The Natalia Grace saga: Ukrainian adoptee accused of faking her age has a brand new household | EUROtoday

Years after the curious case of Natalia Grace captivated the nation, the disabled Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism accused of making an attempt to kill her adoptive mother and father whereas masquerading as a baby is now revealing the subsequent chapter of her weird story.

Now, Natalia has revealed in a uncommon interview with PEOPLE that she’s dwelling together with her third American household, sharing new particulars about how she fled her final adopted household’s management in the midst of the evening.

Natalia shared harrowing particulars of her childhood for the primary time in an Investigation Discovery docuseries final yr, which ended together with her being welcomed into a brand new household, with mother and father Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans, a spiritual couple who later adopted her.

But the final two minutes of the second season of the docuseries Natalia Speaks hinted at bother in paradise, and Natalia now says she suffered extra years of alleged household torment.

The Mans have been presupposed to be a contented ending for Natalia, who places her personal age at 21. But it turned out to be something however, as seen in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter, which premieres on January 6 and seven on Investigation Discovery and Max.

What precisely has occurred throughout Natalia’s life and who’s telling the reality?

Natalia’s childhood

For years, Natalia Grace was accused by her adoptive mother and father Michael and Kristine Barnett of “masquerading” as a baby who they insisted was truly a murderous “sociopath” intent on killing their household.

The Ukrainian orphan was adopted in 2010 by the Barnetts who later petitioned a choose to vary her authorized age from eight to 22, after they cited chilling “evidence” that they alleged proved she was considerably older.

When Natalia, who has a uncommon genetic dysfunction known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, was adopted, the couple have been advised she was six years previous on the time.

But the couple had doubts and later cited “evidence” that proved she was older than she was claiming to be.

When Kristine tried to wash their new daughter, she was shocked to find pubic hair; it wasn’t lengthy earlier than the adoptive mom found that Natalia had been hiding her menstrual cycle, she claimed.

When the Barnetts found that one other woman with the identical uncommon type of dwarfism was additionally dwelling in Indiana, the mother and father organized a go to so the 2 youngsters might meet.

Michael Barnett claims he was instantly bowled over by how a lot older Natalia appeared than the opposite woman — insisting that Natalia acknowledged it, too, and shortly tried to make herself appear youthful.

Over the subsequent a number of months, what began as a query of Natalia’s true age shortly spiraled right into a vortex of allegations, with the Barnetts claiming their adopted daughter was actually a homicidal grownup.

Natalia’s adoptive mom Kristine, who couldn’t be reached by ID’s producers for the docuseries, advised DailyMail.com in 2019 that her household have been terrorised within the months after they adopted her.

She alleged Natalia threatened to stab the household of their sleep, pushed her in the direction of an electrical fence, and poured bleach in her espresso.

When she requested Natalia what she was doing, Natalia would reply, “I am trying to poison you.”

In the primary season of the ID docuseries, Natalia pushes again in opposition to the allegations that she says are blatantly lifted from the 2009 thriller movie Orphan.

“I never tried to murder anybody,” she mentioned.

In 2019, the Barnetts have been taken into custody on little one neglect expenses after they deserted Natalia in a Lafayette, Indiana residence, and moved to Canada.

Michael was acquitted of the costs in October 2022, whereas Kristine had her case dismissed in March 2023, simply three weeks earlier than her trial. The couple have been divorced since 2013.

Natalia shares her story for the primary time

Natalia’s story has resulted in a number of documentaries — together with ID’s docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which aired in 2023.

Then in 2024, she spoke out for the primary time in ID’s docuseries Natalia Speaks, through which she comes face-to-face together with her adoptive father in an explosive reunion the place she grills him concerning the numerous questions she’s had for years.

Natalia, who states that she “lost her childhood” additionally addresses a few of the wild accusations thrown at her, together with that she tried to kill her adoptive household.

“They’re not going to get away with this,” Natalia says within the docuseries. “This is my side of the story. Do I look like a monster to you?”

Natalia believes the Barnetts’ “lies” are confirmed when she lastly will get medical affirmation about her age within the first episode.

The DNA testing finished at TruDiagnostic, utilizing only a pattern of her blood to find out her “chronological age,” decided she was “closer to 22” in age at the moment, which they famous was “pretty close to what you think, you’re almost 20, that’s within 2 years,” in keeping with Dr Halland Chen, who appeared on the doc.

“I’ve known the truth for as long as I can remember, that I was a kid,” Natalia says, breaking down in tears after getting the outcomes. “I just want people to really see the truth about my age.”

This is considerably youthful than 34, which is the age in keeping with her legally modified birthdate of 1989. That meant she was simply 4 when she got here to the United States from Ukraine and solely eight years previous when the Barnetts legally modified her age, and moved to Canada, leaving her behind in a Lafayette residence alone.

“This one little piece of paper throws every single lie the Barnetts have said right into the trash, with a match. This is so big, this has been 12 years of just two people, lying their butts off. They ruined a kid’s life,” Natalia mentioned after she was given the outcomes.

“They painted me as a big monster, when in reality, they were the ones. It just proves I was not lying about my age. They ignored everything that was pointing to the truth, just so they could have this stupid lie. They knew it and they still did what they did.”

The docuseries additionally returned to the dentist’s workplace the place the dentist who noticed Natalia greater than a decade in the past offered an x-ray and identified that what it claimed was ‘indisputable’ proof – grownup tooth rising within the gums beneath Natalia’s child tooth.

“You can’t fake teeth coming in like this,” the dentist says on the docuseries. He mentioned the x-ray was taken in 2011 and that Natalia would have been round eight or 9 years previous on the time.

Natalia recalled that journey to the dentist after she misplaced a tooth whereas she was dwelling with the Barnett household. She claimed her adoptive mom Kristine had accused her of pulling the tooth out herself.

