A man who adopted a ‘child’ that eventually turned out to be a 22-year-old woman with a rare condition has been filmed breaking out in rage at a crew filming a documentary about the story.
The whole strange story is set to be told next month when the documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace starts on ID.
Basically, a couple in Indiana thought that they were adopting a six-year-old girl from Ukraine, but started to get other ideas about what was going on, as well as accusing their adoptive daughter Natalia Grace of attempting to harm them and their biological children physically.
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Michael and Kristine Barnett eventually made some accusations against Natalia Grace, at which point the revelation emerged that she wasn’t a six-year-old girl at all, but a 22-year-old woman.
There’s a lot going on here, and it’s even stranger to think that all of this happened before the 2009 film Orphan came out, as that movie tells a story incredibly similar to this one.
It turned out that Natalia Grace actually had a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphysieal dysplasia.
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In the new documentary, they’ve been talking to Michael and Kristine about what happened, and one scene in the trailer suggest that it wasn’t all just a matter-of-fact chat, as Michael appears to lose his cool at one stage.
At one point, he tells the viewers: "You're gonna get the truth.
“I will pre-warn you, you might not like the truth."
At another point in the doc, Michael is seen punching the floor, as well as shouting out: “We were all abused!”
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According to PEOPLE, Michael and his wife weren’t aware that Natalia was 22-years-old until 2012, two years after they adopted her.
The couple went to a probate court in Marion County to get her birthdate changed from 2003 to 1989, recognising her real age.
In another interview on Good Morning America, the couple said that they were forewarned by a doctor, who told them that their adoptive daughter was ‘a con artist’ and that they and their family were ‘in danger’.
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In 2013, the family – along with their three biological sons – moved to Canada, leaving Natalia Grace in an apartment on her own, but later divorced and charges of neglect of a dependent were brought against them.
Natalia even went on Dr .Phil in 2019, where she was asked: “Are you a 33-year-old scam artist?”
“I promise you I am not,” she responded.
Her true age is still disputed, but there might be more answers to be found in this new documentary.
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There are certainly a lot of questions.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace will start on ID on Monday 29.
Topics: Film and TV, US News, Weird, Natalia Grace
Tom Wood