order that limits the rights of trans people to include their gender on ID cards, instead insisting on “biological sex”. But, in and among the doom and gloom, there is still a whole community staying tough and fighting for their rights.
Changing The Game tells the story of three such trans people. This Emmy-winning documentary dives into the lives of transitioned teenage athletes – Sarah, a skier and teen policymaker in New Hampshire, Andraya, a track celebrity from Connecticut, and Mack Beggs, a Texan wrestler. The film’s director, Michael Barnett, sat down with DIVA to discuss the documentary and why these stories are important.
Hi Michael, congratulations on the film! What made you yearn to direct these stories?
The intention was never to make a movie. One of my dearest family friends from childhood had a child transitioning. They wanted me to participate it
Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace's adoptive parents accused her of being an adult who was posing as a child. Here's where Kristine and Michael Barnett are now.
The complex story of Natalia Grace Mans and the legal saga involving her former adoptive parents has been adapted for the small screen multiple times.
First came ID's docuseries "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," which premiered in 2023 and aired its third and last season in January. Two months later, a fresh scripted miniseries, "Good American Family," premiered on Hulu.
The ripped-from-the-headlines drama stars Imogen Faith Reid as Natalia, a Ukrainian orphan with a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. She is adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett, a married couple played by Ellen Pompeo and Label Duplass, respectively. Across eight episodes, their relationship and family dynamic unravels as they begin to suspect Natalia is lying about her age — culminating in a legal clatter in the season finale.
In real life, the Barnetts eventually abandoned Natalia after claiming she was actually an adult pretending to be a child.
The now-divorced couple, who said they believed Natalia to be 6
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace docuseries has shed light on the mystery surrounding former orphan Natalia Grace Mans (née Barnett) and her former adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett. Avid true crime viewers are divided over whether or not the Barnetts were right: Is Natalia really an senior or was she a child when they adopted her? Since the family ultimately parted ways with their adoptive daughter, viewers want to know what happened to Michael after he ran into trouble with the law.
What Happened to Michael Barnett?
Michael and his ex-wife, Kristine, adopted Natalia in April 2010 from Ukraine through an emergency adoption process. Shortly after bringing her residence, the then-couple allegedly started noticing concerning behavior from their new family member, whom they were told was 6 years antique at the time.
“You’re gonna get the truth,” Michael said in the trailer for the Curious Case of Natalia Grace ID docuseries. “I will pre-warn you, you might not like the truth. April 26, 2010: that’s the day we adopted Natalia. We had no thought what we were dealing with.”
Throughout the teaser clip, Michael claimed that Natalia “threatened to stab [his biological] son
Warning: The following article contains mention of alleged infant abuse.
Hulu releases new episodes of Good American Family on Wednesdays. The limited series contains eight episodes in total, and the finale, "Blood on Her Hands," is scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
As shown in the Hulu miniseries, Kristine and Michael Barnett accused Grace of displaying strange behavior and threatening them with violence. Kristine Barnett even claimed that their adopted daughter tried to kill her. Based on all their alleged observations, they concluded that Grace must have been much older. The couple depicted in Good American Family believed Grace was in her twenties, not a seven-year-old child. Per TODAY, Kristine and Michael Barnett filed a petition in 2012 to legally alter Grace's birth year from 2003 to 1989, which was successful. A year later, they parted ways with her.
Kristine & Michael Barnett Moved To Canada After Moving Natalia Grace Into An Indiana Apartment In 2013
The Couple Moved With Their 3 Biological Sons
After legally changing their adopted daughter's birth year, Kristine and Michael Barnett moved to Canada wit
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