Kristine Barnett says Natalia Grace is a 'sociopath' who relies on public sympathy to get what she wants

• Kristine Barnett has responded to claims made by Natalia Grace in the new docuseries about her life.
• In "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," Natalia accuses Barnett of physically abusing her.

Kristine Barnett called her former adopted daughter Natalia Grace a "sociopath" in a wide-ranging statement publicly posted to Facebook on Thursday.

Barnett's statement comes after Investigation Discovery followed up its May 2023 docuseries "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace" with a second part, titled "Natalia Speaks," that aired in early January.

In the new episodes, Natalia Grace, who was born in the Ukraine and later adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett in 2010, accuses her former adoptive mother of physical abuse. Natalia also says that the Barnetts legally changed her age to 22 and forced her to live on her own in Indiana, when she was in reality only about nine years old. (The Barnetts were later charged by an Indiana court with neglect of a dependent.)

Kristine Barnett vehemently denied the accusations in her Facebook statement, writing that Natalia "was not abused by anyone in my family… Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was 'beaten' are just plain false. Any discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of normal parenting." She also called the docuseries "highly sensationalized."

Barnett went on to refute Natalia's claims that she was effectively abandoned by her adoptive parents when she moved into an apartment on her own, citing court rulings, and said she tried to help Natalia as best she could before Natalia chose to live with the Mans family.

According to Barnett, through numerous hospital visits and trips to therapy with Natalia, she eventually came to a realization about Natalia's mental state.

"In the end I learned she is a sociopath," Barnett wrote of her former daughter. "I still have not wrapped my head around that diagnosis to this day honestly and I still revert to feeling sympathy for her and hope that she will do well in life."

Barnett went on to write that her former husband also didn't abuse Natalia, and claimed that the deterioration of his mental health after struggling to care for Natalia ultimately led to their divorce.

Overall, Barnett slammed the claims made by Natalia and others in the docuseries, and accused Natalia of using public sympathy to her advantage.

"If there's one thing Natalia is good at it's getting enormous enough amounts of sympathy to cover up her own outrageous behaviors," Kristine wrote, adding: "Natalia will go to great lengths to hurt people but also to gain tremendous amounts of sympathy at the same time."

Barnett concluded her statement by addressing her ex's claim in the docuseries that he and Natalia both had "the same monster," and that it was Barnett.

"Michael Barnett and Natalia Barnett may have the same monster but that monster is not me," she wrote.

Kristine Barnett was charged with neglect, but the charges against her were dropped

Michael and Kristine Barnett were charged with neglect of a dependent in 2019, according to court documents filed in Tippecanoe County in Indiana and cited by Fox 59. Per a 2022 report in the Lafayette Journal & Courier, the couple faced several charges related to neglect, including neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury.

In court, Natalia cited her form of dwarfism as making it difficult for her to live on her own.

Kristine and Michael Barnett both separately turned themselves in in 2019, but neither one faced legal consequences related to the charges. Michael was acquitted in October 2022, and a Tippecanoe County judge signed the order to dismiss the charges against Kristine in March 2023.

According to the the Lafayette Journal & Courier, the prosecution cited "insufficient evidence at trial" as the reason for dropping the charges against Kristine Barnett.

Kristine Barnett, Natalia, and representatives for Investigation Discovery didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.