Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald - Sherri Papini in Person. Liar or Victim? Our Juicy Questions are Answered

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Yes, the real Sherri Papini is here in person! She sat across from me and answered every single one of my questions - questions that were not answered on any of the other docs nor in her previous inte...rviews. You know I got the Juicy Scoop and I can’t wait to get your opinion after you listen, is she a liar or a victim? -For a limited time get 40% off your first box PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to https://Hungryroot.com/juicyscoop  and use code juicyscoop.  -Find exactly what you’re booking for. Booking.com, Booking.YEAH! Book today on the site or in the app. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Booking.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/9l268n36 #CashAppPod *Referral Reward Disclaimer: As a Cash App partner, I may earn a commission when you sign up for a Cash App account -Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to https://www.honeylove.com/JUICY  #honeylovepod -Click this link https://bit.ly/3HDwJKc to start your free trial with Wix  Stand Up Tickets and info: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://heathermcdonald.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald and get extra juice on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/JuicyScoopPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/juicyscoop ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop Juicy Scoop Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://juicyscoopshop.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Me on Social Media: Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www/instagram.com/heathermcdonald ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@heathermcdonald⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Heather McDonald has got the Juicy Scoop. When you're on the road, when you're on the go, Juicy Scoop is the show to know. She talks Hollywood tales, her real life Mr. Safe and Serial Data, and Serial Sister. You'll be addicted and addicted fast to the number one tabloid real life podcast. Listen in, listen up. Woo woo. Heather McDonald. Hello and welcome to Juicy Scoop. Today's episode might be my favorite.
Starting point is 00:00:36 It is the juiciest interview I've ever had the privilege to do because it's one story that I have covered for almost 10 years because November 2nd of 2016 Sherry Papini went missing While she was on a run in her neighborhood in Redding, California To remind you guys she was gone for 22 days When she was found on the side of the road where her captor had left her. She was very beaten up. She said two women had kidnapped her and kept her captive. And for six years, that was the story the people at home believed. The FBI then brought her in one last time and said, we know it's this man named James who you had had a previous relationship with that you were with. And it went on from
Starting point is 00:01:36 there that it came out, it was a hoax. James said that she told him to get her and that she was a friend and that he agreed to physically abuse her and leave her marked to go with the story that she was kidnapped. She went to prison because she lied to the government. And there have been several shows that have been written about her. Her husband and she divorced Keith. And the latest one is on Max called, that is Sherry Papini getting caught in a lie, which I've seen all of it. She is here. She answers every question that I asked. And I know there's been other interviews that you may have seen with her, but this is like no other and I really get into the Juicy Scoop. So now with my interview with Sherry Papini.
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Starting point is 00:05:03 I have been dreaming about this since a very long time. I have Sherry Papini here. As you guys know, I've covered her story for a long time and I gave an intro before you came. So people are up to date on where you are at with everything. You have a four part documentary out on Max, which I watched all of it. And also you have a book that is available right now for purchase, Sherry Papini Doesn't Exist, where you really get into a lot that hasn't been covered, though a lot has been covered
Starting point is 00:05:42 between two different documentaries. We're just gonna go through the doc, you've got Sherry Papini, Cotton Lye. Welcome to Juicy Scoop, say hello. Thank you for having me. I'm really happy to be here, thank you. And then also The Perfect Wife, which was on Hulu. And also The Lifetime Movie with Jamie King,
Starting point is 00:06:04 who I know know played you. He's lovely. He's really lovely. Which you played you in the Lifetime movie. And we'll get into all those things. But you know, what made you decide after you did your time, you've been out for how long? Cause I knew you were 10 months in prison for lying about the, to the FBI about who in fact kidnapped you
Starting point is 00:06:34 when you were released. And you've been out for how long? A year, a little over a year. Yeah, I got out in October over past October. And then, so you've only been out for a year from doing your 10 months in the prison in Victorville. But, so where did it come about where you're like, my husband has done a documentary on Hulu,
Starting point is 00:07:01 they did a scripted show on Lifetime. How did this other documentary come, the four part one on Max, and that you agreed to do it? Well, I had no idea HBO was going to pick it up or Warner Brothers was going to pick it up. So I was incredibly touched to be reached to be a subject in the documentary. And when the Hulu documentary began, I was in prison. So I didn't have the opportunity to have a voice then. And as you can see, like we just saw,
Starting point is 00:07:35 so many stories have ran about me without me. So it's, there's their narrative, other narratives, so many other ways, twists and turns and spins and salaciousness and clickbait and all of these stories have ran without me, about me. And for a number of years, I had this purposeful silence where I was not coming out because I was just too afraid to say that I was having an emotional affair, particularly while I was still married to my ex-husband. And I'm not afraid to say that anymore. So now it's like, I'm not married anymore. I'm free from everything. I'm free to have my voice. I'm free to tell my story. And now it's time. It's time to be able to participate
Starting point is 00:08:19 in where I've been exploited. The industry has used my story for so long without me. And I think it's only reasonable for me to start getting involved with the narrative because I do have my side of the story that tracks very simply. I mean, so this is what's crazy. So I followed it from hearing about an attractive young blonde mom went for her jog and is missing.
Starting point is 00:08:52 So you know, the first thoughts that people have is, it's the husband. He's lying that he came home and that you were missing. And then it was, could it be because she looks young that they thought you were a teenager, which would be a higher commodity to steal and sex traffic? Then there were things in the Reddit worlds saying like, there was maybe involved in some type of a drug dealing thing,
Starting point is 00:09:24 and their family's involved in drug dealing, and therefore she's being kidnapped as like a ransom thing. And so then when we get to the place of you've been found the day before Thanksgiving and she looks very different, your husband said, but we're so happy to have her back. We later see that you've been bruised and your nose is cut, your hair is cut, and you've been branded and all these things.
Starting point is 00:09:56 What's weird is, what was always strange as someone that watched it was they weren't telling us anything. We did see that you said these two women, these two Latina looking women were the ones who kidnapped me, which right away did get people thinking this is really strange. Just because women in general are not known as kidnappers. And if they were kidnapping you to traff traffic you, my first thought was why would they hurt her looks? Why would they cut her blonde hair? Why would you do that? You wouldn't do that. So, but then it was like the FBI, whatever, the news was so quiet about it for so long because obviously they were trying to find out the truth.
Starting point is 00:10:51 My first question, I have so many questions. So why didn't you say that it was a... Did you decide not to just say it was a random guy? Obviously, you weren't going to say it was this guy that you had one time. Were you engaged to James? No. Oh, that you one time dated him. That's funny. That's a detail that's in there, but we were never engaged. So you dated the guy, James, originally from what age?
