"I'm so sorry" Fake baby scandal 'mum' addresses scam that shocked social media
Kira Cousins has addressed the scam that shocked social media, confirming that she "faked scans, messages, a whole birth story, and acted like a doll was a real baby".
The "mum" at the centre of the fake baby scandal has shared a series of posts addressing the scam that shocked social media.
Kira Cousins, 22, has been accused of duping those closest to her into believing her plastic Reborn doll was her tiny daughter, named Bonnie-Leigh Joyce, after wearing a prosthetic bump for months before pretending to give birth alone.
Opening on the hoax on Tuesday morning, Kira wrote: "I'm so sorry."
In a now deleted Instagram story, she said: "I wasn't pregnant. There was no baby. I made it up and kept it going way too far.
"I faked scans, messages, a whole birth story, and acted like a doll was a real baby.
"I know how bad it is, I f****d up. I just didn't know how to stop once I started.
"I don't have a proper excuse. I wasn't in a good headspace, but that doesn't make what I did okay.
"I know this is gonna stick with me for a long time and that I've probably lost friends I'll never get back.
"I'm trying to figure myself out and get help because this version of me isn't someone I want to be.
"I know I've ruined a lot of trust and that "sorry" won't fix everything but it's all I can say right now."
Kira, from Airdrie, went on to apologise to all of her loved-ones who she lied to.
She continued: "I'm so sorry. You were there for me through it all. You cried happy tears, picked me up, brought me places, believed everything I said.
"You didn't deserve to be lied to like that. None of you did. Everyone who came to the gender reveal, all the people who gave me gifts or support - I f****d up and I hurt a lot of people.
"And to everyone I made look bad along the way - the dad and his family especially - I'm sorry.
"I made you out to be horrible people when really, I was the one in the wrong. Completely."
Kira went on to defend people who were led to believe the doll was real.
She added: "In everyone else's defence, the doll could move. You could change the facial features, arms and legs.
"You could feed the doll making it "pee or poo".
"So when no one is close to the doll, it does look real. No one was looking at my "baby" expecting it to be a doll."
Kira, who said she would "explain her actions" and "make apologies" on an Instagram live at 4pm, claimed to have given birth to her "daughter", weighing 5lbs 4oz, earlier this month on October 10.
She posted images of baby scans and videos of her lavish gender reveal party in the weeks leading up to the "birth". Alongside this, she uploaded footage of the "baby" kicking in her tummy, a series of pictures of newborn clothes and items loved ones bought, such as a £1,000 pram and a car seat.
She even posted about hospital appointments and claimed ante-natal tests had picked up a heart defect in her baby.
The "mum" was then outed online as a "serial liar" after the baby's dad found out that what he thought was his six-day-old baby was actually a doll and Kira's mother found the prop in her bedroom.
In screenshots of messages reported to have been sent by Kira shortly afterwards, she appears to tell the man, who she claimed was Bonnie-Leigh's dad, that their baby had died.
Kira Cousins refused to comment when first contacted by the Record on Monday, but shared an online post confirming her action shortly after we spoke to her.
We previously reported that pal Neave McRobert noted that those closest to Kira first became suspicious after no one had heard the "baby" cry in a video statement filmed on October 16.
She also told of how Kira refused to let anyone touch her as she claimed Bonnie-Leigh had recently visited Wishaw General Hospital for checks due to ill-health.
Neave said: "I noticed Kira had deleted every picture and video of Bonnie-Leigh from our chats.
"I asked her why and she ignored me. I then asked the baby's dad "Is this a doll?” and he said, "Yes, it’s a doll".
"She even went to the extreme of texting him saying, "Bonnie-Leigh died".
"I can’t imagine how he must feel right now and everyone else who has been lied to for months and months.
“Everybody believed her. She had a gender reveal, she posted scan photos and even said the baby had a hole in its heart.
"Then she texted me saying the baby was born. We were all so happy.”
Screenshots of Neave's conversations with Kira about Bonnie-Leigh were shared online, alongside others showing the doll in a series of now-deleted posts from the "new mum".
Neave also spoke about how she met "baby" Bonnie-Leigh when she took her former friend and the doll to a supermarket.
She continued: "I feel worse because I’m one of the few people to meet this "baby".
"I feel totally used and drained. Everyone got conned by her."
Neave's video had thousands of interactions with people sharing comments of horror and disgust.
Reborn dolls, like the one used in the shocking scam, retail between £30 to £2000 and are designed to look like real-life babies. Some versions of the dolls even make a crying sound and some have fake tears. Others even produce wet pee nappies.
A friend of Kira's family, who asked not to be named, also told the Record of her shock at the news but said she suspected the pregnancy was fake all along.
Describing Kira as a "serial liar", she said: "I have known her for 10 years and she has lied about all sorts.
"She came into my house twice before this doll appeared and me and daughter noticed straight away that her bump wasn't real. It was all lumpy.
"She was wearing very thin pyjamas and you could see the straps on her back holding it on.
"When she posted the picture of her supposed baby, it knew looked like a doll but I would have been slaughtered if I had spoken out about all this and said I didn't think any of it was real.
"People would have thought I was crazy."
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