The last chapter leaves Natalia

Second half of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The last chapter delve into the “hell loop” that legal expert Beth Karas describes that Natalia has repeatedly found herself in as tensions with the DePaul family, who helped her escape the home of her adoptive family, Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans, came to the fore.

Unlike the abuse Natalia experienced with her first adoptive family, Michael and Kristine Barnett, and allegedly the Manses as well, Vincent and Nicole DePaul have created a supportive environment for Natalia to thrive in since moving her from Nashville, Tennessee, to upstate New York to live with them. But Natalia’s perceived loyalty to Antwon and Cynthia has left the DePauls frustrated as their efforts to help her live an independent life as a young woman with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita are derailed as she continues to give the Manses access to money that she needs for health care, publicly denying any allegations of physical or financial abuse, while privately alluding to behavior to the contrary.

Here are six revelations from parts three and four, which ended The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter on Tuesday.

Natalia says abuse allegations are false

Episode three begins with the DePaul family reacting to Robert Madewell’s interview from episode two, where he claimed that Antwon and Cynthia abused his son as well as Natalia. Although Natalia refuses to watch the footage, when Nicole questions her about the abuse allegations, she flatly denies them and accuses Madewell of spreading false information. “It’s all a damn lie,” says Natalia in the doctor. “The guy with the little boy, he has a vendetta because we wouldn’t babysit him anymore because he wouldn’t pay us.”

Natalia initially told producers she didn’t want to talk about the abuse allegations when they asked in episode two. When they later explicitly ask Natalia in episode three, “Did you ever get hit?” she replies, “Nothing crazy, like maybe a bang on the butt or something.” According to Nicole, Natalia’s story changes depending on who’s around, and says that when it comes to the Manses, she talks about them one way on camera and very differently behind the scenes. “Every now and then she’ll bring up little things about the abuse that took place at the Manses,” says Nicole. “Natalia has admitted to me that she has been bullied by both Cynthia and Antwon,” adding, “a bully is like a beating.” Nicole’s daughter Mackenzie also supported this claim, saying: “(Natalia) mentioned look – afraid of – Antwon type look. Hitting anyone with a disability is already messed up, let alone a child, let alone someone with such severe dwarfism.”

As for the general allegations of abuse, Sarah R. Sommer, director of communications for the mayor’s office in Crawfordsville, Indiana, said THR in an email, “After speaking with our police chief, I can confirm that there is currently no ongoing investigation involving Antwon and Cynthia Mans or their residence.”

Nicole thinks Natalia is being blackmailed

Trying to understand why Natalia might be protecting Antwon and Cynthia Mans, Nicole comes to the conclusion that her former adoptive family is blackmailing Natalia and that “it must be something sexual,” as she says on camera. Nicole then says that she overheard Natalia having video/phone sex with her boyfriend Neil, and that Natalia also told her that she had previously sexted an ex-boyfriend. This leads Nicole to believe that the same behavior was probably going on in the Manses’ home, and given their strict religious beliefs, this in part spurred the confused phone call they made to the producers stating that something was not right with Natalia . She also claims that Natalia’s sister is in possession of the sexually explicit messages and/or images and is holding them over Natalia’s head along with Manses.

Natalia never fully confirms Nicole’s claims, but she expresses concern about potential backlash for interviews of people who speak ill of Manses. “I feel like with those videos they’re going to start a goddamn war… My parents are going to come out and say shit… and it hurts because I never in my life thought they would do that against me, but I’m really, really sure they would,” she says. “I’m worried about my relationship with Neil. I just want to live my life. I want to be with the person I love, and I feel like they’re really going to put something out there.”

This fear appears to lead Natalia to make a deal with Manses to pay her $25,000 of the money she has earned over the years from public appearances and accept that she has no right to Manses’ home or any income that is a result of its potential sale in the future, even though it was purchased with Natalia’s money. Karas claims that Natalia’s lifetime earnings are likely around the $200,000 mark, suggesting that Natalia is receiving only a fraction of what she is owed and is being financially exploited by the Manses. Natalia also agrees to allow Cynthia to remain her SSI payee, telling her, “You’ve been my payee for almost 11 years, so I trust you.” Antwon then jumps into the conversation to tell Natalia that she’s only questioning their guardianship now because of Neil. Cynthia states, “My request is that we don’t say anything about him. You make sure you don’t go in there and don’t say anything about us.”