Starting point is 00:11:28 It was early 2000s. So you were how old? Just give me eight. 20s. Oh, early 20s. Yeah. And you dated him for how long? Not very long, for maybe a year, a little bit more than a year, something like that.
Starting point is 00:11:37 And so you say in the documentary, Keith is, though you guys look perfect, you're very beautiful, you're very beautiful. He's very attractive. You know, you weren't having this perfect relationship. And he was controlling and you connect with this old boyfriend because somebody in his family had passed. And so you start having an emotional affair, which people do.
Starting point is 00:12:03 You know, our technology today makes that easy to do, to have a connection, whether you meet them back Facebook or whatever, or you guys got burner phones. Did you think, I'm going to say it's women because sexual stuff happened with him and you didn't want to even point towards a male? Like why? I'm just thinking why wouldn't you just say it was some random guy? Right. That was unacceptable to Keith Vipini. So I was incredibly terrified of Keith finding out that it was a male. I mean, you see the evidence that says that I was hiding guys' names under women's names, which demonstrates
Starting point is 00:12:45 just the level of fear that I had with Keith. So I just couldn't. I couldn't say that it was a man. It was safer for me to have said women with what I was going to experience at home than it would have been with a man because Keith was not interested in what happened to my body or what happened during captivity. It's this piece of the entire fabrication of our perfect marriage would fall apart if there was any cheating. Even the emotional affair that I had that was quite innocent, it wasn't like we were sexting each other or inappropriate text messages. But the second that it involved another male or there was even a hint of cheating, my entire home life would have fallen apart. When did he first show you this crazy jealous side of himself before you were married or after? Did it come get worse with time or what was it?
Starting point is 00:13:41 It got worse and worse over time. When we experienced that love bombing phase and we experienced the phase where you're getting to know each other and he had me on the hook right away and then we had kids. And when life shifted, when I lost my job, AT&T had a merger and then I was laid off from my job and I became a stay at home mom. I was really like an employee of his. Like I went from having status and having shared responsibility into a relationship to really this like under inflated role in our home. And it really significantly shifted the dynamic and the energy and the roles. And that's when everything really started to go very, very wrong.
Starting point is 00:14:26 There's one part that I remember after you were being questioned, you were home. And you were going through the day of what happened. And you said, well, I called Keith to see if he would come home for lunch, meaning sex. Was that true? Were you still trying to have sex with him and keep this relationship going?
Starting point is 00:14:48 And I mean, that's pretty, to me that would say, this marriage is pretty great if you're like, hey, come on by for lunch cutie. Not when it's more about servitude. Okay. So when it's a requirement for your husband, it's a completely different atmosphere there. So for me, James was really agitated on November 2nd in 2016. And so the dynamic of the communication was very different that day. He was really pushy. He was really
Starting point is 00:15:22 agitated. He was really, he like, it frightened me. So for me, if I could get Keith to come home, then I could text James and say, sorry, my husband's home, I can't meet up with you now. So I was trying to get that buffer. So that morning, James, in the documentary you say, I had decided like, I got to stop this communication with James. Yeah. And why did you decide that? Did you think he was getting weird or what?
Starting point is 00:15:50 It was getting very serious. First of all, Keith caught me and that's where the burner phones came into play. So Keith had caught me text messaging him and I was trying to end it. How did he catch you? He got a text message. Like he caught a flash of a text message and it was very clear that it was not a female that I was texting. And so I tried to end things with James and James just didn't want that, which is why the burner phones came into effect. What would he say? Would you and James only text or you talk on the phone too? Occasionally we would talk, sure. And what did
Starting point is 00:16:21 he say when you're like, this has to end? Oh, he didn't want that. It was all about like, well, let's find a way to keep talking. Let's find a way to keep engaging. And I guess that was a warning sign that I missed, unfortunately, but I was also so desperate for having a connection with someone at the time. And I really wasn't very well either. I didn't, I was always externally searching for validation and didn't really have the greater understanding
Starting point is 00:16:49 to have internal validation like I do now. But he really, he didn't want it to end. So it was the say, I'll send you a burner phone, which he did, and then keep it even more secret. Okay. So you said that morning you were going to end, like, walk me through the day. Okay, so Keith goes to work, kids are in their preschool. Then what happens? James is getting really agitated and ordinarily he knew that I was concealing the phone from Keith.
Starting point is 00:17:25 So time would go by, you know, I would have a while to respond and things like that. And he was just like, every couple of seconds, what are you doing? Where are you at? What are you doing? Because he was already in town. And for me, it was like, this is too much. It's really intense. When he said, I'm coming to town from Costa Mesa, had you said, okay, I'll meet you for lunch or anything? Yeah. That was the plan. So you were going to meet him and have like lunch or something or get together.
Starting point is 00:17:53 In a public place with a friend there. There was a whole plan because I knew that- Who is the friend? Could the friend like say that they knew about it? Well, unfortunately, the way that I was going to set it up is we were going to, I wasn't like telling her. I was gonna set it up so that James would come in and I'd be like, oh, look, there's my friend James
Starting point is 00:18:16 over there and kind of set it up. She wasn't, you know, I was trying to conceal all the details of that. But there was a whole plan. Like it was supposed to be at Cattleman's on Hilltop Drive in Reading. And I had a whole thing worked out with him because I knew that I was going to be breaking it off and saying goodbye and that it was going to be the end of everything. But it was going to be in a public place. It was not going to be private.
Starting point is 00:18:42 So that was going to happen. So you ask Keith, do you want to come home for lunch? Oh, I was really, he was so aggressive in the way that he was texting. No, James. Yeah, James was super aggressive. So I just, you know, I had that feeling of like, this is a bit much and I was starting to feel really uneasy and really scared. And so I was trying to get Keith to come home because if he came home, then I could really simply text James, oh, you know, Keith is here and maybe possibly get him to back down
Starting point is 00:19:11 a little bit. And then hope that he just went home and then be done. Okay. So either went home or delayed it or something. Yeah. Okay. So then you go for your run. I'm texting him and saying like, I just need a minute. I'm just going to,
Starting point is 00:19:30 Oh, I'll let you know when I'm back from my run was what the text said. And what time was the run? Sometime in the morning. I don't, I can't recall the exact time, but it was after I dropped the kids off at daycare. So I presume it's sometime after nine, somewhere around there. And so then we see in the doc that you get to the place where at this point you're like traumatized by how you got in the car. And so you don't really remember if you went in the car, you know,
Starting point is 00:19:59 or if you grabbed you, or if you went willingly thinking you'll go get a coffee. I mean, for me as a viewer, as I watched it, this is what I thought happened. I think she saw him and again in like, I'll let him down easy, I thought maybe you did get in the car willingly, whether you remember it or not. And then it was too late. That's a possibility. So like I say in the documentary and in the book too, either way is reasonable. So if I could possibly remember, I would absolutely tell you, I wish I did remember. Is it, can it be concluded that I got into the car? Sure. Can it be concluded
Starting point is 00:20:44 that I didn't get in the car? Sure. Either one, I can tell you with certainty, there was no plan to go to Southern California. I would have never left Redding. That I know for sure. So even if I volunteered to get in the car or I told him I would get in the car, I would have never left him. Ever.
