I wasn't pregnant, I made it up, hurt a lot of people and I'm sorry

THE "mum" at the centre of a fake baby scandal has apologised to friends and family for duping them with a lifelike doll.

- BY BILLY GADDI

Kira Cousins, 22, fooled loved ones into believing the plastic Reborn doll was her tiny daughter, named Bonnie-Leigh Joyce, after wearing a prosthetic bump for months before pretending to give birth alone.

Opening up about the hoax yesterday, Kira wrote: "I'm so sorry." In a now deleted Instagram story, she said: "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'd started.

"I don't have a proper excuse. I wasn't in a good headspace, but that doesn't make what I did OK.

"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."

Kira, from Airdrie, went on to apologise to all of her loved ones who she lied to.

She continued: "I'm so sorry. You were there for me through it all.

"You cried happy tears, picked me up, brought me places, believed everything I said.