Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann shares regret
A woman who went viral on social media after publicly posting that she believed she could be Madeleine McCann, and who has since received DNA results disproving this, says she never "meant to hurt anyone" with her claims.
Julia Wandelt made headlines over her posts and later appeared on popular TV shows including Dr Phil in the United States, again saying that she believed she could be the missing British toddler, who disappeared from a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
In a number of posts, Wandelt detailed all the reasons she believed she could be McCann, including that she has the same rare eye abnormality (something known as a coloboma and makes the iris appear keyhole shaped).
However, she has since apologised to the McCanns after a DNA test showed she is 100% Polish.
Wandelt told BBC podcast Why Do You Hate Me: "I apologised to the McCanns because I don't know them personally. I don't know if they were watching this journey, if they were sad or whatever. And I just wanted to say sorry."
Reflecting on her decision to go public with her claims, she added: "I really wanted to know who I am."
Wandelt also spoke of patchy childhood memories, which prompted her to wonder if she had been adopted as a child. She said asking her family for evidence to disprove her fears proved fruitless.
Speaking after Wandelt received the DNA results, private detective and celebrity medium Dr Fia Johansson, who was granted power of attorney over Wandelt after she took her plea to the US, said in a post on Instagram: "Although it is impossible to tell for sure without the parents DNA results on either side, the test results speak to the origins of Julia's roots."
Elsewhere in the post, Dr Johansson defended Wandelt's claim, stressing that she "truly believed what she was saying".
"With so many questions about her childhood, it is easy to understand where she was coming from," the expert added. "This story is much more complicated than a simple girl from a small town in Poland making a claim to get attention."
The notoriety Wandelt's claims brought her saw the now 22-year-old receive death threats and abuse. One person claimed she had even put a €30,000 (£25,700) bounty on Wandelt’s head.
At the time of her BBC interview, Wandelt had returned to Poland, where she now lives. Her Instagram account, @iammadeleinemccan, has been deactivated.
Why Do You Hate Me? airs on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesdays from 31 January, and will be available on BBC Sounds.
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Amber O’Connor is Cosmopolitan UK’s junior features writer, who covers everything from breaking news, women’s safety and real life features to fitness, travel, and cultural trends. She works on first-person features, reports, and long reads, plus the hottest stories of the day (if you want to know about the latest wellness craze or TikTok trends, she’s your girl).
Amber has previously worked as a reporter and a lifestyle writer, with her work appearing in numerous publications, including The Mirror, Red Magazine, Evening Standard, Indy100, and Yahoo News. When she’s not working her way through her TBR list, Amber loves dancing, running, and going on adventures with her dog.
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