A Polish woman who claims to be Madeleine McCann has said that she wants to ‘help people who have experienced all types of trauma’.
Julia Wendell, 21, appeared on Dr Phil on Monday night and claimed she is Madeleine, who vanished during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 aged three.
Wendell said she started suspecting in June last year, without having any proof to reinforce her claims.
Wendell, who is now based in a Los Angeles safehouse with private investigator Dr. Fia Johannson after leaving Wroclaw to address unresolved questions, told RadarOnline.com that she aims to help others who have experienced abuse after confronting the man who allegedly molested her as a child back in Poland.
Wendell said there can be a light at the end of the tunnel for others who have endured pain and mistreatment.
Julia Wendell, 21, has appeared on the US show Dr Phil where she said she started suspecting she was the missing British girl in June last year, without providing any proof to back up her claims
Wendell, who is now based in a Los Angeles safehouse with private investigator Dr. Fia Johannson after leaving Wroclaw to find answers, told RadarOnline.com that she aims to help others who have experienced abuse after confronting the man who allegedly molested her as a child back in Poland
‘Even when I didn’t have so much money, I bought food for people who needed food and I found a job for a person who is homeless, so I always try to help people. But now, I think I can really help,’ Wendell said.
‘My goal is to help children and teenagers and adult people who experienced trauma … not only sexually abusing, but any type of violence in their childhood [and] in their life,’ she said.
Wendell added: ‘As I said earlier, you don’t have to feel ashamed. It’s nothing shameful. You can’t be ashamed. Your abuser should be ashamed.’
Wendell does not have any DNA evidence to support her claims that she is Madeleine and her parents from Poland have also said that she is fabricated the story.
Wendell said she had submitted DNA tests and the results have not come back yet. Her parents have said that ‘it’s obvious she isn’t’ Madeleine.
Wendell is an aspiring musician and model. She attracted attention on the internet when she claimed she was the missing girl.
Madeleine, then 3, (pictured) vanished during a family holiday to Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007, which would now make her around 19, two years younger than Wendell is – yet another reason to dismiss her unsupported claims
Dr Phil asked his guest about her parents, who maintain they are her biological parents. She claimed her mother ‘didn’t want to show me any proof’
Wendell (pictured) claims she started suspecting she was the missing British girl in June last year, without providing any evidence to support her claims
Wendall (right) has been assisted by Dr Fia Johansson (left), a private investigator and psychic medium, in submitting DNA samples
She made claims about her identity on her now-deactivated Instagram account which had the username @IAmMadeleineMcCann.
When Wendell appeared on Dr Phil on Monday night she said: ‘I believe I am Madeleine McCann,’ as he probed her about her non-existent evidence.
Madeleine disappeared during a family holiday to Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 aged three, which would now make her around 19, two years younger than Wendell is.
In December, it was reported that German police could this year charge suspect Christian Brueckner, 45, who is a convicted paedophile from Germany and the main suspect in the ongoing investigation.
When Wendell appeared on Dr Phil, he showed Wendell side-by-side pictures of her and Madeleine, which the Polish woman had used to back up her theory on social media.
Wendell claimed that she had many similarities with Madeleine, and that the rare eye defect she allegedly shares with Madeleine had ‘faded’ after Dr Phil questioned her about it.
She also said she had a similar laugh and dimple to the missing girl.
Wendell claimed that her mother would always change the subject when Wendell brought up her birth.
She claimed that photos of her early years and her birth certificate were never shown to her. She also noted that her Polish health pass used to track health related issues like vaccinations had six blank pages at the start.
These claims were quickly refuted by her Polish parents, who said in a statement: ‘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.’
They added that they always tried to understand Julia and her ‘lies and manipulations’.
They said: ‘The internet won’t forget, and it’s obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie. We are devastated at this current situation.’
Dr Phil said to Wendell: ‘She [Wendell’s mother] says she went to the hospital and gave birth to you,’ to which the 21-year-old replied: ‘She said, yes.
‘When I asked her for DNA before this whole situation, when I asked her for some pictures from her pregnancy, some childhood pictures… she refused.’
She was asked why she did not send her DNA samples to the police – since her ancestry could be verified once and for all with the test.
Wendell claimed that she tried contacting the British and Polish embassies when she first thought she could be Madeleine but nobody would listen to her. She persists that she would take any test needed to prove her claims.
A private detective tied to Madeleine’s case has said Wendell’s claims ‘do not add up’.
‘Without knowing the details in depth, it does not add up to me,’ investigator Francisco Marco told the Spanish newspaper El Independiente. ‘I don’t think it’s her.’
Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal in 2007
Wendell has been assisted by Dr Fia Johansson, a private investigator and psychic medium, in submitting DNA samples.
Dr Johansson, 40, who has relocated Wendell from Poland to the United States after she received death threats, has said: ‘If the results come back that she’s British or from that area then we are going to continue our investigation into Madeleine McCann and communicate with the detectives in Portugal.’
The psychic medium claimed Wendell was trafficked from Poland from another country by an international sex group, without providing evidence.
‘We are still conducting an investigation but Julia is definitely not the biological daughter of her parents in Poland,’ Dr Johansson claimed, citing no evidence.
Dr Johansson, born in Stockholm, Sweden, described herself as a doctor of psychology and human behaviour on Instagram.
