The family of the young woman who made headlines after claiming she is the missing child Madeleine McCann has spoken out.
21-year-old Julia Wendell from Poland has caused an uproar after claiming that her resemblance to Madeleine McCann – including her eye defect and similar birthmarks – make her think she could be the child that went missing on May 3, 2007.
McCann, then just three years old, disappeared from her hotel room in Praia da Luz while vacationing in Portugal with her parents. If alive, the girl would now be 19 years old.
While years of investigation brought little success to the baffling case, Julia sparked fresh calls for investigation into McCann’s disappearance after alleging she looks too much like Madeleine for it to be a coincidence.
She has since allegedly been in talks with Madeleine McCann’s parents to undergo DNA testing to determine whether she really is the long-lost child or not.
Meanwhile, Julia’s family spoke out and refuted the young lady’s claims. The parents allegedly also turned down proposals to undergo DNA testing to confirm Julia really is their daughter.
“For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step niece,” the family’s statement read.
“We have memories, we have pictures. Julia also has these photos, because she took them from the family home with the birth certificate, as well as numerous hospital discharges.”
The family went on to suggest that Julia might be using her resemblance to Madeleine to gain popularity.
“Julia once wanted to be a singer, a model. She always wanted to be popular,” they added.
“What’s happening now is she has got 1 million followers. The internet won’t forget, and it’s obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie. We are devastated at this current situation.”
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