Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism who claims her adoptive parents terrorized her family by pretending to be her child, told a very different story in a series of interviews aired this week.
“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks,” which aired on Investigation Discovery, answers some questions about this strange case and reveals additional questions that could prompt a sequel series. It shocked the producers with its authenticity.
“'Natalia Speaks' is one of those projects where the more you dig into it, the more twists and turns are revealed,” Jason Sarlanis, president of Investment Discovery, told The Hollywood Reporter. On the other hand, he spoke in detail about the last-minute development of the production.
“Our viewers care so much about Natalia’s case that we felt our series needed to reflect the ever-changing truth of her situation. One thing has been proven: nothing is what it seems.”
6-year-old adopted girl accused of 'impersonation' speaks in new document: 'Do I look like a monster to you?'
Natalia Grace was pictured smiling while Kristen Barnett looked away from her computer. Now 22 years old, a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism, according to new blood tests, has spoken out against her adoptive parents' insistence that she pose as an adult. (Disclosure of evidence in investigation)
The six-episode series is a sequel to the series released in May, which focused on the claims of adoptive parents Christine and Michael Barnett.
She does not have a birth certificate to legally verify her age because the Ukrainian hospital where she was born was flooded. Adding to the confusion, FBI Special Agent Kenneth J. Maxwell told producers that the judge who handled the girl's adoption process was later fired for corruption.
Lawyer questions family who claims she impersonated an adult when she was 6 years old
Anna Gava, Natalia's mother, said in an interview that she gave her daughter up for adoption because of her disability.
The Indiana couple adopted Natalia in April 2010, believing she was 6 years old.
However, after six months of strange behavior, the parents claim that they began to suspect that their daughter was an adult woman and was cheating on the family. Natalia suffers from a form of dwarfism called spondyloephyseal dysplasia congenita, and due to her small size, her real age remained a mystery without medical testing.
Screen still of Natalia Grace from “Dr. Phil” (Dr. Phil)
According to a previous documentary, Natalia stocked up on knives, placed thumbtacks facing up for her family to step on unconsciously, and at one point tried to poison her adoptive mother with Pine Sol.
However, Natalia tried to clear her name in a new interview.
“Every lie hides the truth, but you have to dig deep enough to see it,” Natalia says. “They're not going to get away with this. This is my side of the story. Do I look like a monster to you?”
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The Barnetts successfully petitioned a Marion County court to change Natalia's birth year from 2003 to 1989, making her legally 22 years old.
According to the documentary, they moved her to an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and immigrated to Canada with her three biological sons. There, neighbors noticed that the new tenant struggled with daily chores and often went hungry.
Michael and Christine Barnett, pictured in the mugshot, were charged in 2019 with multiple counts of dependent neglect. However, a jury found Michael not guilty in 2022, and the charges against Christine were dropped. (Tipecanoe County Sheriff's Office)
Although she was legally an adult, the Barnetts were charged in 2019 with neglecting a dependent because of her disability.
The adoptive father was acquitted by a jury in 2022, and the mother's charges were dismissed this year. In the documentary, her parents defended themselves against the accusations against them, insisting that Natalia was a self-sufficient adult.
Father claims he took in a violent adult when he was 6 years old under false pretenses, breaks down due to 'abuse'
Through a blood sample through TruDiagnostic, a medical laboratory specializing in biological aging, the series' producers determined that Natalia was 22 years old, disputing her legal age of 34.
Possible explanations for the Barnetts' motives for changing Natalia's age include: Documentary filmmaker claims couple He wanted to exploit the girl for money. According to the documentary, his son Jacob was the inspiration for Christine Barnett's book “The Spark,” about raising an autistic son and his academic achievements, for which he paid a $600,000 advance. It is said that the contract to make it into a movie was also on hold.
But when the girl was tested and found to have average intelligence, legal expert Beth Karas said in the series that the couple may have plotted to have the girl removed from their home. I made a hypothesis.
Christine Barnett and her husband claimed that Natalia was menstruating and was exhibiting strange antisocial behavior. (Disclosure of evidence in investigation)
First, Karas argued that the Burnett family may have legally changed the girl's age. Because her genetic disorder made her a legally responsible dependent regardless of her age, they gave details of her anti-social behavior in order to put her in jail or a psychiatric hospital. was fabricated.
Natalia was admitted to LaRue Carter Psychiatric Hospital in Indiana in June 2012, but the facility quickly determined that she was not mentally unstable.
She was then sent to a nursing home and called her adoptive parents to tell them she was scared of living with a drug addict.
Michael Burnett told producers he brought the girl home to avoid negative impressions if she were harmed.
However, when Natalia confronted her adoptive father in the final episode of the new series, she claimed that she had been abused by her adoptive father and his wife. She said she was pepper sprayed three times and that Kristin once gave her three times the prescribed amount of her heart medication in an attempt to kill her.
Natalia Grace's birth record in Ukraine was reportedly lost in a flood, further complicating the question of her real age. (Disclosure of evidence in investigation)
Natalia also told how her adoptive mother forced her to insert a tampon when she was seven years old. She claims this caused her to bleed, which Kristin later used as false evidence that she was menstruating.
But new details from Natalia's latest adoptive parents, Bishop Antwon Manns and his wife Cynthia, have raised further questions.
The Mance family has publicly defended Natalia on TV shows such as “Dr. Phil,” and when she confronted her former adoptive father in a documentary.
Christine Barnett holds a book next to her son (Disclosure of evidence in investigation)
But two weeks before the series was scheduled to air, six months after officially adopting her, the couple made a frantic phone call to producers.
“Something is wrong with Natalia,” Bishop Manns said in an audio clip that aired in the final 90 seconds of the series. “This girl is messing around. I feel like an enemy in her house. And she told us we were holding her hostage. … We're done, we My relationship with her has ended.”
“Natalia is stabbing her family in the back with all these lies,” Cynthia can be heard saying, supporting her husband's claims.
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“Although our series was already over and locked, we immediately worked with the producers to ensure this shocking development was included in the final episode,” Sarlanis told The Hollywood Reporter. spoke about this development. “We really thought Natalia had a happy ending with her new family, so you can imagine we were all completely shocked when that call came from the man's side.”
Now that its live broadcast has ended, “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks Out” is available to stream on HBO Max and Discovery+.
