The 21-year-old woman who believes she is Madeleine McCann, Julia Wendell, has recently gone public with her claims and has been making headlines ever since.
She gained attention in February after posting what she claimed was “evidence” on Instagram that she is the girl who went missing in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Since then, Wendell has appeared on the US TV talk show Dr Phil, and speculation has arisen about whether she has made any money since going public with her claim.
Dr Fia Johansson, a private investigator helping Julia throughout the process, has now answered those questions.
In an Instagram post, Johansson said: “Hello guys – about Dr Phil if we made money… no. We didn’t actually get a dime to be involved with Dr Phil’s show. We didn’t receive anything, Julia [didn’t] receive anything, Julia just went on the stage and was herself and told the truth. A lot of you ask if Julia made some sort of money by going to any type of press, Radar [RadarOnline] for example, all other things… no. We did not pay them anything, they did not pay us anything.”
Wendell claims that she is the missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished on a family holiday in Portugal in May 2007, at the age of three.
The girl’s disappearance has been widely covered by the media over the years, and the case has yet to be solved.
Wendell believes that she was abducted from her parents, and taken to Poland, where she grew up.
She has said that she does not remember large chunks of her childhood, or the moment she was supposedly taken.
She has also claimed she was abused by a German paedophile who looks like someone who was once a suspect in Maddie’s disappearance.
Wendell’s claims have been disputed by Polish police, and her parents have claimed that she is unwell.
They have refused to take a DNA test to prove her claims. Wendell has been undergoing her own DNA test to confirm whether she is indeed Madeleine McCann.
Dr Phil has been following her story and has invited her onto his show to discuss her claims.
Following her appearance on the show, Wendell has been the subject of much speculation, particularly about whether she has made any money from her claims.
Dr Johansson’s statement clarifies that Wendell has not made any money from her appearances in the media. Wendell has said that she is pursuing her claims because she wants to find out the truth about her identity, and to reunite with her biological family.
