As we know, DNA testing has revolutionized searches for birth relatives, often in ways unexpected. In this case, then-22-year-old mechancial engineer Jenna Barnes, born Maria Mashinka in the Russian industrial city of Nizhniy Novgorod and placed for adoption as an infant, discovered her half-sister is Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova. The article is fascinating because… Natalia Vodianova!–but also because of its specific details: the story of the girls’ mother’s life, the lives of the girls themselves, and the emotions around everyone’s reunion. (I’m personally happy to read that Jenna’s adoptive parents were “wholly supportive.”)
Says Natalia Vodianova about her long-lost sister Jenna: “I felt she has always been part of my life, even if I didn’t know her. But it was in a quite painful way, always wondering if she was okay. I just feel that we are catching up very quickly. Feels like family. There’s something beautiful about genetics and our genes. Love comes very naturally.”