'New mom' admits she faked pregnancy and used doll to fool family into believing she'd had baby
Kira Cousins, 22, has been accused of attempting to convince her loved ones and friends into believing her plastic Reborn doll was her daughter, who she named Bonnie-Leigh Joyce
A woman at the center of a fake baby scandal has addressed the incident that stunned social media, saying: "I'm so sorry." Kira Cousins, 22, has been accused of attempting to convince her loved ones and friends into believing her plastic Reborn doll was her daughter, who she named Bonnie-Leigh Joyce. She is also alleged to have worn a prosthetic bump for months before pretending to give birth alone.
But opening up on the incident on Tuesday morning, she wrote: "I'm so sorry." In the 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***** 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, in Scotland, also apologized to all of her loved-ones.
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 then stood up for those who believed the doll was genuine. She continued: "In everyone else's defense, 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 had shared images of baby scans and clips of her elaborate gender reveal celebration in the weeks before the alleged "birth".
She also posted footage showing the "baby" moving in her belly, numerous photos of newborn clothing, plus gifts from family and friends including a £1,000 stroller and car seat.
She additionally published updates about medical visits and falsely claimed prenatal screenings had detected a heart condition in her fake baby.
A family friend of Kira's, who wished to remain anonymous, branded Kira a "liar," stating: "I have known her for 10 years and she has lied about all sorts. ".
It's unclear exactly when and how Kira's partner realised he'd been lied to, but Kira's friend Neave McRobert has opened up about how she finally learned the truth. In a recent video statement, Neave revealed: "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."
Reborn dolls, like the one Kira utilized, cost between £30 and £2,000 and are crafted to resemble actual infants.