Starting point is 00:21:01 I mean, I knew he was there and I knew I was going to see him. So it's reasonable to say that, that I would willingly get in the car. Not leave though. Never leave. Never leave Reading. So now from where he is to Reading, that's like a nine hour drive or something? So you say that the next thing you remember is getting out of the car and he had to help you walk. And is that because you think maybe he gave you something or because like you were so crunched up in the car that your legs just had trouble walking? I've never done drugs. I've never even been drunk before. So I was definitely under the
Starting point is 00:21:38 influence of something. What it is, I have no idea. But it was almost like my feet couldn't make contact with the pavement. Like I put a foot down and I was almost like my feet couldn't make contact with the pavement. Like I put a foot down and I wouldn't feel, like I couldn't feel the pavement underneath me. And it was like my body was like misfiring. Like I just didn't have all of my faculties and it was, it was really fuzzy. And then what's the next thing you remember waking up in this dark room or? No. So he brought me in and he sat me on the couch and I was just kind of curled up into a ball on the couch.
Starting point is 00:22:10 And then there was an exchange between he and I and like he wanted me to come over and kiss him and I said no and I was just really scared, totally terrified. Because now you must be thinking, holy fuck, I'm with this guy. There's no way I'm going to be able to explain this to Keith. At this point, there's no way to explain why you're with your ex-boyfriend. And when he saw the original text, did he know it was James this guy or did he just think it was a random guy when he knew that you were texting a dude? He knew it was him. He's known the entire time.
Starting point is 00:22:45 I mean, he even told law enforcement in the very beginning about James and why law enforcement chose to go to Michigan instead of Southern California. What would happen in Michigan? It was another contact of mine. They went and investigated any contact that they could. Oh, somebody else that you'd kind of flirted with? Yeah. I wouldn't even say flirting.
Starting point is 00:23:04 It was just someone I was talking to. Was that the doctor or of flirted with? Yeah. I wouldn't even say flirting. It was just someone that I was talking to. Was that the doctor or something? Is he a doctor? I don't know. There was some story that somebody, like I read something like, oh, it was because this, she was, you know, again, talking to somebody and that, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:20 didn't go anywhere. Oh my God, I was so miserable. Yeah. Yeah. It's so, you know, it's, and after everything had happened, after I was released from the hotel, Did they look at, wait, did they look at the Michigan doctor guy after you were released or while you were missing? While I was missing. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:23:39 Yeah, so they could have kind of, he was on the list. James was on his list of, uh, law enforcement's list of people to look into, they just didn't. Oh, they didn't? Okay, so he wanted you to get romantic with him and now you're like. No, I was terrified. Like that was, I was planning on meeting with him, sure.
Starting point is 00:23:58 But Southern California, no, I was just really scared. So then what happens? So then I say no. And the next thing that I remember is waking up in the bedroom not fully dressed. Okay. And in that bedroom, had he already put the wood or the boarding up of the windows?
Starting point is 00:24:21 I don't know if it was there prior to when I woke up because it's not like he gave me a tour of the house or anything. I don't really remember a whole lot. But when you woke up if it was there prior to when I woke up because I it's not like he gave me a tour of the house or anything I don't really remember a whole lot. When you woke up it was there? It was boards on the windows. Okay. Mm-hmm. So you don't know if he did it afterwards because he felt you had rejected him or if he had planned to kidnap you? Yeah. I don't so. James said he put the boards on the windows because I wanted it dark. That is the part that I did not believe. Because when I covered, I was like,
Starting point is 00:24:52 when we realize it's not these women, it's this guy that she actually knows, and heard all these things that he said, oh, I was just being a friend and she asked me to do all these things. I'm like, wait a minute. Okay. The only person that would maybe do this is somebody that I think would be deemed
Starting point is 00:25:16 clinically mentally, disably, unintelligent, like the lowest IQ person that might be like, what? What do I do? And I was like, but wait, this guy has a job. Or someone that suffers from sexual sadism. Right. So, but I'm saying if we're to believe him, that a friend says, will you hit me and make me look kidnapped? And you're like, okay, I'll hit you.
Starting point is 00:25:40 And now I'm going to go off to work while you sit in this dark room. I was like, if he's capable of paying for an apartment, house thing, whatever it was, and having a regular job, then he can't be at an IQ of 70. So that's where I was always like, this is so weird. And also being that you are an attractive person and that you've always been stylish and do your hair and wear cute outfits and keep up, I just didn't believe that if you were faking your own thing
Starting point is 00:26:15 that you would want to destroy your looks as like a typical vein, we have curling irons, both of us, person, you just wouldn't, I would not be willing to do this, just, and I always was like, why are people not seeing the female side of this? And then in watching the doc, I was like, oh, because the main detective, you know, is a guy.
Starting point is 00:26:39 He plays softball with my ex-husband. Prior to the missing? And after. They were friends. The detective? They all play at big league dreams together. Okay, so let's go back. So I also didn't believe that either. That someone that is active like you, that would go running, if you're planning on your own kidnapping, that you, even if you're planning, you'd be like, okay, curtains, something. You would want to have some fresh light in. I'm like, it doesn't make any sense that you would choose to go, let me stay in this dark room by myself for eight hours.
Starting point is 00:27:21 What was his job? Where was he going every day? I have no idea. I think it had something to do with hockey. Was he a hockey player at one time? So he played hockey. Like professional level, yeah. So the mark on your nose that you have when you come home, which they featured in the cover of the Lifetime movie with Jamie King,
Starting point is 00:27:42 he said that you asked him to hurl a hockey puck at your face. No, so he says that he held out the hockey stick and I ran into it. So imagine, if you will, if you don't mind, you're standing over there where those little mints are and you're holding a hockey stick out and I'm starting from maybe where your door is there standing over there where those little mints are. And you're holding a hockey stick out.
Starting point is 00:28:05 And I'm starting from maybe where your door is there and I have to run. How many steps do you think I would get in? Maybe two. And I would have to effectively hit myself. So I'd be ramming my face into something hoping that it hits square on my nose. How did you get that? He smashed it into my face. His lie that he held it up and I ran into it is absurd.
