Natalia Grace Speaks Out After ID Adopted Orphan Docuseries
Investigation Discovery (ID) wrapped up its three-part documentary series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, on Wednesday (May 31) night. It told the unbelievable story of a couple adopting an adult they accused of pretending to be a six-year-old Ukrainian orphan.
Now, Grace is getting to open up in a two-hour follow-up documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, where she will share her side of this unusual case, which is also set to be adapted into an eight-part Hulu scripted series starring Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Reid.
“This is my side of the story, and I’m going to say what happened because I never got a chance to say what happened,” Grace says in a trailer shared by ET Online.
Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett, a now-divorced couple from Indiana, adopted Grace in 2010, thinking she was a six-year-old girl. The couple, who didn’t realize Grace had spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (a form of dwarfism), came to believe their newly adopted daughter was not actually a child.
The Barnetts claimed Grace tried to harm them and their children, including accusations that she tried to poison Kristine, pushed Michael into an electric fence, and brandished a knife toward Michael while he was in bed.
“The things that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done is a lie,” Grace states in the trailer for the upcoming doc. “I have never done anything that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done.”
Kristine and Michael eventually had Grace’s legal age changed from six to 22. Then, in 2013, the family moved to Canada, leaving Grace behind in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana. The couple was later charged with abandonment, though Michael was found not guilty in 2022, while the charges against Kristine were dropped in March 2023.
As for Grace, she was adopted by another couple, Anton and Cynthia Mans, who became her legal guardians in 2016 and believe Grace to be a teenager.
“You can ask anybody in my family now. You can ask Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans that, just ask them, ‘Has she ever done anything?’ They will tell you who I really am. They’re not going to lie, and neither am I,” Natalia says in the clip.
Grace goes on to say it’s “frustrating” to hear all the things Kristine and Michael have said about her. “I already don’t know who I am, and I want to know who I am and what happened to me, but I’m hearing all this stuff that never actually happened from Kristine and Michael,” she states.
“I’m like, ‘It’s shocking, and it’s frustrating.’ Because that’s not even true,” she continues. |And people are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying without even hearing my side. Y’all have heard from Kristine and Michael and what they have said. But you need to hear both sides in order to know what happened.”
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I watched and Michael was a very good actor one second he would be crying and angry, and then just fine he could turn it off and on he is either acting or he’s severely bipolar. That’s just my opinion I feel this little girl.
36 3
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G
Agreed. He was so over the top that I found him unbelievable
34 2
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G
I had the very same thought. His acting skills were pretty rough. When he banged on the floor then yelled "ouch" after he hurt his hand, was over over the top. He might be just plain crazy!!!
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P
Looks as though series shows Grace was in fact a child mistakenly assumed as an adult and who was in fact abandoned as a minor? Yet another situation where no justice for the most vulnerable?
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I was thinking what is wrong with Michael thru the whole thing, clearly has issues. If his ex was so manipulative why wasn’t that noticed until they adopted this little person, what ever her age was. She clearly had disabilities even if she was an adult. If feel like a lot of things were left out and it really was not worth watching.
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R
I totally feel the same all that crying was ridiculous
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K
What about all of her actions in the apartment complex, walking into the neighbors house trying to go to there child's room , the Barnet s may be actor's but I believe that girl was an adult, and isnt amazing how those people just decided to help her all of a sudden when they knew she had 500.00 a month in food stamps and received disability come on people wake up! The girl is an adult she acted like an adult she had a period come on! Stop the blame game. I'm not saying Kristine was right, but the entire thing is fishy to me.
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My daughter started her period at 9. I didn’t run out and change her age
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O
When Natalia was living in the apartments she was only 13. She was not born in 1989, therefore she was in her early teens. That is far from an adult. Some females get their period young. My sister was 9 when she first started her period. Natalia was not an adult because she had a period.
Yes, she walked in peoples houses at the apartments. She was only young and she was lonely. I believe she wanted to feel love so badly and craved for someone to love her. People need to think about what she has gone through from the start of her life. No one ever really loved her. The lack of love manifest in us all differently. Not one person is alike. I was shocked how so many people lacked insight and understanding at the apartments. I believe Natalia had no boundaries because she went from home to home. How can anyone know any better when you are tossed around from house to house never having a mother as a role model and emotionally healthy parents living in a home filled with love and understanding.. All that was absent in Natalia's life.
I would expect her to have issues. But she wasn't the psychopath they were.
If I had been living in that apartment building and was her neighbor, I would have taken her under my wing and have been a mentor for her.
Michael and Kristine should take a good look at themselves in the mirror and do some self reflection . But I doubt that will ever happen. All the stories he told made no sense what she ever and I could tell he was lying.
