A SCOTTISH woman has gone viral over the past few days over claims she faked both a pregnancy and the birth of a baby girl.
Kira Cousins, from Airdrie, was outed across several social media platforms for allegedly pretending that a lifelike baby doll was her daughter, Bonnie Leigh, having posted a series of scans and updates on her personal Facebook page.
Cousins is said to have maintained the ruse for the entire term of her “pregnancy”, receiving substantial cash gifts from family members, a £1000 pram and having a baby shower thrown for her.
What actually happened?
Over the weekend, a woman claiming to be Cousins’s former friend – Neave McRoberts – posted a series of “storytimes” on TikTok, where she said Cousins had worn a prosthetic baby bump and fooled her partner, extended family and friends that a scan had shown the unborn child had a heart defect.
She allegedly shared videos with McRoberts of the baby "kicking" and pictures of Christmas-themed clothes she had purchased.
McRoberts claimed that Cousins did not allow anyone to touch the child after she was “born” after her partner’s mother remarked the baby was “cold”.
Cousins then claimed to have taken the child for a check up at Wishaw General, where she said the doctors told her Bonnie Leigh had “mucus”.
Her partner, Jamie, was reportedly not allowed into any prenatal appointments, nor was he present whilst Cousins claimed to be giving birth. He allegedly demanded a paternity test, to which Cousins objected as a DNA test was “not possible” while the fake child had mucus.
It later emerged that one of her family members had walked into a room where the doll was left unattended and discovered the ruse.
Why has the fake pregnancy story gone viral?
McRoberts posted three separate videos on TikTok – two recounting her experience with the situation, including taking Cousins and the doll, who was swaddled in a blanket and wearing a hat, in her car to introduce the par to Cousins’s work colleagues.
McRoberts then posted a third video, with videos, pictures and message screenshots from throughout the fake pregnancy. All three clips have amassed millions of views each.
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She said that, after a family member had discovered Bonnie Leigh was in fact a doll, Cousins deleted any pictures or videos of the child that she had shared with McRoberts.
She claimed her former friend had used AI to animate the doll for social media videos.
The story has gone viral worldwide, with several parodies cropping up already. One TikTok user posted a video of an M&S mannequin captioned “Bonnie Leigh’s first day of school”.
Has Kira Cousins addressed the fake baby claims?
Cousins allegedly addressed the scandal on Instagram on Tuesday. According to reports from the Daily Record, she wrote in a now-deleted post: “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****d 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."
She also reportedly apologised for painting the would-be father of her child in a negative light through social media posts, and explained that those around her were duped due to the doll’s life-like nature.
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