Starting point is 00:28:31 How far into the 22 days did he do that? Towards the end. So just to talk about the disorientation that I was under. So when we think about solitary confinement, they don't do that with prisoners even in the same way that they used to. So imagine how many times you look at your watch during the day.
Starting point is 00:28:52 So it's so disorienting. So it's difficult for me to conclude which day or where it was. I can say that it was towards the end of the 22 days of captivity, but which day it was, it's kind of hard to, like I had trouble connecting with whether it was morning or night, half of the time. Right, I can imagine, yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:12 So, I understand how like when I say what day was it, I get that you can't really tell me that, but I'm kind of like in the scope of things, so. It wasn't in the very beginning, that the injury to my nose wasn't in the very beginning that the injury to my nose wasn't in the very beginning. I was towards the end because you were fighting or he was getting pissed at you or what was happening. No, it was just there. James has a proclivity for violence and violent acts gets him off. So particular types of ways that he would harm me. I learned pretty quickly if he
Starting point is 00:29:47 could harm me, if he harmed me in certain ways, he would get off and that would keep him out of me so I wouldn't get pregnant. So there was this difficulty that I had. So he's like jerking off on you. Yeah. Okay. All right, I didn't understand that from the doc. Now that's clear. That makes more sense now. I mean, we have a responsibility in a documentary. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:14 Now also that you had lost a lot of weight and you are normally a very thin person. So what was the deal for the food? He wasn't feeding you or? I had to earn it. And how would you earn it? Through the sex stuff? Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:30:30 And so some days you'd just be like, I don't want to eat that? I mean, it's a difficult choice to choose between starvation and disturbing things. And also that's where he was hiding the drugs most of the time, so it was like I had to make a choice. Like the drugs to put you out or? Oh. It's impossible.
Starting point is 00:30:49 Do you know what he was giving you then? No. Like a pill or what was it? I've tried to get my records from law enforcement and from the hospital. They won't give them to me. We've tried everything. We've tried to get them during the doc. We tried to get them personally. I've had lawyers try to get them. They won't give me my records. I can remember what they said when I was in the hospital after, like they tried to take blood, but I was so dehydrated, nothing came out. So I wasn't able to give them a blood sample. They had a urine sample and trace drugs were found
Starting point is 00:31:22 in it, but they won't give me that report. I heard what they said, but if I what I've learned in this entire experience is if I don't have backup, I can't say it. So I can tell you what they said, but they won't give me the report of the conclusion. And so what did they say? Just that you were so dehydrated or that? Oh no, there was drugs that were found in my system, but they won't give me the report. They won't tell you what it was. I heard what it was.
Starting point is 00:31:48 They said it, but I don't have the proof. So if I tell you, are you even going to believe that is the problem. Well, I am. Just tell me what it was. It was a combination of morphine, diphenhydramine, prescription strength codeine, and something else that I can't remember.
Starting point is 00:32:01 It's some kind of long date rape drug name that I can't remember. The GHB thing or something like that? It was a really long name I can't remember, it's some kind of long date rape drug name that I can't remember. The GHB thing or something like that? It was a really long name I can't remember. But it's something to put you out. Yeah. There was a whole bunch of a concoction and it wasn't the same high the entire time. It was different. I experienced different things.
Starting point is 00:32:21 Now, whether that was part of starvation or stress or whatever, I don't know, but I know there was different forms of different things that he, whether that was part of starvation or stress or whatever, I don't know. But I know there was different forms of different things that he was giving me as well. Liquid, sometimes things in the food. And so when did you find out that the world was looking for you? And how did you find out? He joked about it casually. And then he said that his cousin that was watching me,
Starting point is 00:32:49 that lived in the same cul-de-sac, nicknamed me America's Most Wanted. So it was like a joke to them. This cousin was a man or a woman? A man. And what do you mean he'd go to work and the guy would just come in and make sure that you were still like there?
Starting point is 00:33:02 No, there was a time where he did. But no, James was very clear that people were watching me. Um, so I would presume that's part of the brainwashing tactic to let me know that someone was watching me when he was at work. So he would either leave me chained to the wall and make sure that he ensured that I knew that I was being watched as well. So did you think he was going to kill you? Every second that I was able to as well. So did you think he was gonna kill you?
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Starting point is 00:37:09 and I'm never gonna say anything and we're never gonna talk to each other again? Like, what was the agreement then? Well, I was negotiating every single day trying to find some way to get home. So it was easy for me to say, I'm not gonna rat you out, I won't say anything, just let me get home. So it was easy for me to say, I'm not going to rat you out. I won't say anything. Just let me go home. And for me, it was, if you let me go, the media will stop because it's getting bigger and it's getting bigger and it's getting bigger. And
Starting point is 00:37:36 he continued to say it was getting bigger. And he said that there was some kind of ransom, something or other, and his family had been discussing it. So I presumed that there was a lot of pressure, not just from the media, but from his family as well. And anytime we did have any sort of communication, it was, my husband's never going to stop looking for me. He's never going to stop. They're getting close. So I got to use that in a way as a negotiation tactic. And I think it worked, for sure. And so do you remember the day that he's like, okay, get in the car, or I'm gonna put you in the car? That was such an odd day because there wasn't necessarily a plan. It was just me pleading and
Starting point is 00:38:16 promising that I wasn't going to reveal his identity in order for me to get home. But there wasn't, like there's a chapter in my book where I discuss what that was like, the in-depth conversation there and leading up to the understanding of like, I remember him rushing into the room and fastening like hose clamps to my body and going like, what the hell is he doing? What do you mean hose clamps? Oh my God, you're so cute. So when you do plumbing, there's a metal clamp and then you tighten it with a screwdriver
Starting point is 00:38:47 and it tightens a piece of sharp metal. You look like quite a construction worker. So I presume you know exactly what that is. But yeah, so for me it was, he did that and then I'm like, what the hell? And it was super confusing. It was very rushed. And even when he dropped me off, he didn't tell me where I was. He didn't tell me that it was super confusing. It was very rushed. And even when he dropped me off, he didn't tell me where I was. He didn't tell me that there was a plan. It was just like,
Starting point is 00:39:09 get out of the car. And then he drove off. And for me, it was like, there's a, I didn't know what was coming for me. I didn't know whether I was going to survive. I didn't know if he was coming back. I didn't know what was going to happen at the drop off. And I write about that a lot in this chapter because what we don't talk about a whole lot is that day and how he got me into the car. He made me get into a bag and carried me out. The day that you're coming home. The day he released me.