Vincent threatened to leave his family over Natalia’s problems with the Manses

Concerns for Natalia’s well-being lead Nicole to confront Antwon and Cynthia over the phone about what she perceives as their mishandling of not only Natalia’s money, but her general well-being by discouraging her from having surgery and not seeing that she received proper medical care that could improve her quality of life. The explosion happens in Natalia’s presence, and overwhelmed by being stuck in the middle, she decides she wants to move back in with her adoptive parents. But after a phone call with Neil, who advises her against doing so, she excitedly tells Nicole that she has decided to stay in her home.

Natalia’s wavering attitude towards the Manses begins to affect Nicole and her relationship with her husband and daughter. “I don’t want her to go back to the Manses because they’re violent, but I also don’t want her to tear my family apart,” Nicole says, acknowledging that she and Mackenzie have become more distant since Natalia moved in. Mackenzie admits to her mother that she often stays away from home on purpose, saying, “(Natalia) makes the environment a bit stressful and now it seems like there’s always some kind of drama.” In a confessional, she later adds: “My mother prioritized saving Natalia over her marriage.” Nicole says that she and Vincent argue daily about how to deal with Natalia, and that after 23 years of marriage he threatened to divorce. “He said, and he’s never said this to me before in our relationship, ‘I have to tell you, Nic, I’m thinking of leaving and never coming back because you didn’t listen to me when I said that I really didn’t want this to happen,’ says Nicole through tears. “To add insult to injury (Natalia) turns me on and makes my household completely chaotic, and it’s sad.”

At the beginning of episode four, Vince admits that he was ready to walk away because of the disruption Natalia has been in his once peaceful home. But he states: “In the end, I decided to stay because I love my wife and I want to stand behind her.”

Natalia has reactive attachment disorder

After the fallout between Nicole and the Manses, Natalia admits to harboring a grudge against Nicole and says she feels like she crossed a line between her and her parents. She also admits that she knows she needs therapy, but she is not open to any mental health services that the producers of the series have made available to her. Nicole, on the other hand, visits her friend Melissa Misegadis, a rehabilitation psychologist, to discuss Natalia’s past diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and how to better manage their relationship. “Reactive attachment disorder is what happens when children don’t bond with their caregivers,” explains Misegadis. “People with unaddressed trauma like Natalia has, these are behaviors that come from years of rejection and trauma.”

When asked by producers about her RAD diagnosis, Natalia, who was adopted from an orphanage in Ukraine, states, “I still don’t understand the full length of Reactive Attachment Disorder, but I do know that one thing for me is that I don’t like being left behind. I feel like people just want to walk out of my life all the time.” She explains that that belief has caused her to put up an emotional wall, adding: “Personally, I can’t handle someone leaving me anymore. I can’t handle worrying about someone and then they go away.”

The Manses have left Natalia with a big tax bill

Despite the rifts that getting involved in Natalia’s affairs has caused, Nicole continues to try to fix things between Natalia and the Manses, including a $104,000 income tax bill that Cynthia and Antwon have stuck with Natalia, even though they originally said they would help her pay taxes on the money Natalia never personally had access to.

“We told her we’d go into it because it was our money, but we never said we paid it all. That devil is a liar,” Cynthia tells Nicole and Vincent when they call her about The 1099 form.

The Manses later double down on their stance, telling Natalia that they will not help her pay the tax bill at all, nor will they send her their bank statements showing that Natalia’s SSI benefits were deposited into their personal accounts and not hers, because that she could in order to remain eligible to receive benefits each month. Natalia then says that Cynthia told her, “Maybe this is God’s way of saying you can move to Britain”

Natalia shows up on the track for a real happy ending this time

The Manses’ response to Natalia’s plea for help keeping her SSI benefits appears to be the incident that finally opens her eyes to their predatory practices. In fact, after declaring that she is completely done with the Manses, she takes a hint from her adoptive mother and plans a successful trip to Britain to finally meet Neil in person. “I don’t really talk to my parents,” she says in an update five months after the tax debacle. “I live my life. They live theirs.”

Nicole and Vincent are also retaining a lawyer to help Natalia get her money back from the Manses and to protect her from any legal problems that may arise from how they have managed her finances over the years. Producer Shannon Evangelista told that too THR in a previous interview that Natalia may be considering new steps to address her mental and physical health. “I don’t think anyone fully understands Natalia’s situation better than Nicole, who has the same exact rare form of dwarfism,” Evangelista said. “So one of the things that Nicole feels very positive about is that Natalia is starting to open up different surgical options for herself. She feels that if Natalia can change her attitude about it, she can change his attitude to everything else.”

ID President Jason Sarlanis added THR on how the series ends, “All I’m going to say is that I haven’t gotten a phone call, so I can promise you that so far it’s not like the last time.”

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The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter is streaming on Max.