Natalia Grace Admits Allegations She Was 'Fake' and a 'Liar' Amid Age Controversy 'Hurt Me a Lot' in Rare Interview

Natalia Grace became a household name among true crime fans after her shocking story of an adopted little girl whose parents insisted she was an adult and had her legally re-aged spread like wildfire.

Now, in a rare interview, Natalia confessed that the public's negative perception of her after being re-aged affected her more than she'd like.

"There were a lot of people saying, ‘You’re fake. You’re a liar. You’re a pedophile,’" she told a news outlet. "I’m also known for the little girl that was helpless and was beaten and starved and all that. That’s not who I am. But that seems to be the only thing that people know — and that’s why it hurts me a lot."

Natalia was born in Ukraine in 2003, but her mother gave up her parental rights due to her daughter's dwarfism. Natalia spent years of her early life in orphanages and temporary foster homes until she was adopted by the Barnett family. However, it didn't take long for the Barnetts to begin to suspect she was much older than her paperwork said she was.

They claimed she not only had pubic hair at 6 years old, but said she was also menstruating and that she had her adult teeth. Later, they accused her of violence and behavioral issues, including trying to poison her adoptive mother Kristine Barnett's coffee and pulling her body toward an electric fence to hurt her.

The Barnetts eventually were successful in their petition to re-age Natalia to 22 years old, changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989, and in 2013, she was moved into an apartment alone in Indiana. The Barnetts then moved to Canada.

"I really disliked being the girl who was re-aged and lived in her own apartment," Natalia said. "I didn't understand why I was alone. I just knew I had this instinct in me to push and survive. All I was told was, ‘You're 22 now. Whenever somebody asks you what your age is, you say you're 22 and you tried to murder your family.' I was taught to lie."

Natalia also claimed she'd never hurt her adoptive family — and suggested some of the allegations against her wouldn't even be possible due to limited mobility in her hands caused by dwarfism.

"I feel like I have to defend myself and be like, ‘Do I look like somebody that could push someone twice my size into a fence? Do I look like I could even grip a knife?’" Natalia continued. "I feel like I was brainwashed by the Barnetts. Kristine coached me to lie about my age and say I tried to murder my parents. Why would you do that to your child?"

She also accused Kristine of beating her with a belt and pepper-spraying her in the face as punishment throughout her time with the Barnetts.

After extensive testing and DNA analysis, Natalia's birth year was legally changed back to 2003 and she was later adopted by parents-of-10 Cynthia and Pastor Antwon Mans in 2023. However, her alleged "escape" from their home and the reasons behind it is set to be documented in Discovery's The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter.

The series will premiere on Monday, January 6.