A Ukrainian 'orphan' accused of being a sociopathic adult dwarf instead of a child has opened up on Dr Phil after being abandoned by her foster family.
Natalia Grace Barnett was adopted from Ukraine in 2010 by an Indiana couple, Kristine and Michael Barnett.
The Barnetts claim they thought they were adopting a six-year-old child with a form of dwarfism that makes it hard to tell her age. But instead, they say they got an adult woman with severe mental health issues.
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"Natalia would do things like place clear thumbtacks on the stairs face up so that when we would walk up the stairs, we would be stepping on thumbtacks to pain and injure ourselves," Michael told Good Morning America recently.
Kristine told the Daily Mail Online that Natalia was a "sociopath" and a "con-artist" who terrorised their family.
"She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn't go to sleep. We had to hide all the sharp objects," she said.
"I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, 'what are you doing?' She said, 'I am trying to poison you'."
As Natalia's mental health broke down, she was treated for various psychiatric disorders.
Suspicious over their adopted daughter's behaviour, the Barnetts ordered bone density tests which showed Natalia's age was at least 14 or older.
In 2012, two years after the adoption, the Barnetts successfully applied to have Natalia's age legally changed to 22 so she could receive adult psychiatric treatment.
They then allegedly abandoned her by fleeing to Canada, and have been charged with neglecting a dependent.
Now, Dr Phil has confronted Natalia in a mission to get to the truth.
"I guess it all comes down to whether or not you're an evil psychopath demon child who's come over here to murder everybody," Dr Phil said in a clip taken from his upcoming interview with Natalia.
"Are you a 33-year old scam artist? [Kristine] painted you as an evil dwarf who is going to poison their coffee or kill them in their sleep.
"[Your adoptive parents] say that you scammed them, that you lied about your age and came over here and terrorized them."
Speaking in public for the first time, Natalia denied the allegations and insisted that she's actually a 16-year-old girl - not a 30-year-old woman.
"It's not true at all," she told Dr Phil, during her first public interview. "I just want people to hear my side."
Natalia's full interview with Dr Phil will air on Friday (NZ time). The Barnetts are scheduled to appear in court in January 2020.
Newshub.
