Who Is Natalia Grace's Boyfriend Neil? All About Their Virtual Connection — and How He Helped the Orphan Escape Her Adoptive Home

Natalia Grace says she has her boyfriend Neil to thank for helping her get out of her previous home.

After being abandoned by her adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, in 2013, the Ukrainian orphan was formally adopted by the Mans family in 2023. However, in the final minutes of the January 2024 Investigation Discovery docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, Natalia’s family was growing wary of her behavior — and she was plotting her escape after allegedly experiencing a decade of abuse at their hands.

It was her boyfriend Neil that ultimately helped her get out of the house — though the two had never met in person. Natalia and Neil had first connected over social media, she told PEOPLE in January 2025.

“At first it was just like a small message and then I grew feelings and he grew feelings,” Natalia said. “I just opened up my heart. It felt really good.”

Now, her story is continuing in the new season of her docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter, airing on ID and Max on Jan. 6 and 7.

So who is Natalia Grace’s boyfriend? Here’s everything to know about Neil and his relationship with the reality TV star.

He and Natalia met online

In January 2024, Natalia told PEOPLE she and Neil met through social media and were communicating virtually when they began a relationship, as Neil was based in the U.K.

The two started communicating while Natalia lived with the Mans family, who she’d been with for a decade (they adopted her in 2023). However, as she neared her 21st birthday, tensions between her and the Manses grew as she alleged they clashed over her independence and romantic life.

When her father, Antwon Mans, discovered her messages with Neil on Facebook — which included sexually explicit videos and photos — he took away her phone and forbade her from continuing talking to Neil.

“Something ain’t right with Natalia,” he said in the docuseries. “She’s got this dude online. He turned her against us. She’s ready to go to hell with gasoline panties on.”

Neil helped Natalia escape the Manses’ home

Soon after Neil began talking to Natalia, he reached out to the producers of the docuseries and informed them he felt Natalia was in danger in the Mans home and needed to leave. At the same time, he reached out to the DePaul family, who had originally wanted to adopt Natalia in 2009.

“At first, I was like, ‘I don’t know who you are,’ and I just thought it was just some person, and so I ignored Neil,” Nicole DePaul, the matriarch, told PEOPLE. “He finally sent me some proof that he was really him — then I believed that I was talking to an actual person that knew Natalia.”

“It was probably a month of communicating with him daily and he was communicating with her — then I knew we had to do something,” she added.

Neil also claimed he reached out to the police to intervene at the Manses’ home, though PEOPLE could not confirm with authorities that the Manses were investigated.

In December 2023, Neil was able to coordinate with the DePauls, and they helped Natalia escape overnight, driving down from upstate New York to Nashville, Tenn., where the family lived, to pick her up.

“Hey babe, I’m so, so thankful you found me,” Natalia told her boyfriend in a phone conversation from the DePauls’ car shown in the docuseries. “I love you so much.”

Natalia’s current family doesn’t always trust Neil

Though Natalia continues to see Neil, Nicole expressed that they don’t entirely trust him — and neither did the Mans family.

“The first thing that popped in my head was [Neil] was either going to ask for a ransom — because it’s not a secret that, you know, we got a little bit of money — or he’s going to get [Natalia] over there and traffic her,” Cynthia Mans, Natalia’s former adoptive mother, said in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter.

He appears in Natalia’s docuseries — but with a blurred out face

Though Neil makes an appearance in The Final Chapter, his face is concealed in the docuseries. According to Natalia, the two recently met in person as of January 2025 and she has fallen in love.

“I’m a girl who loves kids and wants to get married and have children,” she said. “But one of my biggest things is not making promises I can’t keep. I’ve had too many promises that have been broken. I’m just ready to move on.”