Natalia Grace’s Adoptive Mom Kristine Barnett Breaks Her Silence on Explosive Docuseries - E! Online (2024)

"We all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us," Kristine continued."As a parent , I have had good and bad days as a mom... I am certainly not going to claim I was a perfect mom."

She admitted she could become exasperated while cleaning, for example, noting, "I am sure there were plenty of fails and some successes I had as a parent and mom but I was not abusive to my children."

ButKristine—whose divorce from Michael was finalized in 2018—believes Natalia made allegations against the couple in order to "lead people away" from investigating her own"personal behaviors."

So, according tothe Spark author, "Theaccusations of being abused are a way to deflect what she is actively doing to hurt other people."

Kristine also pointed out that Natalia's allegations on the "highly sensationalized" docuseries were previouslyinvestigated by authorities. Indeed,after the pair was charged withneglect of a dependent, abandoning or cruelly confining a dependent and more crimes,Michael was found not guilty in 2022. Prosecutors later dropped the case against Kristine in March 2023.

"The fact that these false allegations are occurring after a trial with evidence which was dismissed is disturbing," Kristine shared. "Natalia was never 'abandoned' . I did not ever leave or want to 'get rid of ' Natalia. That was also covered in the trial as I was charged with abandonment."

Natalia has accused Michael and Kristineof moving to Canada with their three sons in 2013, leaving her alone in an apartment in Lafayette, Ind.

However, Kristine said the real reason Natalia stayed in the U.S. was because she was going to school.

"In regards to Lafayette , I was excited about the possibility of her deciding to enroll in school," Kristine explained. "I truly hoped she would become a beautician or if she did well an accountant which was what she stated her intentions of being in Lafayette were. The real facts of her being there were for the same mundane reason many people go to Lafayette which is education... They are not sensational like the word 'abandoned.'"

But fromNatalia's point of view, Kristinehas beenputting on a "mask"to actlike a great mom.

"Kristine said that adopting me was this mission of love and never once did I see any love," Natalia said on the show. "I feel like it was a mission of boosting her ego type of thing.I feel like she just wanted people to be like, ‘Oh my goodness, like she's this amazing person.'"

And as for the debate about her age?The series revealed thatDNA testingdetermined she was about 9 years old at the time of her adoption. Natalia, who is now about 22, called the revelation "so big" for her case.

"Because literally, this has been 13 years of just two people lying their butts off," she said. "They ruined a kid's life. They painted [me] as some big monster."

Andwhen it comes to her relationship with Michael, Natalia has mended the fence. After he apologized on the show for not standing up more for her,Natalia responded, "I forgive you."

E! News has not been able to obtain Natalia's contact information for comment.