Jacob Barnett has spent much of his life in the public eye, from the “60 Minutes” interview he did at age 13 to the Investigation Discovery docuseries “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.” But what is he up to now?
Jacob, 26, is currently a postdoctorate research fellow at Basque Center for Applied Mathematics in Bilbao, Spain. In March, he shared a link via Facebook to several YouTube videos of him teaching a math class.
That same month, Jacob posted the link to a Cornell University study he coauthored titled “Heisenberg and Heisenberg-Like Representations via Hilbert Space Bundle Geometry in the Non-Hermitian Regime.”
As viewers of “Good American Family” or the “Curious Case of Natalia Grace” will know, Jacob was intellectually gifted from a young age. His mother, Kristine Barnett, published a book in 2014 titled “The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism.” A description for the memoir claims that Jacob “has an IQ higher than Einstein’s” but his “extraordinary mind was almost lost to autism.”
While appearing on “60 Minutes” in 2012, Jacob said that he felt proud of his autism diagnosis.
“That, I believe, is the reason why I’m in college and why I’m so successful,” he said.
READ MORE: Where are Kristine and Michael Barnett Now? An update on the true story behind ‘Good American Family’
Jacob’s father, Michael Barnett, and Kristine also appeared in the “60 Minutes” segment. They may have seemed like a normal family — albeit one with an extraordinarily gifted son — but behind the scenes, something else was going on.
Kristine and Michael adopted Ukraine native Natalia Grace in 2010, when Jacob was 11. Natalia was 7 years old at the time. In 2011, the Barnetts sought a court order to legally change Natalia’s birth year from 2003 to 1989. They claimed that Natalia was an adult woman using her spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare form of dwarfism, to pose as a little girl.
The Barnetts’ request was granted, and they moved Natalia into an apartment to live on her own in 2013. 10 years later, a DNA test conducted by the company TruDiagnostic showed that Natalia was in her early 20s, meaning she was a child when the Barnetts adopted her. Her legal date of birth was then restored to her 2003 birth year.
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The Barnetts faced legal repercussions for abandoning Natalia, but have not been found guilty of a crime. Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022. The following year, the charges against Kristine were dismissed.
Both Michael and Jacob participated in the 2023 ID docuseries “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.” They accused Natalia of threatening the family with knives and pouring bleach in Kristine’s coffee. Natalia has denied the claims.
“There certainly was a lot of fear. What if Natalia actually harms one of us?” Jacob said in the docuseries. “Natalia was hoarding knives in her room [and] had, like, intentions to attack us. … I definitely didn’t feel safe around Natalia.”
READ MORE: Where is Natalia Grace now? An update on the woman who inspired ‘Good American Family’
In a January interview with People, Natalia told a different story.
“Do I look like I could even grip a knife?’ ” she asked, referring to the limited finger mobility she has due to her dwarfism.
“I feel like I was brainwashed by the Barnetts. Kristine coached me to lie about my age and say I tried to murder my parents,” Natalia claimed.
The Barnetts’ unusual story is the basis of the Hulu series “Good American Family,” which premiered in March. Aias Dalman and Aaron Potter play Jacob at different stages of his life, Imogen Faith Reid plays Natalia, Ellen Pompeo plays Kristine, and Mark Duplass plays Michael.
READ MORE: Who is Imogen Faith Reid? 5 things to know about the actress playing Natalia Grace in ‘Good American Family’
The series’ co-showrunner Katie Robbins told Today.com in March that the team wasn’t in touch with any of the real people who inspired the show.
“Which made having the copious amounts of research that we have that much more essential,” Robbins noted.
“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” is available to stream on Max. New episodes of “Good American Family” premiere on Hulu every Wednesday.
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