'Adopted child' who turned out to be 22-year-old speaks out to address allegations made against her

Natalia Grace, the 'adopted child' who turned out to be a 22-year-old woman, has spoken out about the allegations made against her.

Three-part documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace aired on Investigation Discovery this week and recounted the shocking true story surrounding couple Michael and Kristine Barnett's unknowing adoption of an adult.

Now, Natalia is ready to tell her side of the story.

Investigation Discovery

Kristine and Michael say that they adopted Natalia Grace back in 2010, believing her to be a six-year-old child from Ukraine.

Shortly after she was brought home, the family's dynamic changed, and the couple believed that Natalia was secretly an adult who was attempting to kill them and their children.

In 2013, the Barnett family moved away and left Natalia behind in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana.

Shortly after, the couple were charged with neglect for allegedly abandoning a child.

But the Barnetts pushed back and argued that they were victims of fraud.

Eventually Michael was found not guilty of all charges in 2022, while charges against Kristine were dropped this year.

A number of claims were made against Natalia in the new documentary, including that she was 'masquerading as a child', that she was a 'sociopath', and that she tried to poison her adoptive mother.

Now, her own follow-up documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, Natalia will open up about her side of the harrowing story.

Investigation Discovery

In a preview of the two-hour documentary special, seen by Entertainment Tonight, Natalia alleged: "The things that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done is a lie.

"I have never done anything that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done."

Since her experience with Kristine and Michael, Natalia has been adopted by a new couple, Antwon and Cynthia Mans, who maintain that she is a teenager.

"You can ask anybody in my family now," she says in the upcoming documentary.

"You can ask Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans that - just ask them, 'Has she ever done anything?' They will tell you who I really am. They're not going to lie and neither am I."

She continued: "It's frustrating. It's very frustrating to hear everything that's being said from Kristine and Michael.

Investigation Discovery

"And because I already don't know who I am and I want to know who I am and what happened to me, but I'm hearing all this stuff that never actually happened from Kristine and Michael.

"I'm like, 'It's shocking and it's frustrating.' Because that's not even true. And people are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying without even hearing my side."

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace aired for three consecutive nights from Monday 29 May on Investigation Discovery. Follow-up Natalia Speaks will air this summer.