Redeem now - Natalia Grace is a Ukrainian orphan who was adopted in 2010.
- Her adoptive parents' allegations bear a striking similarity to the horror film "Orphan."
- But "Orphan" came out in 2009 — and Natalia thinks the Barnetts were inspired by it.
If you think that the story of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace Barnett, is strikingly similar to the 2009 horror film "Orphan," you're not wrong.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Natalia, who has a rare form of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett as a child, she says, in 2010. The Barnetts, however, came to believe that she was an adult con artist, and successfully petitioned a court in 2012 to legally change her birth year from 2003 to 1989. In 2023, she was officially adopted by the Mans family, and currently uses the name "Natalyah Mans" on her social-media accounts.
"Orphan" has a similar premise in which a couple discovers that the Russian child they've adopted is actually a murder. But it pre-dates Natalia's saga with the Barnetts.
While "Orphan" can't have been based on Natalia Grace, she says that it still factors into her story — here's what you need to know.
'Orphan' is widely thought to be based on the true story of Barbora Škrlová
Written by David Leslie Johnson and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, "Orphan" is about a couple who adopts a nine-year-old child from Russia after their third child is stillborn.
The adopted child, Esther, begins to exhibit odd behaviors around the house, such as interrupting her adoptive parents while they're having sex and acting violently towards animals and her peers. Eventually, she begins to threaten the lives of her adoptive family, attempting to kill them on several occasions, and makes a sexual advance on her adoptive father.
Her family eventually discovers that she isn't Esther — in fact, she's a 33-year-old woman called Leena Klammer with a pituitary condition responsible for her small stature. While she had previously been contained at an Estonian mental hospital, she's a serial killer who poses as a child.
After a bloody confrontation, Leena is killed by her adoptive mother in the end.
While "Orphan" is obviously dramatized, it's widely believed that the inspiration Esther's character came from the bizarre case of Barbora Škrlová. Škrlová, a Czech woman in her 30s with hypopituitarism, was accused by Czech authorities of using the diminutive stature caused by her condition to pose as a 13-year-old orphan girl.
Passing as a child, she was adopted by a woman named Klara Mauerova, who was later accused of abusing her two biological sons while Škrlová was in her care. Later, in order to evade Czech authorities and avoid testifying in Mauerova's child-abuse case, Škrlová, then 33, escaped to Norway and posed as a 13-year-old boy named Adam. She was ultimately captured by authorities in 2008.
Škrlová's case was first publicized in the Czech Republic mid-2007.
'Orphan' came out before Natalia Grace was even adopted
"Orphan" was released in 2009 — before the Barnetts adopted Natalia in 2010, and years before they successfully petitioned to change her age and make her a legal adult in 2012. That means that the film can't have been based on her story.
Like in "Orphan," the Barnetts claimed that Natalia was an adult posing as a child. In the first season of the Investigation Discovery series "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," Michael Barnett claims that Natalia was a "con artist and a psychopath" who stockpiled knives and threatened to kill him in his sleep. Natalia disputes the Barnetts' allegations in the docuseries' second season, titled "Natalia Speaks," and claims that Kristine abused her.
After the Barnetts left Natalia alone in an Indiana apartment and moved to Canada in 2013, they faced neglect charges because Natalia, though legally an adult, was still classified as their dependent as a result of her disability status. Michael was acquitted of the charges in October 2022, and the charges against Kristine were dismissed in March 2023.
Natalia reconciled with Michael after he said that he was manipulated by his ex-wife Kristine. For her part, Kristine maintained in a statement after the second season aired that Natalia was a "sociopath," denying that she abused her.
Natalia says in "Natalia Speaks" that she believes Michael and Kristine's allegations about her were drawn straight from "Orphan."
"The things that Kristine and Michael have said that I've done is a lie. It was all copied off the movie 'Orphan,'" Natalia says in the documentary series. "Ukrainian girl, Russian girl, check. Orphan, check. All this crazy stuff. Standing at the end of the bed with a knife, check."
In an email to Business Insider, Kristine Barnett denied Natalia's claim that she had been inspired by "Orphan," saying that Natalia had displayed similar behaviors with a prior adoptive family, the Ciccones. In a 2019 Dr. Phil interview, Natalia says that her first adoptive mother Dyan Ciccone, who she lived with prior to the Barnetts, believed that she was trying to break her son's arm, and said "I can't do this anymore."
Michael Barnett's lawyer declined to comment.
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