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This is what had me wanting to change my mind about things. It just wasn’t one person in the apartment complex it was all of them. And then she was trying to get close to the little boys! Personally I don’t think she was a child either. I feel the Barnet’s could have found her a group home maybe for people with disabilities.
But I agree, those other people latched on got her food card and payed their bills with her $
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G
That was so wrong in so many ways. I feel so terrible for Natalia Grace. Just know karma is real, Kristine and Michael will get theirs in due time.
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For those of you who thinks why did she act like she did when living in the apartment! Put your 8 or 9 or 10,11 year old kid in a apartment by themselves and let’s just see what they would do!!
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Agreed! Of course the girl had problems and irritating and deviant behaviors. I was smh at how rude and clueless many of her neighbors were.
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O
Heartbreaking what this child has gone through in her young life.Natalia needs all of our love and support. She was brainwashed to accept the fake age. The damage people inflict on innocent children will follow them all their life. Forever changed from what God Meant for her to be. I love Natalia. We need to stand up with her an for her. All those neighbors that didn’t do anything to expose the abuse being inflicted on this little girl bear fault too. Thank God for the woman who did something to save this child.
If we see something we must say something.
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Michael and Christine wanted to believe the medical professionals. If they were not telling the truth why was she so sexual to the men in the apartment complex. These were adult actions not a six year old child. She asked for sex for money, and made sexual overtones to a male child which is not child like behavior.
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wow… so somehow you’re still going to believe a child-abusing criminal who is a proven liar? That little girl did NOT do the things she was reported to have done, and the behaviors others found so creepy and intolerable are easily explained as expected behavior of a lonely, confused, abused, abandoned 9 year old child. If you can watch the looks on this poor baby’s face while she’s being relentlessly shamed and berated by Kristine and not have a lifelong reaction to what you’re seeing a 6 year old go through, you’re worthless.
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Did you actually watch the documentary?
They had nurses from the psychiatric ward where she was for a month. Who described Natalia trying to
proposition men for sex. It was also the reason they kicked her out!
The same nurses also put her in the adult wing after they discovered she had full pubic hair when she was only supposed to be 6 years old.
Then their is also all the people from the first apartment who tell how she was a manipulative person and being sexually aggressive with other children.
I totally believe she is a lying sociopath and that Michael and Christine are not innocent victims either.
Doug
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I agree with you. Any inappropriate behavior she may have displayed was a byproduct of the treatment of the Barnett's. She may have picked that up from God knows where.
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R
Personally, My heart reaches out to Natalia Grace as ALL INVOLVED are to blame - NOT EVER SHOULD NATALIA GRACE should she ever be blamed. Who to blame who neglected and abused Natalia Grace should be #1 Adoption Agency; #2 Michael and Kristine Barnett; #3 the ENTIRE Child Advocacy System. It was obvious that Natalia Grace was actually born in 2003 in Ukraine (Mother's DNA results, Mother's testimony; Mother's original birth certificate in Ukraine). DR Phil stated on his interview about Natalia Grace that she had been through 30 Foster Care settings and some were of VIOLENCE against her as a child. Natalia Grace was abused, violated, sexually violated, and toss out like garbage like a STRAY DOG. As EVERYONE blamed her but never took the responsibility of how they treated her as a CHILD. She became as a 'stray dog' trying to find where she belonged as everyone threw her out in the trash as a CHILD; using her and abusing her and violating her as a child (As she went around looking for scraps of food, looking for attention and help as a child). Creating abandonment issues, sexual violation issues of a CHILD, neglect, and non attachment issues. She is NOT the blame at all. The BLAME circles back to mainly Michael and Kristine Barnett and the entire CHILD ADVOCACY SYSTEM... Natalia Grace has a lot of value, she is a treasure of great worth. I love her in my heart as so does JESUS CHRIST. I am thankful Natalia Grace was born as she has so much VALUE AND WORTH.
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What about neighbors in Westfield Indiana witnessing Natalie trying to do inappropriate things to the little boy rolling in the grass?
Why is it that so many people(other than the Barnett’s) that had interactions with Natalie thought she was an adult?
Although the 12 person jury was under the impression that Natalie was born in 1989, if they couldn’t look at her and tell she was in fact a 19 year old, not a 33 year old….how can they expect the Barnett’s to see her as a child?
What about the mental hospital staff’s experience with Natalie?
What about in Westfield, Indiana Natalie calling the police on herself saying she was stalking her neighbor and wanted to do something bad?