Starting point is 00:39:43 He put me inside of a bag and carried me out to the car. What kind of a bag? Like a hockey bag. Oh, it smelled foul. It was a hockey bag. So I was small enough to fit like a broken marionette in a bag that he put over his shoulder and carried me out to the car. And then were you just sitting in the back seat the whole time?
Starting point is 00:40:00 I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on. So he put me in the trunk, shoved the bag forward, and then I just thought I was going to stay in the bag. So I just stayed crumpled up in the bag. In the trunk? I don't know if it was in the trunk. I don't know. I was in a bag. But then did you eventually get to get out of the bag for the nine hours? Yeah, so we stopped. And then he readjusted me and put a pillowcase over my head. And then I was like fastened. So when I tried to move in the car, I was like that hose clamp that I'm talking about.
Starting point is 00:40:30 Yeah. It was connected to something. And then he took my arm and zip tied it to the chain. So I was bound all over the place. So all I was doing was staying frozen and quiet in the backseat. So you get, you wave someone down, right? Oh my God, I felt like I was on the side of the road for hours, hours.
Starting point is 00:40:53 And I even, so when we have I-5, right, we have two lanes and then there's that middle lane there. I walked into the middle lane and cars were like going around me. No one had stopped for, I mean, my hair was cut off. I looked like a homeless person. There's a chain hanging out of my waist, but no one stopped for a really long time.
Starting point is 00:41:14 And who did stop? A truck driver. And what did you say? Did you say, I'm Sherry Papini, get me to the hospital? What's the first thing you say when you finally find another human? I mean, he pulls over and I'm like, come on. No, a truck driver really? Like, this is how I die? Come on.
Starting point is 00:41:33 Like another person could kill you. Oh my God. Well, it was this big man, you know, it was this big disheveled man that came out. And I was really scared and I dropped down and really low and said, please don't hurt me. And he was so kind and was like, not gonna hurt you. Here's the phone with the 911 dispatcher. And when he handed me the phone, he was like, are you all right? And I said, no, I've escaped.
Starting point is 00:41:57 And then when he was on with the dispatcher, he said, she's escaped her boyfriend. And I'm like, oh God, no, I didn't say that to him at all. But I was terrified. And you can hear. He just assumed that. Yeah, he just, no, I didn't say that to him at all. But I was terrified. And you can hear. He just assumed that. Yeah, he just assumed that. You didn't know that you were an actual like.
Starting point is 00:42:08 And you hear my voice in that going, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I was terrified already. And was that used against you? Oh, of course it is. Of course it was. But I didn't say that to him. But you can hear how terrified I am that the truck driver even said that.
Starting point is 00:42:24 And so then when you get to the hospital and you see Keith, your husband for the first time, what was it like? Because you didn't have a good marriage before, but I would think, one of the things that I think is fascinating by the theory that you faked your own kidnapping, a couple things. One is, one of the reasons I thought I was so fascinating,
Starting point is 00:42:50 I'll just tell you, I was gonna do it for part of the show, but let me show you. So many years ago, there was this Raiderette that went missing. Sadly, she was murdered. But every night, this was like, there was a show called Hard Copy,
Starting point is 00:43:05 it was like kind of like the 90s. So it was 1996. No, 1995 is when she went missing. And every night there was so much news because she was a pretty blonde girl. And all her Raiderette friends, and they were all models in LA, and it was in LA, and they were always on.
Starting point is 00:43:24 And I was at the time, like trying to make it friends and they were all models in LA and it was in LA and they were always on. And I was at the time like trying to make it as like an actress comedian. And I was like, and I had this idea and I was like, God, what if, you know, someone ever faked their thing to just finally get their name out there? Because it was so hard back then to like, you couldn't just go on TikTok and like suddenly have people see you had to like beg to get an agent. So I have a movie idea from 1996 that I came across that is about a dark comedy of a person like me who, you know, acts, pretends that she went missing just so that someone will find her headshot
Starting point is 00:44:05 and her comedy act. And then the rest of the script, the little script that I wrote was that her friends though, do so many like benefits and stuff, they end up getting the deals. And then she's like, how do I get out of this apartment? Like now what do I do? Like now I was going to hate me, you know? It's so weird that I thought of that in 1996. And then, then Gone Girl was written. Then your situation happened. And I think there's something about a woman faking that for a number of reasons.
Starting point is 00:44:35 One, the attention. Two, that, you know, that your husband that maybe wasn't nice to you, now he'll appreciate me. For the people that believe that it was a hoax, I think they thought a couple things. One, you're pretty and you wanted the attention. Two, that you, because even it was different,
Starting point is 00:44:57 because you came back looking so disheveled and hurt and everything, more than disheveled obviously, I was like, it's not like the two of them had a little romance and then she came back and was like, I was trapped in a room, whatever. That's why I believe you. And then also I was like, but if you were to believe the thing,
Starting point is 00:45:19 there is something about when you're in a relationship with someone that you feel like he doesn't care about me anymore and doesn't love me, well now he'll love me and be appreciative. At any moment when you came back, were you like, maybe this will be, I'm going to lie and say it's these women because I'm scared of him and I'm scared that Keith will get weird that I was with man, but maybe he'll like be so great that we can be together for a lifetime. What was your thoughts about the relationship with Keith once you were released? Well, let's go back to the very first moment that he saw me. So Keith, yes. So you've I'm assuming
Starting point is 00:46:00 that you watched the Hulu documentaries. Well, okay. So you've heard Keith's side of things and you hear Keith saying, I didn't believe her right off the jump. Like when he first saw me, he didn't believe me and he thought that I was lying. That's his statement. Which I don't believe because I remember watching him and he was like, we just need her privacy. She is very, you know, physically hurt. The police, everybody said that in the news, that you were physically, extremely.
Starting point is 00:46:28 Broken. Hurt, like physically hurt. And so when I saw the Hulu doc, I was like, that's not what you originally said. Whatever benefits in him at the time, he'll use. Okay. But, so let's go back to that day, right? So it's not like he was like this loving, gracious husband
Starting point is 00:46:48 that was like, oh my God, my wife is found. When I was on the side of the road and I was finally able to convince law enforcement officers to allow me to call my husband, it wasn't like this, oh my God, honey, you hear me doing that. Babe, I'm alive. Oh my God, I wanna go home, I don't know where I am. You hear Keith go, where are you?
