The Polish woman who believes she is Madeleine McCann has denied her parents’ claims she stole her birth certificate and childhood photos to hide thaht she is not the missing British girl.
Julia Faustyna, 21, doubled down on her widespread claim she could be Madeleine — who disappeared aged 3 during a 2007 family vaction — during an appearance on Dr Phil on Monday after her parents accused her of fueling a web of “lies and manipulation.”
“I believe I am Madeleine McCann,” she said.
In a written statement aired during Dr Phil’s show, Faustyna’s parents —who insist they are the woman’s biological kin — said it was “obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie.”
“For us as a family it is obvious Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step niece. We have memories, we have pictures,” they said.
“Julia also has these photos because she took them from the family home with the birth certificate, as well as numerous hospital discharges.”
Asked about her parents’ allegations, Faustyna said: “I never saw my birth certificate and I didn’t take pictures.”
Faustyna, who first made the Madeleine claim on Instagram and TikTok, has previously said she has never seen a photo of her mother pregnant and that she has very few childhood memories.
She told Dr Phil her mom would always change the subject whenever she questioned her about her ancestry or birth.
Faustyna added that the first six pages of her Polish child health book, which is given to every child, was mysteriously blank.
Fia Johansson, a private investigator and medium who is working with Faustyna, told Dr Phil her team had driven to the hospital where the woman’s mom said she gave birth to her — but claims they failed to find any evidence.
“We didn’t find anything and they said ‘we don’t have any here’. So we went to another hospital they said the same thing; ‘we don’t have any here’. So we go to the third one and they said ‘we don’t have any’,” Johansson said.
Faustyna, who is also listed is some reports as Julia Wendell or Julia Wandelt, said she is currently awaiting ancestry and DNA results to confirm her true identity.
Asked what she would do if the results prove she isn’t Madeleine, Faustyna said she wouldn’t want any contact with her Polish family.
“If she is my mother, I don’t want to have contact with her that’s all, but I believe she isn’t my mother,” she said.
Since airing her claims on social media earlier this year, Faustyna has tried to prove her case by pointing out physical similarities between herself and Madeleine — including a brown smudge that appears on each girl’s right eye.
Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, haven’t yet commented on Faustyna’s claims but reportedly agreed to a DNA test.
Their daughter vanished from her bed while their family was vacationing in Portugal in May 2007.
