Natalia Grace has filed a new lawsuit against Hulu and Disney over the series Good American Family starring Ellen Pompeo.
She filed a defamation lawsuit on Friday (March 20) without a lawyer over the show, which she is alleging makes her appear “deceptive” and “dangerous.”
According to TMZ, she is suing for “defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress … claiming the show’s depiction of her story led viewers to believe the real Natalia was ‘deceptive, dangerous, manipulative, dishonest, not truly a child, and responsible for acts of abuse, violence, or attempted violence.’”
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The suit argues that the show’s episodic disclaimer isn’t good enough to protect them “because they do not make clear exactly which parts of the show have been fictionalized.”
Natalia also alleges that the company created the show in such a way that it shows the allegations against her first, only later “presenting information about Natalia being an abused child.” But by that point, it was too late because the initial impression would stick with viewers most.
In the documents obtained by Us Weekly, Natalia argues that the show might have led people to believe she committed acts like “attempted murder-type conduct, violence towards others, dangerous conduct, manipulative conduct and other serious harmful acts,” which she vehemently denies.
She claims the show has damaged her reputation, with people calling her hurtful things like “scammer, psycho, sociopath.”
“Good American Family is not a fictional story about invented persons. It is a dramatized series built around [Grace’s] real-life identity, name, history, and public case. It uses real people, real allegations and real public controversy involving [Grace],” said documents.
Natalia is seeking unspecified damages from Disney.
Good American Family is a limited series that debuted on Hulu in March 2025 and starred Ellen as Kristine and Mark Duplass as Michael Barnett, based on Natalia’s real-life foster parents. Ellen also executive produced the show.