Starting point is 00:47:08 What happened? Flat affect, no love, no nothing. And then when we get to the hospital, it's not like he was like, I need to see my wife, get me in there. He became an informant and they wired him to interrogate me. And he worked with law enforcement before he even came in to see me. And he worked with law enforcement before he even
Starting point is 00:47:25 came in to see me. Because you see in his documentary, law enforcement's continuing to say, bro, she might've been cheating on you because we have all of these. So he was building up all of this hatred for me and all of this like presumption that I was cheating on him. So he can try and slip it in there, whoever he was, but it's unraveled pretty quickly if you just follow his narrative that constantly changes. Mine's never changed, other than the identity of my kidnapper. But when it comes to me, I've never changed. I've always said that I was held against my will, brutally tortured. And you described the room exactly as it was. Yes. With the chain on the weird different closet,
Starting point is 00:48:11 the way it was placed in the closet, the coffee table, everything. Yes. So. His story shifts constantly, and it's still shifting. Constantly. So do you believe, because the thing is, if you believe the hoax, if you believe the hoax, it's so infuriating to any parent, especially a mom,
Starting point is 00:48:36 that you would put people through thinking that, or your kids, someone having to maybe on day 20 say, actually mommy's in the clouds. Like did did any but did he, do you believe, or did he ever say, I thought you were dead? Did he ever tell the kids, I don't know that Mom's coming home? What did they tell the kids? I wasn't part of that discussion,
Starting point is 00:48:58 but what I recall what Keith did is he told Tyler, because Violet was too young to even comprehend what was going on, is that mommy went for a run and got lost. Okay. And then it wasn't until years and years later that there was more of a process with the kids. But what Keith initially told Tyler
Starting point is 00:49:16 was that I went for a run and I was just lost and that he was looking for me. Which is an appropriate thing to tell a child when the mom is missing. But do you think he went to bed at night thinking you were dead or do you always think he thought that something else was happening, that you were alive somewhere? Or do you think he did think you had been murdered? I would think.
Starting point is 00:49:40 Someone's gone for 22 days. It's very rare that they come back alive. There's the young Mormon girl that was kidnapped from her bed, that she's like the only one besides you that I've heard, you know, and there's a few. There's some with these girls and they've had, you know, they're captors' children and stuff many years later.
Starting point is 00:50:03 But there's very, very few stories that someone is held captive and truly like living somewhere for a longer time. That's why they say, if we don't find you in 48 hours or 72 hours, it's like the chances are so slim. What do you think he thought? I think as soon as Keith started getting the indication
Starting point is 00:50:24 that there was potential cheating, that he was wishing I was dead. I always think that too about, you know, like yeah, was he not that concerned if in fact you die? Like what, like, you know, the Scott Peterson case. Scott Peterson, he's in prison for killing his pregnant wife. And I had said, if you believe he is innocent, because he was a cheater, maybe when she went missing he was a cheater, he didn't care for her. And maybe when she went missing, he wasn't overly concerned because he was kind of like relieved. Like do you think there was a kind of where he was like,
Starting point is 00:51:08 if she's dead, I don't really care because I don't. I mean, do you think or do you think he was always like, I got to find I got to find the love of my life? I think two things can be true. Yeah, I think Keith went through a lot during that time. Yeah. You know, and I think that it for him, it probably changes pretty often. And do you think he did now in the in your documentary, there was a female FBI agent who said, we advised Keith from doing so many interviews. But he really wanted to. And I
Starting point is 00:51:42 didn't know if it was because I mean, we knew he'd been cleared. That they cleared him. We knew he wasn't the murderer. So I was like, so then what is the point of doing all these things? What do you think his point was? I don't know. I can tell you after he continued to be engaged in media,
Starting point is 00:52:03 I remember afterwards I was begging him not to do 2020 because I was so broken and needing him and trying to recover and that was the most important thing to him was getting on camera. So wait, what happens? You came home and then how soon after he just did a 2020 without you, right? Like a few days, maybe a week, something like that. It really, it was really soon. Like I was still recovering, like health-wise,
Starting point is 00:52:30 I was still unable to even keep food down. I wish I would have found that and watched that. What did he say in that interview? That my body was really broken and the whole narrative about it being females and he was just really talking about the gruesome injuries mostly. I can't remember it. It was so long ago. That's what I remember too. But I still remember like there were so many unanswered questions that we never got, which you know, and then even, and then the other part is if you were
Starting point is 00:53:03 really looking for fame, like my made up story from the, you know, 30 years ago, I was like, why, why don't we hear her doing things? Why isn't she starting a YouTube channel? Why isn't she, you know, and which again, you know, is why I believe you. Because I'm like, if you did this, why did you stay in your house and live such like a weird private life? Six and a half years. I said nothing, six and a half years.
Starting point is 00:53:34 And so you stayed married for six and a half years and did you ever do another job working? Well, in the middle of that COVID happened. Oh, that's right. So we, we were all traumatized by that. But that means that I was homeschooling my children. Oh, okay. And it was the best thing ever. Oh my God, I loved it. I loved homeschooling the kids. I had this studio that I was using for sewing and painting and it was like a little art studio. And I removed everything and made it into this full classroom. Like you walk in and think that you were on a school
Starting point is 00:54:07 campus with whiteboards and chalkboards and a library and desks and everything. It was legit. So at that time you were living, you liked that time in your life. Yeah. What was your day to day with Keith during that time? Horrible. He had started going back to work, but it was just like six long years of interrogation. He would ask you about the kidnapping? Every day. Every day. And, and you would, and you would always say it's those two women? Or did you ever, or what,
Starting point is 00:54:41 how would you get through an interrogation every day asking about this? It was brutal. It was brutal. It was like he kept just trying to catch me every day. And what would he say? Like, just give me an example of how it would be. One of the things that he said to me was during, when James was there, so during the abduction of 2016, November 2, 2016, he said, well, you didn't scream, you didn't try to run. So why would I think that you were kidnapped? That was one of the questions he liked to say all the time. And how would you respond? Delicately as possible.
Starting point is 00:55:31 It's like one of those like someone saying that she's raped and the people say, what was she wearing? Yeah. That's how it was with Keith. That's what it was like to be interrogated with him. You just wanted to like end the conversation as quickly as possible? I would shut down most of the time. Everything I could do to avoid, I avoided.
Starting point is 00:55:49 And did you continue to have... Oh, there were so many moments where I almost broke. So many moments. But for me, based on my personality as well, engaging with me using fear as a tactic to break me, it doesn't work. It really doesn't. If he would have been kind, or if he would have offered safety,
Starting point is 00:56:09 or if, for example, his sister, Suzanne, I was living with her and she's a therapist, and so she has all of these- You were living with her, but hold on, but that's after the six and a half years? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Suzanne was able to say, I don't care what your answer is.
