A 22-year-old woman at the center of a bizarre “fake baby” scandal has broken her silence, issuing a public apology for deceiving her friends and family. Kira Cousins, from Airdrie, Scotland, allegedly convinced loved ones that a lifelike Reborn doll she named Bonnie-Leigh Joyce was her real baby, even wearing a prosthetic pregnancy bump for months before pretending to give birth alone.
In a now-deleted Instagram story posted Tuesday, Kira admitted, “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.”
She went on to say, “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.”
Kira also apologized directly to her family and friends, acknowledging the emotional toll of her deception. “You didn’t deserve to be lied to like that. 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,” she wrote. She also expressed regret for implicating others, particularly the man she claimed was the baby’s father, stating, “I made you out to be horrible people when really, I was the one in the wrong. Completely.”
The Reborn doll she used is a type of lifelike baby replica, capable of moving its limbs and mimicking real baby behaviors like feeding, urinating, or defecating, which contributed to the convincing illusion. Leading up to the staged “birth,” Kira posted scans, videos of her gender reveal party, and photos of baby clothes and gifts, including a £1,000 pram and car seat. She even claimed ante-natal tests had detected a heart defect in her supposed baby.
A friend of the family described Kira as a habitual liar, saying, “I have known her for 10 years and she has lied about all sorts.” Reborn dolls like the one Kira used typically range from £30 to £2,000 and are designed to look strikingly realistic.