But Natalia was nonetheless left with questions on why the Barnetts selected to make her a lot older than she was.

“I always knew I wasn’t an adult,” Natalia added. “They are hiding something big, I wanna know the answers to these questions and I want people to pay for what they’ve done.”

The sit-down was the primary time Natalia and her adoptive father Michael Barnett had seen one another face-to-face outdoors of a courtroom in years

“Why are we here, Michael?” Natalia pointedly asks.

“Why are we here?” Michael responded. “If you’re talking philosophically…”

“No, I want to know — why did you adopt me in the first place?” Natalia asks.

Michael claimed he was additionally a sufferer and that he was manipulated and mistreated by Kristine, who’s now his ex-wife.

“Many of these questions there’s not going to be a single answer to,” he defined.

“This is not easy. I had the same monster you did. Kristine. I was exceptionally controlled and put down and threatened, was minimalized, anything that was who I was was ripped from me and I was guided and instructed to be exactly what she wanted me to be.”

While the 2 seem like trauma bonding over this, Natalia later states that she nonetheless believes Michael is responsible, “because he stood by and did nothing.”

“If Kristine was his so-called monster, he could have fought her. I couldn’t,” she later says to the digicam.

When she asks him if he knew concerning the alleged abuse, a few of which he mentioned he did learn about, Michael turned emotional and claimed he couldn’t do something as a result of Kristine made threats that he would by no means see his sons once more.

Natalia admitted within the docuseries that when she lived with the Barnetts, she would inform folks she was 22 – out of worry.

“When Kristine told me to tell people I was 22, I did it because I was terrified,” she defined, detailing horrific claims of repeatedly being hit with a belt and made to face in opposition to a wall for hours, soiling herself. “I didn’t know what she would do.”

Natalia additionally fired off inquiries to Michael and refuted his earlier claims about her, together with one which she held a knife in her hand as she “loomed” over his mattress the place he and his spouse have been sleeping.

“I was never in y’all’s room with a knife,” Natalia exclaims together with her head in her fingers.

“I know what I saw,” he responded.

Natalia has denied each allegation of murderous intentions and behavior leveled by the Barnetts.

“They were supposed to take care of me. But all they did was hurt me.”

A bombshell telephone name

After Natalia shared her story in Natalia Speaks, which ended with the woman being adopted by the Mans, the creators of the collection thought that was the tip.

Until they acquired a “bombshell” telephone name that modified all the things.

Hot Snakes Media co-founders and producers Eric and Shannon Evangelista advised The Hollywood Reporter that they’d not deliberate on making a 3rd season.

Then they bought a name from Natalia’s new adoptive father Bishop Antwon, who advised them “We got a situation. Something ain’t right with Natalia.” Part of the decision is heard on the finish of season two.

“It was Christmas Eve, and it was, for us, this bombshell phone call,” Shannon advised The Hollywood Reporter. “From then, we just said we had to pick up our cameras and follow it. That’s what we did.”

The creators mentioned the collection will decide up the place the telephone name left off.

Natalia’s escape

Natalia thought she discovered happiness with a brand new adoptive household – Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans, a pair who lived a strict non secular way of life with their 10 youngsters in Indiana, and later Tennessee.

The couple has advocated for Natalia and her incapacity, and in 2019, they went on Dr. Phil with Natalia and maintained that she by no means confirmed any indicators of violence towards their household.

But it wasn’t the completely happy ending Natalia had hoped for.

In the brand new docuseries, there are claims that the Mans exploited Natalia.

Several witnesses declare to have seen the Mans bodily abusing Natalia by slapping her within the face and whipping her with a belt. When requested concerning the allegations by PEOPLE, Natalia wouldn’t affirm or deny the alleged incidents.

But Natalia did share with the outlet how she deliberate her escape from the household, whom she accused of controlling her and forbidding her from contacting outsiders.

She enlisted her boyfriend and previous buddies Nicole and Vince DePaul, to create an escape plan. The DePauls tried to undertake Natalia in 2009 however have been turned down, PEOPLE reported.

Natalia advised the outlet that she was nervous about leaving her household and the “sisters” she had helped maintain, however knew it was the fitting determination.

So her good friend secretly picked up Natalia outdoors of a church in Nashville and earlier than she knew it, she was free.

“The last thing I told my sisters was, ‘You guys go ahead to the church sanctuary and I love you,’ she said. “And then I saw the [DePauls] pull up and Mack jumped out and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, she’s actually here.’ My heart started pounding. I was terrified. I was completely terrified.”

Where Is Natalia Grace as we speak?

Since Natalia left the Mans household, she has been dwelling with the buddies who helped her escape.

Nicole and her husband Vince are little folks, like Natalia. The couple advised PEOPLE that issues have been bumpy at first as a result of the Mans have been nonetheless concerned, however have since smoothed out.

“They were calling Natalia constantly and trying to wheel her back in,” Nicole mentioned. “It was just this constant thing where we were walking a fine line of not doing too much. See, she just came from this house that basically was ruled by a dictator, so I didn’t want to tell her what to do”

“She’s also never done one violent thing ever,” Nicole added. “Our dogs love her and they sleep with her. I’m an animal lover. If I didn’t trust her, I wouldn’t leave my babies with her. They’re also a judge of character, as well.”

Natalia is studying how one can drive and has been learning for her GED as she strives to be a trainer in the future. She continues to be together with her boyfriend and says “it’s a blessing to be alive.”

“Learning everything that I have about how to live with my dwarfism—it’s been a great experience,” she mentioned. “I love it. I mean, of course, I still miss my siblings and everything. But I love it. I feel free.”

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter airs on January 6 and January 7 on Investigation Discovery and will likely be obtainable to stream on Max.