Starting point is 00:56:23 I'm offering you unconditional love, and no matter what your answer is. I'm offering you unconditional love. And no matter what your answer is, we'll work through it. I don't care if it's all made up. I don't care what it is. She took you in after the cops exposed. After I was arrested. Yeah, after we were exposed. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:37 And that's his sister. And that's not what Keith did. Yeah. That's what I'm getting to is he was never like, I'm so happy you're alive and I'm glad that you're home. And no matter what, we'll get through it. It was like, I know you're fucking lying. like, I'm so happy you're alive and I'm glad that you're home and no matter what we'll get through it. It was like, I know you're fucking lying. Oh, I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:56:49 No, that's fine. You can say it. I know you're lying. I know that there's something that doesn't fit here. And if I find out I'm bringing the world down on your head, I'm taking your children, I'm taking everything you own. So don't let me find out. It wasn't ever like, just tell me.
Starting point is 00:57:03 It was like threat, threat, threat, threat, threat, threat, threat. And that just made me double down more. It just made me clam up more. That threat that you said of taking your children. So we see that you, that he, after seeing that you had, you know, a texting emotional affair with somebody, he has a post-nup agreement saying
Starting point is 00:57:24 if you're ever caught cheating, you will leave with not one dime and without your kids, which would never be held up because children are not possessions. They are the keys. But was this document really made by an actual attorney or did he just type it up and you signed it like, let's not fight about the couch, he just type it up and you signed it like let's not fight about the couch we both want it let's sign it whatever like what was it? It's both so the thing with post-nuptial agreements is generally when you have a prenup or a post-nup
Starting point is 00:57:55 you have to have individual lawyers that oversee the document you don't generally have the same lawyer because it's kind of a conflict of interest. I wasn't granted that opportunity. It was the same lawyer. So it was a post-nuptial agreement that was made after he had caught me texting another guy, the one from Michigan. And he drew it up. He drafted it. He was in complete control over it.
Starting point is 00:58:18 And then when we sat and had it reviewed by the attorney, he was sitting right next to me. So it's not like I had the... I didn't have the opportunity to object. And if we would have had the time and the capacity to defend that more clearly in court, not when I was in prison, it probably would have gotten thrown out. But we didn't have that opportunity. He pushed for the trial as fast as possible.
Starting point is 00:58:43 And so he won. He won and it was taken into evidence and there are so many problems with it, but we didn't have an opportunity to have an appropriate defense of it. And because I was in prison. Right. So now were there times where during those six years that you were just like, I should say something because James is dangerous. And what if he does this to his next girlfriend?
Starting point is 00:59:16 Exactly. Exactly. You thought of that? I thought of that this entire time. Yeah. But for me, you know, now I'm a lot stronger. But before I was shell-shocked and barely able to make eye contact with people, and I was just broken. But what mattered the most was my babies.
Starting point is 00:59:34 I just wanted to be home. I wanted one more day with them. I wanted one more month with them. I just wanted to be home with the kids, and that was my primary focus. It's different now. And I've been through everything and now I'm not with Keith and I'm not afraid to say that I have an emotional affair. I'm not afraid to... You have nothing to lose now. No, I'm not wrong.
Starting point is 00:59:51 Now, the other thing that is where I think people may not believe you is the hobby lobby branding branding tool that when the report came out, it almost was a little comical that it was bought at Hobby Lobby. Like it was just weird when, you know, first when we heard, first when we believed that somebody took you and branded you, that was, you know, horrible and strange and weird. But it's still, then when it was no,
Starting point is 01:00:27 she said go to Hobby Lobby, get this branding thing and do it, which they have the scene in the Lifetime movie. Do it because I want it. I mean. I saw that in prison by the way, when that came out. And did you watch with other girls? God bless Jamie King. She was so lovely. She put a thing out on her Instagram.
Starting point is 01:00:51 She was so nice and said, obviously there's more to the story for this poor woman and let's give her grace or whatever she said. It was so... At the time or just recently? Yeah, when she was playing me in the movie. She was so gracious and so kind. Oh, that's awesome.
Starting point is 01:01:04 But everybody watched it in prison. I mean, like, the chairs were lined up out into the hallway to watch it, and I was humiliated. It was absolutely awful because, as you know, it's a Lifetime movie, so it's built off of the headlines, and headlines are built to be salacious and for clickbait. And so it's like they were just grasping at everything that they could. And it was horrifying. I mean, for goodness sakes, the opening scene is me being intimate with my ex husband. And I had to watch that in prison while all the girls are going, oh my God, it was horrible. Where did you watch it? Were you in the front row or the back?
Starting point is 01:01:39 No, actually, I didn't want to watch it. But I had a group of girls that were like, if you don't go, we're dragging you in there and strapping you to the chair you're going. They were being mean or they were being nice? Both. Both. It did me no favors in prison, I can tell you that much. And?
Starting point is 01:01:58 Prison definitely changed me a bit. What's, how did it, wait, can we get back to the branding and then I want to talk about Priscilla. There's a lot, sorry. So when you in the documentary go, I did these crafty things and I would buy, I had a branding thing from Hobby Lobby and we would talk about how I was making these little wood coasters with like initials in them or whatever. So did that give him the idea, like, ooh, I'm into S&M, I'm gonna get this branding stuff for when we get together?
Starting point is 01:02:31 Or do you think he bought it midway through your time there? Like where in the 22 days to your best ability did he brand you with that Hobby Lobby brander? I would say it was in the middle, because my arm happened first. So, James is fascinated by the process of tattooing. So it was more about this process that he was kind of obsessed with, where skin would keloid and kind of look similar to a tattoo.
Starting point is 01:03:02 So I would presume, since we'd been talking on the phone and I had talked about the wood crafting that I had done, that he got the idea of it. And I'm a country girl, you know, we had talked about things like that as well, branding. And it's just a normal everyday part of living when you live in the country and things like that, which is what I'm around.
Starting point is 01:03:23 But I can recall very clearly we had conversations about a gift that I was making my husband at the time and that there was letters associated with it and things like that. But to conclude that that's why it was there and why I wanted it, it's almost like saying somebody was murdered with a bat, so now we're going to go and arrest every baseball player. You know, I didn't ask to be branded and I didn't ask for him to use the instrument from Hobby Lobby, but it is something that had came up in conversation before. So then we get to the day of the viral video, they call you in again to the interrogation room with your husband. Oh, we just have a couple more questions.
Starting point is 01:04:07 Going in that day, were you scared at all? Did you sense that it was because they'd been checking in with you over the years, asking other questions, right? Or had a whole chunk of time gone when you haven't heard boo? They touched in. No, I mean, they were building their investigation for years. And did you think they knew at that time or were you just like, oh, they're just going to ask me more questions?
