A woman at the heart of a fake baby deception has spoken publicly about the scandal for the first time. Kira Cousins deceived her then boyfriend and relatives into thinking she was expecting, then passed off a plastic doll as her newborn infant, reports the Daily Record.
The 23 year old former supermarket employee generated headlines across the globe after her fabrication came to light last October. Now in her first ever interview, Kira reveals why she pretended to give birth to a daughter called Bonnie-Leigh Joyce, while former partner Jamie Gardner has confirmed he genuinely thought the doll was real.
Interview with Kira Cousins
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail, Kira, from Airdrie, acknowledged what she did was wrong but maintained she was unable to inform Jamie she was no longer pregnant following a miscarriage. She said: "I couldn't tell him. I did lose a child. I'd tried to tell him when I first lost the child. I still have messages on my phone which said, 'Jamie, we need to sit down,' but I couldn't speak to him about anything.
"I can hold my hands up and say, 'No, I shouldn't have used a doll', but at the same time, nobody knows what our relationship was like."
Jamie Gardner's response
Jamie described how he thought he'd become a father and wouldn't have remained in the relationship had he realised that Bonnie-Leigh Joyce was a doll. He said: "If I had ever known that was really a doll, I'd have run off sooner. I've not got a clue what really happened to be honest."
Kira wore a prosthetic baby bump for months, circulated ultrasound scan photographs and even organised an extravagant gender reveal party where the then couple are pictured celebrating upon learning they were expecting a daughter.
Throughout a deception spanning several months, she also shared images of baby clothing and presents, including a £1,000 pram and car seat, along with what is thought to have been AI-generated video footage depicting the "baby" moving inside her womb. She documented hospital visits and alleged antenatal examinations had identified a heart defect.
Kira explains her fear
Kira stated she allowed Jamie to continue believing she was still pregnant and her elaborate deception rapidly escalated beyond her control because she was apprehensive about revealing the truth. She explained: "I think there was a bit of fear and shock as well. I'd gone through that myself. How do you tell someone that you've already gone through all that by yourself?'
"Before all this, we had also fallen out and it was really bad. He hadn't wanted the baby at first and I think that didn't help. He had gone from that to, 'Here we go, we are actually going to have it,' and then to wanting it."
Jamie stated he did not wish to comment. He refuted Kira's assertions and maintained he has no memory of her ever attempting to inform him she had experienced a miscarriage.
Kira subsequently alleged she had delivered a baby weighing 5lb 4oz. She claimed she managed to sustain the pretence by preventing her own unsuspecting family from seeing the doll. She stated: "All of my family had been asking, 'What is going on?' Is she depressed?' because I wouldn't let anyone near that doll, only me and Jamie."
She maintains Jamie had looked after what he understood was their newborn during trips to his parents' home. However days before her deception was revealed she had worried the reality about their daughter was about to emerge when young family members raised doubts.
They described how they suspected that the "baby" they had travelled with during a car journey was in fact a doll. It is understood it was Kira's mother who ultimately uncovered the lifelike doll concealed in her bedroom in October.
It was also reported that those nearest to Kira grew suspicious after nobody had heard the "baby" cry. Kira also purportedly even went to the extreme lengths of claiming 'Bonnie-Leigh died'.
Nevertheless Kira maintained: "He took that doll, without me, to his mum and dad's house, which is about a 20-minute drive. Everyone in that house saw it and none of them twigged.
"It all came out days after we had picked Jamie's relatives up from a birthday party. The doll had been in the back of the car. I had been thinking, 'How do I get out of this now?'.
"When the boys got out of the car, they said to their mum, 'That was a doll.' No-one said to Jamie at that point, no-one had asked him what was going on."
Revealing the truth
Kira claimed she was ultimately compelled to reveal to Jamie the baby was actually a lifelike plastic doll days afterwards. Recounting the moment she finally revealed the truth to Jamie, she said: "He said, 'You're a psycho,' and walked out. That was the last time we've ever saw each other."
Nevertheless, Jamie contests that it was Kira who told him directly, stating that when he discovered the truth it wasn't "through her".
Kira maintained that those who believed she had given birth to a real baby ought to have realised sooner that her daughter was in fact a doll. She said: "If they didn't, they were stupid."
Kira claims she has spoken to Jamie by telephone since the scandal broke. She said: "We have spoken quite a few times since, but it's weird. I can't even understand what we are because we don't hate each other, but we don't love each other.
"When I first got back in contact with Jamie after this, one of the first things I asked him was if he really knew. People think there is one picture of Jamie with the doll and everyone thinks he held it once, but he didn't. I've got hundreds more.
"No one was near that doll except me and Jamie. So if anyone should have known, it was Jamie."
Kira also alleges that she pulled out of a planned television documentary about the scandal after growing concerned regarding the manner in which it would be edited.
Jamie, who declined to participate in the programme, added: "I want to get as far away from her as possible. I just want to move on with my life."
