Natalia Grace Barnett’s former adoptive mom is speaking out!
You most likely know the Ukrainian orphan’s story by now. For those who need a refresher, here is a quick rundown. Kristine and her now ex-husband, Michael Barnett, adopted Natalia in 2010. However, the parents soon believed she was not a 6-year-old child but instead an adult woman trying to harm their family. Think along the lines of the horror movie Orphan!
Kristine and Michael had Natalia’s age legally changed and placed her in an apartment alone in Indiana before moving to Canada. This led to the Barnetts being charged with child neglect — though the charges later were dropped. In the docuseries by Investigation Discovery, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, she spoke about her life with the Barnett family and found out she was a child when they adopted her more than a decade ago, all thanks to DNA testing. (Her real age was determined to be close to 22 as of August 2023, FYI)
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Natalia also dropped some disturbing allegations about her adoptive parents in the documentary. For starters, she accused Kristine of abuse, alleging in one episode that her adoptive mother pepper sprayed her multiple times and hit her with a belt. What the f**k?! During a face-to-face confrontation with Michael, the former dad claimed he was manipulated and abused by Kristine, too.
We didn’t get the chance to hear from Kristine about the abuse accusations in the docuseries. But she finally broke her silence on Facebook Thursday, denying the claims made by both Natalia and Michael. Kristine wrote in a lengthy statement:
“Natalia was a very much loved and cared for member of my family. She was not abused by anyone in my family. Let’s get straight to these allegations. Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false. Any discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of normal parenting. If anything it was overly permissive as we all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us.”
While Kristine recognized she was not a “perfect mom,” she swore she “was not abusive to my children” at any point. She then pointed out that the abuse and abandonment allegations made by Natalia in the “highly sensationalized” docuseries were previously “investigated as unfounded,” adding:
“She has alleged abuse by anyone who has had long term contact with her as well as neighbors teachers and even children that she claims were abusive to her . In my experience they all were not abusing her. … If there had been any abuse of Natalia or evidence of it, I would have been found guilty of it and I would be in jail. The fact that these false allegations are occurring after a trial with evidence which was dismissed is disturbing . It’s like being assumed guilty after being proven innocent.”
As for the decision to legally re-age Natalia? Kristine offered up an explanation while insisting Natalia always had her support:
“A series of legal happenings based on Natalia’s own behaviors, statements, and much evidence led to her being reaged at the recommendation of law enforcement. As a result she was allowed to make her own adult decisions of where to live and what to do with her life and time while living where she has. While Natalia did live independantly as an adult she had very much support from our family and care and love until she decided to make the Manns her medicaid payee and they became responsible for her medical care and her income.”
Hmm…
That still does not explain why Kristine and Michael kept up the idea that Natalia was a scary adult woman posing as a child and trying to kill them for years — even though two medical professionals at the time told them she was a kid. Ultimately, Kristine feels “Natalia takes advantage of that sympathy to manipulate people” and is “a sociopath.” And when watching the docuseries, she felt the viewers did not see the “real Natalia”:
“While watching the current series, I found Natalia’s entire demeanor to be quite contradictory to the [demeanor] I experienced from her and it was eerie watching her as if she was very well coached in how she was dressed and behaved and presented herself. … Natalia will go to great lengths to hurt people but also to gain tremendous amounts of sympathy at the same time.”
Innerestingly enough, her new adoptive parents Antwon and Cynthia Mans also have become suspicious of Natalia. They told producers they no longer trust Natalia and were “done with her” at the end of the series after she suddenly turned against them. Antwon claimed Natalia accused them of holding her “hostage.” We cannot help but wonder what is going on with this situation. Is there some truth to what Kristine claimed? Or has something actually gone wrong between Natalia and the Mans family? We’ll have to wait and find out. Despite what Michael claimed in the show, Kristine concluded saying she is not his or Natalia’s “monster”:
“Michael Barnett and Natalia Barnett may have the same monster but that monster is not me. That monster whether it’s mental illness sociopathy or whatever it actually is may be different for each of them. But it’s within their own psyche.”
Read the entire post (below):
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via CBS News/Investigation Discovery/YouTube]
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