Natalia Grace Barnett broke her silence on the claims that her former adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett made against her in the new ID docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace

“It’s very frustrating to hear everything that’s being said from Kristine and Michael because I already don’t know who I am, and I want to know who I am, what happened to me,” Natalia said in a sneak peek from the upcoming two-hour documentary special The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, obtained by Entertainment Tonight. “But I’m hearing all this stuff that never actually happened from Kristine and Michael.” 

The upcoming special is set to air later this summer as a follow-up to the three-part series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, according to the outlet. The finale of the docuseries aired on Wednesday, May 31, on ID. 

When speaking about the allegations made against her, Natalia noted that “it’s shocking” and “frustrating” because they are “not true.” 

“And people are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying without even hearing my side,” the Ukraine native continued. “This is my side of the story, and I’m gonna say what happened because I never got a chance to say what happened. Y’all have heard Kristine and Michael and what they have said, but you need to hear both sides in order to know what really happened.” 

Natalia was adopted by then-spouses Kristine and Michael in April 2010 through an emergency adoption process. After the pair brought her home to live with their biological children, sons Jacob, Wesley and Ethan, the then-couple claimed that she started to exhibit disturbing behavior. 

Michael Kristine Natalia Grace Barnett
YouTube

In the trailer for the three-part ID documentary, Michael claimed that he caught Natalia “standing at the foot of [his] bed with a knife in her hand” one night. On another occasion, he alleged that Natalia tried to poison Kristine’s coffee and pushed her into an electric fence. 

In 2012, the Barnetts petitioned to the Marion County Probate Court to have Natalia’s birth date changed from 2003 to 1989. 

Three years after adopting her, the Barnetts claimed they couldn’t live with Natalia anymore, and they moved to Canada while leaving the former orphan in a rental apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, in 2013. Michael and Kristine eventually divorced but maintained their allegations against Natalia. 

Despite having Natalia’s age legally changed, both Michael and Kristine were charged with multiple counts of neglect in the state of Indiana in September 2019. During Michael’s October 2022 trial, Natalia testified. 

“I wanted to be with the Barnetts. I wanted to live with them,” she said while on the stand.

Later that month, Michael’s charges were dismissed. Kristine’s charges were also dropped in March, just three weeks before her trial was scheduled to begin. 

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