The mother of a Polish woman who thought she was Madeleine McCann has broken her silence.
Over the past few months, 21-year-old Julia Wandelt generated interest on social media after creating an Instagram account - which amassed millions of followers before being shut down - where she continuously claimed that she believed she was Madeleine McCann.
She continuously posted comparison images of herself and Madeleine, as she felt that she bore a striking resemblance to the missing toddler.
On May 3, 2007, three-year-old Madeleine mysteriously disappeared from a vacation apartment in Portugal while her parents, Kate, and Gerry McCann, were at a nearby restaurant. The case gripped the entire world, with Portuguese and British law enforcement setting up expansive search parties and several appeals in the following years. However, there has been no trace of Maddie's whereabouts.
After her Instagram account went viral, Julia ended up temporarily relocating to the US, where a private investigator-slash-psychic - Dr. Fia Johansson - took her under her wing and advocated on her behalf. Both Julia and Dr. Johansson had hit out at Julia's mom, who they claimed has been hesitant to discuss Julia's childhood with her.
During an interview with Dr. Phil, Julia was questioned about her parents, especially her mother as Dr. Phil asked: "Your mother - the people that raised you - maintains that she is your biological mother, that she gave birth to you, right?"
"She said, yes. My mother, when I asked her for DNA [test] - before this whole situation - when I asked her for some pictures from her pregnancy, some childhood pictures, like me at three or four, she refused and didn't want to," Julia answered.
Julia ended up taking a DNA test that proved once and for all that she was not Madeleine McCann.
Now, a family friend of Julia's mother Dorota Wandelt-Cholewinski, and stepfather Piotr Cholewinski, has come out to speak on the matter. They revealed to The Daily Mail that Dorota and Piotr are upset by both Julia's and Dr. Johansson's bold claims and accusations, especially as Julia was pushed to do a number of high-profile appearances.
"Julia is a very disturbed young woman. Her mother Dorota is just beside herself, she can't believe how this has snowballed, Julia is very sick and Dorota just wants her to get the help she needs. It was clear from the beginning that Julia was not Madeleine and Dorota is furious that this so-called doctor exploited the illness of a very young woman," the family friend told the outlet.
"Dorota is mortified that all this publicity has caused fresh grief for the McCann family," they added. According to the outlet, Julia was fortunate enough to receive a private school education, as well as live in an upper-class suburb of Wroclaw, Poland.
A school friend of Julia then revealed: "What is happening now isn't exactly new. When [Julia] was in her mid-teens she started to say that Dorota wasn't her mother and that she was really a child who had gone missing in Poland a few years earlier.
"It was so sad to see as you could tell Dorota loved her and she just wanted the best for her - she rebelled and left home and started seeing a guy who was a drug addict and that didn't help her."
As for the Madeleine McCann situation, hopefully the result of Julia's DNA test will allow the McCann family to finally find some peace after a tumultuous several months.
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