A Polish woman who believed she was Madeleine McCann has been claiming to be a missing child since she was a teenager, her friend has said.
Julia Wendell, 21, recently learned she isn't the British toddler after taking a genetics test that showed is almost 100% Polish.
She gained a huge Instagram following after creating the "I am Madeleine McCann" account - and even obtained the seal of approval about getting a DNA test from Maddie's own parents Kate and Gerry.
Julia's mother Dorota Wandelt-Cholewinski is "beside herself", with a family friend saying that she and her father Piotr Cholewinski wants to get their daughter "the help she needs".
She is also distressed by US media personality and psychic Dr Fia Johansson's role in the situation.
The self-professed psychic Dr Fia Johansson involved herself in the case as her spokesperson and took her to the US for her "safety".
However, a former friend of Julia has said she's been questioning her identity since she was a teenager.
The former pal told MailOnline: "What is happening now isn't exactly new. When she was in her mid-teens she started to say that Dorota [Julia's mum] wasn't her mother and that she was really a child who had gone missing in Poland a few years earlier.
"It was so sad to see as you could tell Dorota loved her and she just wanted the best for her – she rebelled and left home and started seeing a guy who was a drug addict and that didn't help her.
"I hadn't seen her for a year or so and then a few months back I heard from friends that Julia was back at it again and saying that she was really Madeleine McCann which everyone knew was ridiculous because Maddie is younger."
The friend said Julia moved to Wroclaw at the age of seven with her mum and had to move schools after struggling to settle in.
Julia gained attention online when she claimed she was missing Madeleine - and even shared her so-called evidence for her theory.
She claimed she looked similar to e-fits predicting what she would look like today.
Julia is understood to have returned to Poland following the definitive DNA results ruling her out as Madeleine, but she hasn't returned to her home with Dorota and Piotr.
Another source close to the family said they are keen for Julia to seek help for her mental health issues, and to stop claiming she isn't related to them.
After hearing of Julia and her claims to be Madeleine, Gerry and Kate released a statement.
Kate and Gerry's representatives said: “There isn’t anything to report at this time. If and when there is, it will come from The Metropolitan Police.”
Madeleine McCann went missing from Praia da Luz on the Algarve on 3 May 2007, and has never been found. Her parents Gerry McCann and Kate McCann have tried for over 15 years to find clues about what happened to their daughter and where she might be, but to no avail.