How is it that currently she’s so clueless and child-like, but was having full blown adult conversations with her adult neighbors in Westfield, Indiana
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Every bit of this 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 she knew what she was doing and knew when to do it. And those people who latched on to her for her food stamps and her $ they wanted her so they could pay THEIR bills. And she played them right back
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O
Very sad!
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To be honest, I really don't know who to believe!
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I believe Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett got away with all the abuse they caused this helpless human being.
Michael is a Drama King and they are both Evil to the Core!
Unfortunately, Natalia was abused Mentally & Physically and is not able to fully defend herself.
God will see to it that she receives her Justice where the courts Failed her.
9 4
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I’m not sure what you mean by her adult teeth. The dental expert in the documentary even states that per dental records/photographic evidence, Natalia was a child. In terms of dentition, Natalia’s primary exfoliation and permanent eruption timing and sequence appear to be in line with a child having been born in 2003 (per photos and video shown, inadvertently documenting the changes over the course of time, as expected.) Female children can shed their first primaries (typically central lower incisors) as early as 4 - sometimes even earlier. I suspect that suffering from such a rare, rare disease affecting growth and development may possibly play a role in the timing of dental development, as well. Same goes for the alleged premature development of pubic hair…do you know enough about her condition to speak to what should and should not be happening to her body as she grows and develops overtime? Her spine “should not have” developed the way it did, at the rate it did, nor should have her limbs, torso, hands, or even her ears…has any physical growth or development you can see on Natalia followed what you consider to be normal for a child? No. So why is it so hard to believe her body grows and develops differently in many facets as a result of her condition.
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Absolutely disgusting facts are laid out with the doctors and doctors state she is a grown woman with some serious mental health issues. I pray that she gets the help she needs before she seriously hurts someone’s child.
7 5
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Another heartbreaking miscarriage of justice. The jury foreman made it clear, their hands were tied because the judge didn’t allow sufficient evidence. I’m thinking it would have caused more work for the court. It’s seldom explained why a judge makes the decisions that change a person’s life so negatively.
Michael Barnett definitely has a personality disorder in addition to being delusional. He is crowing about the jurors knowing he is not guilty, yet the jury forewoman says clearly he “got away with it.” She reports that 100% of the jurors believed he abandoned a vulnerable person. The judge’s instructions to them caused the verdict.
It is clear that this documentary did Michael Barnett no favors. He was the most convincing reason the court of public opinion finds him not only guilty, but despicable (and weird!!). I could barely stomach watching him. I think the prosecution dropped charges against Kristine because of the outcome of this case.
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I think her story is fishy. She didn’t have an accent being born in another country. She didn’t speak the language. Go back to her birth mother for the real story.
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A child has to be introduced to sex. How was she going to be sexualized. She said something about be a prostitute? Then at the end Katrine asked the man on the wheel chair? On a text if he wanted to have sex with her? When they also show a part where Michael recorded her. She's shouting about Nathalia wanting to sleep with her husband? Where was that coming from? She had to be introduced to sexual. How was she going to know? Also a doctor did she she was a child from the exrays. Somewhere the line they made up a lie. I think the crazy one was the adopted mother. Listened to what the older son said about his mom. I do not know why they didn't convict her? They had more proof on her with texts.
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Supposedly she didn't have a period. Also the doctor that was questioned said. She was a child according to the exrays. He bone structure was still of a child. Also to be like sexualized. She must have been sexually abused. That's the part I hate,left the viewers wondering? Also remember she said something about prostitution? Then at the end Katrine is asking the man on the wheel chair. If he wants to have sex with her? Then when Michael and her are having an argument. She also shouts at Michael. About Natalia wanting he sleep with him. Either he sexually abused her? Or she prostituted her? Oh yeah why did the prosecution drop charges on her but not on Michael? I believe there was more evidence on her then Michael.
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I think Michael is really crazy.
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I honestly don't know yet... I'm still watching the series (on 3rd & final episode) and through it all, all I can think is, these people are too much, but she CAN'T be 6 either. NO 6 year old has pubic hair and a menstrual cycle! But she doesn't seem much older than 6, if at all. I don't know! I looked at her teeth, they were all adult teeth, so not 6... but she seemed very childlike in appearance. She was much more advanced than the other 6 yr old like her, but seeing her now, she just looked so much younger then, so she couldn't have been much older... it's all so confusing, except that there is not 1 single person to confirm any of what the parents are/have said... so it stands, I have no idea!!!
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O
She was a grown ass woman. The neighbors didn’t lie. They knew. She played the role well.
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Natalia is an adult who wanted to come to the USA
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not a child an adult with a scam
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I would have put her on the first plane back to Ukraine. I'm out
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