Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace confront adoptive dad in new documentary

Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace CONFRONTS her adoptive father Michael Barnett in new documentary after he accused her of being a ‘sociopath’ and lying about her age

  • Natalia Grace Barnett confronts adoptive dad in new ID series ‘Natalia Speaks’
  • The Ukrainian woman, who has dwarfism, denied she was homicidal 
  • She said she ‘literally lost her childhood’ after her parents changed her age to 22 

Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace has come face-to-face with her father who accused her of being a ‘sociopath’ for faking being a child as cameras caught the tense exchange between the two. 

Their meeting was captured in the newest ID documentary ‘Natalia Speaks’ that looks at the latest developments in the case. 

Michael Barnett and his wife Kristine claimed Natalia Grace lied about being a six-year-old Ukrainian orphan with a rare genetic disorder that the family adopted. Instead, they say, she was homicidal adult intent on harming them and their children.

Natalia and Michael sat feet apart with Natalia Grace Barnett angrily refuting Michael’s claims, including that she once loomed over the couple while they were sleeping while clutching a blade.

‘I was never in y’all’s room with a knife,’ an exasperated Natalia Grace tells Barnett, while placing her head in her hands.

‘I know what I saw,’ Michael responded.  

Natalia Grace Barnett had an emotional showdown with former adoptive father Michael Barnett in a new docuseries called ‘Natalia Speaks’ where she refuted the wild allegations against her including that she was not a six-year-old girl as her adoptive family suspected but a homicidal adult 

Natalia refuted the Barnett’s claim that she once stood over their bed clutching a knife as they slept

The showdown is being featured in a six-part docuseries entitled Natalia Speaks, which will debut January 1 at 9/8c on ID.

‘This is my side of the story,’ Natalia said of the series, adding, ‘Do I look like a monster to you?

She also vows to address some of the wild accusations that have been leveled at her, including that she tried to kill her adoptive family.

‘In every lie is a hidden truth, but you gotta dig enough to see it,’ she added. ‘They are not going to get away with this.’

Natalia Gracie also states she ‘lost her childhood’ after the Barnetts petitioned a judge to change her legal age to 22.

The new documentary will feature previously unseen evidence and footage, as well as new theories and testimony from an array of voices, including the retired FBI agents who initially investigated Natalia’s case, genetic experts who help determine Natalia’s true age, and the Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck who prosecuted Barnett in his October 2022 trial. 

The Barnetts were taken into custody in 2019 on child neglect charges after they abandoned Natalia in an Indiana apartment while they moved to Canada after changing her age.

Natalia Grace Barnett was put into a Lafayette, Indiana, apartment by her adoptive parents Michael and Kristina Barnett in 2011, after they came to suspect she was far older than she claimed 

The Barnetts left Natalia alone in an apartment drawing the concern of neighbors


The Barnetts were charged with neglecting their child after ditching Natalia in the early 2010s and moving to Canada after they petitioned a court to move her birth year back 14 years, which was granted. Kristine’s charges were dropped while Michael was cleared last year

Michael was acquitted of the charges in October, while Kristine had her case dismissed in March, just three weeks before her trial.

Cynthia Mans, Natalia’s new adoptive mom, claims Michael ‘smirked’ at her when found not guilty.

‘It was like watching my daughter be raped,’ Mans says in the documentary. ‘There was no justice served, if I could have caught Kristine in an alley and put a black hoodie on I would have busted her upside the head.’

The saga of Natalia’s adoption has generated global headlines in recent years amid the documentary and the arrests of her former adoptive parents.

The couple adopted Natalia in April 2010, believing they were taking home a six-year-old child.

But their dream adoption quickly turned into a nightmare when they realized she may not be who she had claimed, and they suspected she was a menacing adult masquerading as a child.

Just a year later they left Natalia in a Lafayette, Indiana, apartment while they fled north, claiming she had tried to kill them. 

‘She tried to poison and kill my wife,’ Michael claimed. ‘(And) one night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.’

The orphan claims she had her childhood ‘stolen’ by the Barnetts after they legally changed her age

Kristine, who is accused of abusing Natalia in the bombshell documentary, told DailyMail.com in 2019 that her family were terrorized by the Ukrainian in the months after they adopted her.

She alleged Natalia threatened to stab the family in their sleep, pushed her towards an electric fence, and poured bleach in her coffee.

‘She would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard,’ she told DailyMailTV.

‘She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn’t go to sleep. We had to hide all the sharp objects.

‘I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, “What are you doing?” She said, “I am trying to poison you.”

‘The media is painting me to be a child abuser but there is no child here,’ said Barnett.

However, Natalia branded her former adoptive parents ‘liars’ and claimed they had tried to make her out to be a ‘crazy person’.

For their part the Barnetts said they began to suspect their new daughter could be older than her years on the one of the first nights they spent together. 

Natalia, pictured days after being collected from her Florida adoption center in May 2010 by the Barnetts, soon had her new parents suspicious as she had her period and an adult vocabulary for a six-year-old

Natalia, pictured being home schooled in December 2010, was the subject of a bombshell  documentary detailing her adoption ordeal called ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’

Questions remain over Natalia’s true age after it was legally changed from eight to 22 in 2012

They described one incident where Kristine let out a blood-curdling scream while bathing the girl they thought was just six when she noticed she had ‘full pubic hair’.

In the months after, the couple alleged that there was ‘a lot of escalation’. This included discovering she had been hiding her period from them for months.

On another occasion, when Natalia met another six-year-old with a rare bone disorder named spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, the stark difference in age became seemingly undisputable.

Natalia, who did not speak with a Ukrainian accent, towered over her playmate, while her bone structure and vocabulary were far more advanced.

The incidents led to them taking Natalia to a psychiatrist who diagnosed her as a ‘sociopath’ according to the couple. 

The numerous red flags led the family to seek an attorney, and in 2012 a petition launched by the family at probate court was granted and a judge legally changed her birth date from 2003 to 1989 on her Ukrainian birth document.

After the couple was granted their petition, they decided to move her into the apartment in Lafayette – three counties away from where they lived – while they moved to Canada.

Later in court, Natalia would testify that sustained herself mostly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Ramen Noodles and an occasional pizza. She said she had limited use of her hands and arms, and struggled to open canned food.

Source: Read Full Article