Kira Cousins, 23, broke her silence and said those who believed her fake baby were stupid. She tricked her then boyfriend Jamie Gardner by pretending a lifelike plastic doll was their newborn daughter, Bonnie-Leigh Joyce. The former supermarket worker from Airdrie sparked global headlines after the Daily Record exposed her deception last October.
Cousins' Remarks on Believers
In her first interview, Cousins accepted what she did was wrong but insisted those who genuinely believed the doll was real should have realized sooner. She said: “If they didn’t, they were stupid.”
Reason for the Deception
Cousins confessed she faked giving birth because she couldn't tell Jamie she had suffered a miscarriage. “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,” she said. She added: “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 disputed her claims, saying he had no recollection of her ever trying to tell him about a miscarriage and declined further comment.
The Web of Lies
In her deception, Cousins posted baby scans, videos of a gender reveal party, and claimed the baby weighed 5lb 4oz. She shared pictures of newborn clothes and gifts, including a £1,000 pram, and what is believed to be AI-generated footage of the 'baby' kicking. She even wrote about hospital appointments and claimed antenatal tests detected a heart defect. The lifelike reborn dolls cost between £30 and £2,000 and some can cry and produce fake tears.
Cousins said she prevented her family from getting close to the doll. “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 claimed Jamie cared for the doll during visits to his parents' home.
Suspicion grew after young relatives traveled with what they thought was a baby and later told their mum it was a doll. Cousins' mother eventually found the doll hidden in her bedroom in October. No one had heard the 'baby' cry, and Cousins even claimed 'Bonnie-Leigh died'.
The Confession
Cousins alleged she finally told Jamie the baby was a doll. She said: “He said, ‘You’re a psycho,’ and walked out. That was the last time we’ve ever saw each other.” However, Jamie disputes that she told him directly, saying he found out the truth not “through her”. Cousins added: “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.”
Jamie previously confirmed he genuinely believed the doll was real and said he thought he had become a father. He stated: “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.”
