She gained worldwide consideration when her adoptive household accused her of not being a baby however in actual fact an grownup with malicious intent. Now, she’s talking out for the primary time together with Natalia Grace’s new dad and mom in a brand new documentary collection by ID.
Natalia Grace is a Ukrainian-born woman who gained media consideration attributable to a controversial and extensively publicized case. In 2010, she was adopted by an American household, the Barnetts, who due to her subtle language and different behaviors, believed that Natalia had a uncommon type of dwarfism—as an alternative of being a baby, as she and the orphanage claimed, she was an grownup with psychiatric points who deceived them. One specific account, the Barnetts stated, was once they awoke to Natalia standing over them with a knife.
They petitioned to have her age legally modified to 22, primarily based on a bone density take a look at. In 2012 and a yr later, the Barnetts moved to Canada, leaving Natalia behind to fend for herself when she was solely 9 years outdated. In The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, we’re supplied unique entry to Natalia as she shares her story and confronts her former adoptive dad and mom Michael and Kristine Barnett’s accusations head-on.
All through six elements, Natalia Speaks retraces her adoption saga and the Barnett’s allegations from Natalia’s perspective, providing perception into what actually went on behind closed doorways within the Barnett’s dwelling and the way a lot reality there really is to their declare Natalia was not a 6-year-old Ukrainian orphan with a uncommon genetic dysfunction, however reasonably a homicidal grownup intent on harming them and their kids. However Natalia Grace’s new dad and mom are giving her a loving dwelling.
Natalia Grace’s new dad and mom
Natalia Grace’s new dad and mom are Antwon and Cynthia Mans, with whom she resides in Indiana. They doc their lives on Instagram @themansfamily11. In November 2019, Cynthia instructed Dr. Phil that: “Now we have different kids. Now we have a grandson. [Natalia] does nothing however love her siblings and her nephew.”
Cynthia defined how Natalia got here to stay with them, assembly her on her neighbor’s entrance porch when she was 8 years outdated and dwelling alone after the Barnett’s deserted her. On the time of the Dr. Phil interview, Cynthia stated she’d been dwelling with them for six years.
“My pal referred to as me and was like, ‘You should come down right here immediately’,” Cynthia recalled, of the day she met Natalia. “She’s telling me she’s 22, however have a look at her, she’s not 22,” figuring Natalia was simply repeating what she’d been instructed to say. Natalia confirmed Cynthia her house the place she was dwelling alone. Noting that she barely had any possessions and little meals within the freezer, Cynthia invited Natalia to return over. “I’ve a few children at dwelling, come on down, you may play with them, speak with them. No matter. So she got here to our home and frolicked down there and he or she by no means left. She’s been with us ever since,” Cynthia stated.
In her first time talking out since then, Natalia talked concerning the many allegations Kristine and Michael have made towards her. “The issues that Kristine and Michael have stated that I’ve achieved is a lie. I’ve by no means achieved something that Kristine and Michael have stated that I’ve achieved,” Natalia stated. “You possibly can ask anyone in my household now. You possibly can ask Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans that — simply ask them, ‘Has she ever achieved something?’ They’ll let you know who I actually am. They’re not going to lie and neither am I.”
She continued: “It’s irritating. It’s very irritating to listen to every little thing that’s being stated from Kristine and Michael. And since I already don’t know who I’m and I wish to know who I’m and what occurred to me, however I’m listening to all these items that by no means really occurred from Kristine and Michael,” she goes on to say. “I’m like, ‘It’s stunning and it’s irritating.’ As a result of that’s not even true. And individuals are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying with out even listening to my facet.”
Within the Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, Natalia and Michael confront one another. When Natalia questioned Michael why they adopted her within the first place, Michael stated: “I’ve discovered just lately that you simply and I had the identical monster [in] Kristine, and we’re right here as a result of we each have been unimaginable victims of an otherworldly sort of abuse.”
Natalia requested him to make clear. “This isn’t simple,” he stated. “I had the identical monster you probably did. I used to be exceptionally managed and put down, and threatened, was minimalized. Something that was who I used to be was ripped from me and I used to be guided and instructed to be precisely what she needed me to be.”
Once more, Natalia requested him to make clear by what he meant by “threatened”. He defined: “Her favourite risk was taking the boys away from me and ensuring I might by no means see them once more.” Natalia requested him why he didn’t go away. “I attempted,” Michael stated. “And these solutions aren’t what you’re in search of, to a level, however I attempted to go away her at least 10 occasions. I ended up within the hospital commonly over it.”
Natalia Speaks additionally options beforehand unseen proof and pictures, in addition to new theories and testimony from an array of voices, together with the retired FBI brokers who initially investigated Natalia’s case, genetic specialists who helped decide Natalia’s true age, and the Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck who prosecuted Michael in his October 2022 trial. As well as, the docuseries sheds gentle on Natalia’s subsequent chapter, providing a portrait of her life together with her new adoptive household and unique interviews together with her adoptive dad and mom, Bishop Antown and Cynthia Mans.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks premieres throughout three consecutive nights on ID starting Monday, January 1 at 9 pm ET.
