Natalia Grace has allegedly dealt with several intense moments that she claimed to have left her with severe anxiety, but the Ukraine native said that listening to Taylor Swift’s music has helped.
“There’s actually a lot of songs by Taylor that are very relatable,” Natalia, 21, said during an interview with People published on Saturday, January 4. “She’s such a comfort to me. I play music through my headphones and it just kind of helps my nerves.”
Taylor, 35, isn’t the only artist on Natalia’s playlist, though. She’s a fan of Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande and singer Jessica Baio. Natalia revealed that Jessica’s song “Love’s Not Pain” is one of her favorite songs. With the use of headphones, the music helps calm Natalia down after being awoken by nightmares.
“I had to grow up so fast. I learned things that I should have been learning at an older age, not so early in life,” Natalia explained to the outlet. “But then Baio sings, ‘We only saw hearts breakin,’ nothin’ like movie scenes, but you’re always showin’ me.’ It reminds me that life is not a movie, but there [are] people that can show you that love isn’t always pain.”
Natalia also opened up about her anxiety and how she was using a combination of medication and therapy to overcome her trauma. She told People that she suffers from ADHD, generalized and situational anxiety and PTSD.
“I have anxiety all the way to the roof,” Natalia confessed. “It’s definitely hard to deal with. I’m the type of person that hides it until I get too overwhelmed, and it explodes.”
Natalia became the focus of media attention when her second set of adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, claimed that she lied about being a 6-year-old child when they adopted her. The former couple said they began to question Natalia’s age when they discovered she had pubic hair and was menstruating. In 2012, Kristine and Michael petitioned the courts to legally have her date of birth changed from 2003 to 1989.
Natalia claimed Kristine “coached her to lie” about her age and alleged that Natalia had attempted to murder Kristine by putting poison in her coffee and dragging her toward a live electric fence.
“I feel like I was brainwashed by the Barnetts. Kristine coached me to lie about my age and say I tried to murder my parents. Why would you do that to your child?” Natalia said. “I feel like I have to defend myself and be like, ‘Do I look like somebody that could push someone twice my size into a fence? Do I look like I could even grip a knife?’”
Kristine denied the abuse claims in a message she posted via Facebook in January 2024.
“[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,” Kristine wrote. “I sat through numerous hospital visits and therapy visits trying to understand and help Natalia and thinking we might be able to find the root of the issue. In the end, I learned she is a sociopath.”
Natalia’s notoriety eventually began to wear on her and she confessed that she “really disliked being the girl who was re-aged and lived in her own apartment.”
“I didn’t understand why I was alone. I just knew I had this instinct in me to push and survive. All I was told was, ‘You’re 22 now. Whenever somebody asks you what your age is, you say you’re 22 and you tried to murder your family.’ I was taught to lie,” she said.
