Featured Image Credit: Investigation Discovery
Topics: Film and TV, Science, Weird, Documentaries, Parenting, Health
Emily Brown
Topics: Film and TV, Science, Weird, Documentaries, Parenting, Health
Medical professionals have confirmed the real age of Natalia Grace after questions about her identity arose in the hit documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.
The story of the Ukrainian orphan took the world by storm earlier this year, when the documentary arrived and detailed her adoption by Michael and Kristine Barnett.
The Barnetts made a series of allegations in the show, suggesting Natalia may not actually have been a six-year-old child when they adopted her in 2010, but an adult with dwarfism who was masquerading as a minor.
The family claimed Natalia had tried to harm them, and cited 'evidence' which they alleged proved she was older than six-years-old.
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Eventually, the family decided to legally change Natalia's age to make her 22-years-old, and took her to an apartment to live by herself while they moved to Canada.
The Barnetts were ultimately charged with neglect of a dependent, but Michael was found not guilty, and the charges against Kristine were dropped.
Now, Natalia has spoken out herself about the claims against her in a follow-up to the original documentary, titled The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.
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In the documentary, Natalia, who has been living with a new adoptive family for the last 10 years, speaks to medical professionals to determine her real age once and for all.
Set to start airing on 1 January, the new series sees Natalia admit that she did tell people she was 22-years-old, but only because Kristine allegedly 'trained her to lie'.
She describes the changing of her age as the 'worst' thing the Barnetts ever did to her, adding that she 'trusted [the family] too fast'.
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“They ruined a kid’s life," Natalia says.
To help determine whether Natalia was a child when she was first adopted by the Barnetts, the documentary returned to the dentist's office where she underwent an x-ray while she was living with the family.
Natalia recalled losing a tooth during her time with the Barnetts - a common occurrence for children between the ages of 6-12 - but she claimed Kristina accused her of pulling the tooth out herself.
Looking back on Natalia's x-ray from more than a decade ago, the dentist pointed out that what it showed was 'indisputable' evidence.
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The image taken by the dentist clearly showed adult teeth growing in the gums underneath Natalia's baby teeth - something that would not be seen in someone in their 20s.
"You can’t fake teeth coming in like this," the dentist says, as he explains that Natalia would have been around eight or nine-years-old when the x-ray was taken in 2011.
The evidence was only backed up by a blood sample Natalia delivered to a lab, which usually uses such samples to determine ages for insurance purposes.
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Upon opening the results this year, Natalia learned that the sample put her current age close to 22-years-old, meaning she was not an adult when the Barnetts legally changed her age.
Pointing out that the sample proved she was 'not lying about [her] age', Natalia was left with questions about why the Barnetts chose to make her so much older than she was.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks offers a new side to the bizarre tale, with interviews from one of the Barnetts' biological children as well as Michael, who attempts to explain his actions.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF NATALIA GRACE: NATALIA SPEAKS will premiere across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, January 1, airing nightly from 9-11PM ET/PT.