Investigation Discovery Network
Natalia Grace Gets Legally Adopted by Mans Family, Changes Name: ‘Happiest Moment of My Entire Life’
After she was accused of attempting to kill her former adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett, Natalia Grace Barnett found a second family in the Mans.
During part 3 of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks on Wednesday, January 3, viewers watched Natalia get legally adopted by Antwon and Cynthia Mans and change her name.
“This is the day I close the door on the Barnetts and never open it again,” Natalia happily said while joining the family.
During the court hearing, the judge was informed that Natalia’s true age was not known. While she was believed to be 6-years-old when Michael and Kristine adopted her in 2010, the former couple began to suspect that she was much older after they allegedly saw she had pubic hair while bathing her.
In the docuseries, the judge ultimately decided that her age didn’t matter and granted the Mans legal custody of the Ukrainian orphan. After Antwon and Cynthia were officially named Natalia’s legal parents, she called the day the “happiest moment of my entire life.”
However, the happiness seemingly didn’t last long. The episode concluded with Antwon allegedly calling the producers to tell them that he and Cynthia were “done with” Natalia after she betrayed them.
“Something ain’t right with Natalia. This girl is tweakin’,” he claimed. “I feel like she’s the enemy in the house. And she said to us, we have held her hostage. Made us look like we’re the enemy.”
Cynthia then alleged that Natalia was “stabbing her family in the back” over a complete lie.
“Natalia does not have emotions for nothing but herself. We’re done. We’re done with her,” Antwon added, claiming that she’s “done other things too, but this was a new low.”
While the Mans did not reveal exactly what happened between them and Natalia, the episode concluded by promising that “Natalia’s story will continue.”
Michael and Kristine previously suspected Natalia was a con artist pretending to be a child, as she appeared younger due to her rare form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SEDc). After they accused Natalia of trying to kill them several times, they had her birth year legally changed from 2003 to 1989.
Once Natalia was viewed as a legal adult, Michael and Kristine rented her an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and they left her behind as they relocated to Canada with their three biological sons.
Natalia later met Antwon and Cynthia when she was living alone in Indiana. The couple felt sorry that she was living alone, while her apartment was difficult to live in with her disability.
Michael and Kristine were later faced with neglect of a dependent charges in 2019 because Natalia’s physical limitations caused her to need help, according to prosecutors. The charges against Michael were completely dropped by October 2022, while Kristine’s charges were dropped before she was set to go on trial in March 2023.
Natalia’s real age was revealed during the Monday, January 1 episode when TruDiagnostic — a medical lab that specializes in biological aging — took a blood sample and learned that she was about 22 years old in August 2023. The findings proved that she was a young child when the Barnetts adopted her in 2010.
“This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts has said right into the trash with a match,” she told Antwon during the episode. “This is so big. Because literally, this has been 13 years of just two people lying their butts off. They ruined a kid’s life. They painted [me] as some big monster, when in reality they were the ones.”
Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.
