Kristine Barnett also slammed 'The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks' as 'highly sensationalized.'
Kristine Barnett is speaking out. In wake of the season finale of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, Natalia Grace's former adoptive mother took to Facebook to address several of the claims against her made in the "sensationalized show," calling Natalia a "sociopath," and alleging that her ex, Michael Barnett's, allegations against her were made because of "mental illness."
In 2010, Michael and Kristine thought they had adopted a 6-year-old orphaned girl from Ukraine. Not realizing she had a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal, the Indiana couple claimed that they became suspicious that their newest family member was not actually a child. The Barnetts made a series of claims that included accusations that Natalia tried to harm them and their biological children. Natalia, meanwhile, accused Kristine of abuse in the ID series, which aired its season finale on Wednesday.
"Natalia was a very much loved and cared for member of my family. She was not abused by anyone in my family. Let's get straight to these allegations," Kristine wrote. "Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was 'beaten' are just plain false. Any discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of normal parenting. If anything it was overly permissive as we all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us."
While Kristine noted that she's had "good and bad days as a mom," she insisted that Natalia's accusations against her have previously been "investigated" and were "dismissed as unfounded."
"Living with Natalia did come with constant allegations about her treatment, which I believe was to lead people away from investigating her personal behaviors which were extreme and usually of some sort of sexual or hurtful to towards others nature. So the accusations of being abused are a way to deflect what she is actively doing to hurt other people and as well they themselves hurt other people," Kristine wrote. "She has alleged abuse by anyone who has had longterm contact with her as well as neighbors, teachers and even children that she claims were abusive to her. In my experience they all were not abusing her."
Michael and Kristine eventually legally changed Natalia's age from 6 to 22. On the ID series, through DNA tests, Natalia's age was seemingly confirmed to be around 22, suggesting she was around 9 when the Barnetts adopted her.
In 2013, after Michael and Kristine legally changed Natalia's age from 6 to 22, the Barnett family moved to Canada and left Natalia behind in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana. Kristine denied that she abandoned Natalia.
"The real facts of her being there were for the same mundane reason many people go to Lafayette which is education," she wrote. "Natalia was enrolled in school. They are not sensational like the word 'abandoned,' the correct words would have been 'enrolled in school.'"
"I did not ever leave or want to 'get rid of' Natalia," Kristine added. "A series of legal happenings based on Natalia's own behaviors, statements, and much evidence led to her being reaged [sic] at the recommendation of law enforcement. As a result she was allowed to make her own adult decisions of where to live and what to do with her life and time while living where she has."
However, Daily Mail reported that Natalia said she "sustained herself mostly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ramen noodles and an occasional pizza. She said she had limited use of her hands and arms, and struggled to open canned food."
According to the outlet, Natalia "was also forced to move to a second apartment after a year due to complaints about her disturbing behavior. Neighbors recounted seeing her struggling to take care of herself and recount in the documentary how they saw her wearing dirty clothing, scuffed shoes and stinking of body odor."
Kristine, however, alleges, "Natalia found her own apartment and signed her own lease in Lafayette... While [at the state hospital], the state did clinical testing of her ADLs or assisted daily living skills which she passed all of."
Michael and Kristine, who are now divorced, were eventually charged with abandoning Natalia. Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022, while charges against Kristine were dropped in March 2023.
"I faced charges and these same allegations at that time. The case against me was determined to be false and there was no evidence of any harm to Natalia or abandonment of Natalia by me. It was a case that should not have been brought," she wrote. "If there had been any abuse of Natalia or evidence of it, I would have been found guilty of it and I would be in jail. The fact that these false allegations are occurring after a trial with evidence which was dismissed is disturbing."
As for her ex, Kristine acknowledged that "his own mental health had been affected by us having adopted Natalia and the fact that we tried so hard to help her and could not in the end succeed at that." In the ID series, Michael claimed Natalia that he and she "were incredible victims of an otherworldly type of abuse," alleging of Kristine, "I had the same monster you did. I was exceptionally controlled and put down and threatened, was minimalized."
"The deterioration of his mental health did lead to our divorce after Natalia. It is hard to describe the level of abject horror a person feels when they want to be responsible for a persons safety and well being but cannot help that person because of the persons own choices. I believe that is what he felt with Natalia. We all did," Kristine wrote. "Michael Barnett and Natalia Barnett may have the same monster but that monster is not me. That monster ,whether it's mental illness, sociopathy or whatever it actually is, may be different for each of them. But it's within their own psyche."
At the end of the day, Kristine wrote that she does "understand compassion people have for Natalia because I had that same compassion myself."
"I understand that when someone is doing some of the extreme behaviors I have witnessed from Natalia it is only natural to think 'she must’ve been abused' and I believe Natalia takes advantage of that sympathy to manipulate people," she wrote. "I believe this because I sat through numerous hospital visits and therapy visits trying to understand and help Natalia and thinking we might be able to find the root of the issue. In the end I learned she is a sociopath. I still have not wrapped my head around that diagnosis to this day honestly and I still revert to feeling sympathy for her and hope that she will do well in life. It's very hard for me to understand to this day what happened in our lives with Natalia or to process it."
With that in mind, Kristine wrote that she does "not believe that is the real Natalia who we saw in this documentary."
"I believe it is a mask. In order to hurt someone you need a mark and another group of people who sympathize with you at the same time, this is what I learned from living with her," she wrote. "Natalia will go to great lengths to hurt people but also to gain tremendous amounts of sympathy at the same time."
"While watching the current series I found Natalia's entire demeanor to be quite contradictory to the deameaner [sic] I experienced from her," Kristine added. "It was eerie watching her as if she was very well coached in how she was dressed and behaved and presented herself."
During the show's season finale, Natalie got legally adopted by Antwon and Cynthia Mans, her legal guardians who took her in after she was abandoned. The closing minute of the episode threw everything on its head, however, introducing a title card that read, "Two weeks ago, and six months after Natalia's adoption, the producers got a shocking phone call." Audio then played, in which Antwon and Cynthia claimed they'd been deceived by Natalia.
"Something ain't right with Natalia. This girl is tweakin','" Antwon claimed producers. "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."
"Natalia is stabbing her family in the back over a complete lie," Cynthia chimed in.
"She's done other things too, but this was a new low," Antwon alleged. "Natalia does not have emotions for nothing but herself. We're done. We're done with her."
A final title card then appeared on screen, which promised, "Natalia's story will continue."
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