Woman who used a plastic doll to fake being a new mother says deception was because she couldn't tell boyfriend about miscarriage

Published: 17:59, 26 July 2026 | Updated: 18:04, 26 July 2026 The woman who used a plastic doll to fake being a new mother has insisted she only resorted to the deception because she could not reveal she suffered a miscarriage. Kira Cousins received global attention after it was revealed she tricked her boyfriend and family into believing she had been pregnant and given birth. The 23-year-old former supermarket worker used a prosthetic to pretend her pregnancy was advancing and bought a life-like doll to celebrate the arrival of her ‘daughter’, Bonnie-Leigh Joyce. Ms Cousins, from Airdrie, has accepted what she did was wrong but insisted she invented the ruse because she was unable to reveal to then partner Jamie Gardner she had suffered a miscarriage. She told the Sunday Mail: ‘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.’ Ms Cousins made headlines around the world when the story emerged last October, and she found herself engulfed in a social media storm because of it. Kira Cousins, who faked a pregnancy and claimed the baby died shortly after birth Kira Cousins used a plastic doll to fake being a new mother She is said to have worn an artificial baby bump for months, shared baby scan images and even held a lavish gender reveal party where the couple celebrated when it was claimed they were having a daughter. Ms Cousins also posted photographs of baby clothes and gifts she had received. She told the newspaper she allowed Mr Gardner to believe she was still pregnant, and her deception quickly spiralled out of control because she was worried about telling him the truth. Ms Cousins said: ‘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.’ Mr Gardner told the newspaper he disputed her claims, and said he had no recollection of her ever attempting to tell him she had suffered a miscarriage. 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.’ Ms Cousins claimed to have given birth to a baby weighing 5lb 4oz, but it was soon exposed to be a doll after suspicions were raised about why it was not heard to cry. She said: ‘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”. The couple held a lavish gender reveal party where they celebrated when it was claimed they were having a daughter ‘When the kids 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.’ Ms Cousins said when she was finally forced to tell him the baby was a life-like plastic doll, he said “you’re a psycho” and walked out. ‘That was the last time we ever saw each other,’ she added. Mr Gardner disputed it was her who told him and that when he found out the truth it was not ‘through her’. Ms Cousins also claimed those who believed she had given birth to a baby should have realised earlier that it was actually a doll, and said: ‘If they didn’t, they were stupid.’