A 22-year-old woman from Scotland is at the centre of a controversy after she allegedly faked a pregnancy, staged a baby shower, and later presented a lifelike doll as her newborn daughter before claiming the “baby” had died.
According to a report by The Mirror, the woman, identified as Kira Cousins, is accused of wearing a prosthetic baby bump, sharing scan photos and videos online, and even holding a gender reveal before announcing the “birth” of a girl she called Bonnie-Leigh Joyce. She reportedly posted that the baby weighed over 5 pounds and had been born earlier this month.
How did Kira fool everyone with fake pregnancy?
Over several weeks, Kira allegedly documented hospital appointments and told family and friends that the baby had a heart defect detected during antenatal tests. Loved ones also purchased newborn items for her, including a pram and car seat, reportedly worth 1,000 pounds.
However, her deception came to light after Kira’s mother found the doll in her bedroom. Screenshots of messages reported to have been sent by the 22-year-old shortly afterwards appear to show her telling the man she claimed was the baby’s father that the “child” had died.
What did Kira say about the incident?
Now, in a statement posted on TikTok, Kira admitted the baby was a doll. “I was in bed when my mother came into my room and found it to be a doll. Prior to this, I had been keeping myself away from literally everyone. The next thing I know, I was confronted by all the family. Don’t for one minute think they let me away with this, they haven’t. And none of them knew. Neither did the dad and his family,” she wrote.
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Friends call her a ‘serial liar’
Kira’s friend Neave McRobert said suspicions grew because the baby never cried and Kira refused to let anyone hold her, claiming the infant had just been at the hospital. “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,” Neave said.
Another friend of Kira’s said she believed the pregnancy was fake from the start, claiming that the 22-year-old had worn a visibly uneven prosthetic bump held on by straps. 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,” the friend said.
Notably, reborn dolls, the type believed to have been used by Kira, are hyper-realistic models often purchased by collectors or used for therapeutic care. They cost between 30 pounds to 2,000 pounds, depending on their features.
