Adoptive father of girl accused of being 22-year-old woman says they’re ‘both victims’ in emotional outburst

The adoptive father of Natalia Grace claimed they're 'both victims' as the Ukrainian orphan confronted him over his actions.

Natalia comes face-to-face with Michael Barnett again while filming The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks; a follow-up to the documentary which caught the attention of the world earlier this year.

The original series showed how Michael and his wife Kristine accused Natalia of being an adult posing as a child, and of wanting to hurt their family.

In the new episodes, set to air in early January, Natalia confronts Michael over the allegations as she claims she was only a child when she was adopted, and that she was never violent towards the family.

During their conversation, Michael alleges he doesn't like to say Kristine's name any more, after the couple got divorced.

Instead, he refers to Kristine as 'the monster'.

Investigation Discovery

When asked why he and Kristine adopted Natalia in the first place, he responds: "Many of these questions there's not going to be a single answer to. Look, I've learned recently you and I have the same monster: Kristine.

"We are here because we both were incredible victims of an otherworldly type of abuse."

Michael goes on to repeat the claim he 'had the same monster' as Natalia, before making a series of allegations about his ex-wife.

"I was exceptionally controlled and put down and threatened, was minimalized," he says.

"Anything that was who I was, was ripped from me and I was guided and instructed to be exactly what she wanted me to be."

When asked how he was threatened, Michael claims Kristine warned him she'd take his three biological sons away from him.

Investigation Discovery

The father tells Natalia he'd 'tried' to leave Kristine, adding: "These answers aren't going to be what you're looking for to a degree, but I tried to leave her no less than 10 times. I ended up in the hospital regularly over it."

Though Michael claims he was 'controlled' by Kristine, he refuses to discuss whose idea it was to have Natalia's age changed to 22 years old, making her a legal adult.

After her age was changed, Natalia, who has dwarfism, was sent to live alone in an apartment.

While Natalia claims in the documentary that Kristine was the 'real monster', she accuses Michael of being an 'accomplice'.

“They ruined a kid’s life," Natalia says.

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.

Topics: Natalia Grace, Film and TV, Life

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.