Natalia Grace: It’s time to re-write my story

Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with a rare dwarfism condition, has recently expressed her excitement over cover shoot with PEOPLE magazine.

Natalia opened up in the final episode of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter, which is the third and final season and premiered on January 6 and 7.

“This feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said the 21-year-old.

Since its debut in 2023, the first two seasons of the docuseries followed Natalia’s legal battle with her former adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, and her relationship with her next adoptive family, Cynthia and Antwon Mans.

However, the final episodes showed how Natalia ended up living with the DePaul family in New York.

“I’m really just trying to take control of my life and stop letting other people control it. I feel like I’m becoming this new person,” stated Natalia.

Who is Natalia Grace

Natalia, who is basically a Ukrainian, was reportedly adopted by American family Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010.

In the docuseries, Michael shared that Natalia’s Ukrainian birth certificate listed her birth date as September 4, 2003, which meant she was six-year-old at the time of adoption.

However, her adoptive parents started to question Natalia’s age, which she denied later.

Natalia Grace’s age issue

Natalia’s age has been a controversial focal point of the docuseries.

In previous documentary titled Natalia Speaks, a DNA test suggested that her age was “closer to 22,” which made her approximately seven years old at the time of her adoption.

The Barnetts alleged that Natalia was lying about her age and also displayed sociopathic behaviour. However, second set of her adopted parents Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans revealed that Natalia did not show sociopathic behaviour while living in their home.

Six months after the adoption, however, the Manses gave a call to docuseries producers, which was included in the season finale of Natalia Speaks and in the first episode of The Final Chapter.

Natalia Grace’s first-ever interview after docuseries

Natalia opened up about surviving years of trauma and what she wanted from her life now.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Natalia said, “Now I want to take control of my life, grab a hold of my life and steer it where I want to go.”

Natalia shared that she had an issue as the show depicted her as a “murder massacre” or “sociopath”.

She clarified, “I’m just a normal girl with dreams, like being on the cover of PEOPLE.”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I just feel like people being able to see the story and encourage them to know that they can do whatever they want when they put their minds to it,” pointed out Natalia.

She added, “It's been an amazing feeling to know that my story — it inspired people. It's time to re-write my story.”