One scene in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace Season 3 is “uncomfortable” to watch, but followers of the ongoing case have explained why this was included – and it’s related to Cynthia and Antwon Mans.
Unlike the previous seasons of the documentary series, Season 3 – subtitled The Final Chapter – centers on allegations against Natalia’s new adoptive parents, the Manses, while detailing her escape enacted by the DePauls.
Nicole DePaul, her husband Vince, and their daughter Mackenize brought Natalia to their home at the end of 2023. For the past year, they’ve been offering her the support she needs after her UK-based boyfriend Neil reached out asking for help.
The DePauls and Natalia detail their struggles in finding their feet with the new setup, with Nicole describing a particularly uncomfortable situation. Warning: the following describes explicit content.
Natalia Grace Season 3 scene “removed power” from Cynthia and Antwon Mans
In The Curious Case of Natalia Grace Season 3 Episode 3, Nicole describes hearing Natalia having “loud” phone sex with Neil in her home.
Initially, she thought her husband Vince was watching adult movies and told him to turn it down, but when she realized it was Natalia, she actually sound-proofed her bedroom so she’d have more privacy.
Taking to Reddit, one viewer wrote, “Was anyone else kind of creeped out that they included the comments about Natalia video chatting with her BF and Nicole being able to hear her because of how loud she was?”
However, others have pointed out the reason for this: to take the power out of any potential to blackmail Natalia to ensure she didn’t badmouth the Manses or cut them off as her payees.
Up until this moment, the DePauls grapple with the fact that Natalia continues to protect the Manses even after they’ve rescued her.
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She promises to keep Cynthia and Antwon as her payees, meaning they receive her disability allowance, and it’s revealed that the Manses used her Dr. Phil earnings – a reported $300,000 – to buy themselves a house without Natalia’s name on it.
While under their roof, Cynthia and Antwon discovered Natalia had been talking to Neil about her situation and her desires to leave, and so they cut off her access to social media.
They told producers that Natalia had deleted the messages, but legal analyst, Beth Karas, says in the docu-series, “Neil told us that Cynthia and Antwon still have those messages, so what could be in those messages that has Natalia so scared?”
Although the phone sex comments may seem inappropriate and unnecessary, viewers have argued that they were included to normalize her behavior and take the power out of what could potentially be used by the Manses to blackmail Natalia.
“It made me uncomfortable for sure,” wrote one Redditor. “I thought it was to remove whatever power the Mans had over Natalia.”
“That was my take on it as well,” another agreed, while a third added, “I think it was fine. Nicole made it clear that sex is normal and who cares, let her do her thing. It took the power from the Mans and honestly showed that they’re the creeps that would publicly shame her for that.”
A fourth commented, “Sex is a natural part of life and I think Nicole is normalizing it for her which is what good parenting looks like. As others have mentioned, it could also be taking away the shame that her previous family has over her.”
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace Seasons 1-3 are streaming on Max now. Find out if there will be a Season 4, what Kristine Barnett posted ahead of The Final Chapter’s release, and more true crime docs streaming this month.