Starting point is 01:04:29 I was totally blindsided. You were blindsided? Yeah. And what happened immediately after that? We see that Keith is like, I'm done or whatever, gets up and or he leaves. And you're like, no, no, it's James's James you James what like what happened right after that I had to get in the car and go home with him which was absolutely terrifying and then he put my belongings in trash bags and kicked me out that day mm-hmm and where did you go that night
Starting point is 01:05:01 my parents came and picked me up and I went to and at that point did you go that night? My parents came and picked me up. And I went to... And at that point, did you have to break the news to your parents that this whole time it was James and... No, I wasn't arrested yet. They just... So, after that interrogation... But did you tell your parents, pick me up, Keith and I are done, but you didn't tell them why? No. So, after that last interrogation, nearly a year
Starting point is 01:05:27 went by before I was arrested. So a lot more time had passed after that interrogation. It wasn't like I had that interrogation, and immediately after that I was arrested. Nearly a year had gone by. So when I called mom and dad, it was Keith and I had had a really big fight. My stuff's in trash bags and I need to get out of here. And then I went to his Aunt Pam's house until we could
Starting point is 01:05:52 figure out what was happening and where we would go from there. So we see in the documentary that the detective, we hear the audio from the detective going to the Costa Mesa house where you were there for 22 days and saying to James, we know you guys were together. And I clearly thought the detective was letting him know, just say what we want you to say. You can't be arrested for kidnapping if someone made you do it. And again, I'm like, what kind of person goes along with, hey, I hate my husband so much. Can you pick me up and then beat the shit out of me? I don't want to, but I will.
Starting point is 01:06:39 Like, that's why I was like, yes, I totally see why this is. And it's just strange that this guy that, you said he kind of came from a troubled background with his parents in and out of prisoner drugs and stuff. Why no one would, why they were so set to not believe you why no one would, why they were so set to not believe you and immediately, like it sounded like they kind of gave him this out, just say that she asked you to pick you up.
Starting point is 01:07:14 And he goes, she's a friend, just a friend. I'm just trying to help her out. And that's the part. Like if, if you didn't come back physically, beat the fuck up, then it would be hard for as many people to believe your story now. That's what I personally think as someone who's followed it in a viewer. That's why I do. You know, I'm like, who is this guy? And what's he doing now? He lives in Phoenix, living off the 89-year-old grandfather. I'm like, yeah, you're a loser. You're a weirdo. You're
Starting point is 01:07:51 a loser or a weirdo. Completely informal investigation on James. I mean, they'd already had years of building a case against me, but we also have to remember there was missteps by law enforcement. So by having me fall on my sword and taking all of the accountability, it releases the accountability of anyone else involved. So if they build a strong enough case against me and they manipulate the evidence enough that that builds a strong enough case against me and they charge me for moral turpitude, meaning my testimony is no longer valid, then it eliminates it coming back and biting them in the ass later. Because law enforcement knew that James existed
Starting point is 01:08:31 and they knew that we were conversing in the very beginning. And that's a pretty big misstep on law enforcement's part. And then they have this informal investigation. They don't build an investigation on their lead suspect potentially, and they close the case as fast as possible. That presumes some issues there, also leading or coercing a confession from a suspect. And did they give him a deal like, say this and you're going to sign this thing. Just like when someone turns on a co-conspirator for a murder, say who hired you or whatever, say this and then we won't, we won't prosecute you too.
Starting point is 01:09:11 Is that what they did? Did they give him something and say, say this confession and we'll never come after you again? What's interesting about that is we have the interrogation tapes, right? Where they interview James and a portion of it is cut out. So it pauses and we see a length of time go by and then it continues. We'll never know what was said
Starting point is 01:09:32 and we'll never know what was offered because it pauses and the length of time goes by. So I have no idea. What I do know is James's record is not the same. So the records that are out there are not the same that they were. You mean he had some run ins with the law that is now gone? I've picked him up from jail when we were together and somehow he just has a clean record
Starting point is 01:09:57 now. I really don't know the details of that. I don't know what's happened, but I do know that James has had trouble with long prison. Been arrested or whatever. Yeah. And what his charges are and what happened in his life from when we broke up. It's kind of like someone started as an amateur and then they get to professional level. Whatever happened in those years that he and I weren't talking, something happened to make him this sicker, darker individual.
Starting point is 01:10:29 And whatever his record is or anything that happened in the meantime, I don't know. I don't know what they gave him. I just know based on the interrogation tapes, they gave him a way out and they gave him, they led him through it. That's definitely what it seems like. So you talk to attorneys, you have attorneys, and how did you come to the conclusion that the best thing for you and your family
Starting point is 01:10:58 is to take the plea, which is 18 months, but you got out in 10, because there's no way out of this because technically you lied to the government. And even if they... So how did you realize that was your only choice? Well, when I started talking to my defense attorney and we discussed what it would be like to go to a trial, first of all, I had no money. So it wasn't really an option for me. And it's the FBI. It's not like it was a trial, James Reyes versus Sherry Papini. It was Sherry Papini versus the United States federal government.
Starting point is 01:11:34 And that means they have endless resources to draw out a trial and to drain me of my resources, to drain me of my most precious resource, which is time with my children. And it was going to be something that was going to go on and on and on and on. Because what do they care? You know, care of a trial lasts forever. And at the end of that trial, however long that it would be,
Starting point is 01:11:53 however expensive it would be, I still lied. So a sentence would be passed regardless. And I knew that it was wrong. And I wanted to demonstrate my remorse and my accountability. First and foremost, I knew that keeping was wrong, and I wanted to demonstrate my remorse and my accountability. First and foremost, I knew that keeping James' secret was wrong. And so that was the best way that I could demonstrate remorse, take my accountability,
Starting point is 01:12:15 and deal with the situation at hand without going through a lengthy trial because it wouldn't be justice. It wouldn't be James is going to go to jail at the end of it because he's found guilty. It's the United States federal government. I didn't stand a chance. Didn't have a shot. And so you agree to do that. And what is prison?
Starting point is 01:12:39 What is it like? Because I always am like fascinated like how when you're the the pretty white girl who's also famous how do you survive like I if I went in I would just like start imitating the guards or something just try to like let them know I'm funny because clearly like it would it would be difficult. How did you make friends? I think you do fine in prison. You would like run the entire prison by the time you got out there.
Starting point is 01:13:10 No, I don't. Like honestly, but no. I'm like how like off the bat were women like mean and scary or was it, cause what kind of criminals were they? Just all everything or were we with murders or were it like white collar? What was it? It's kind of a melting pot. So there's a wide variety of different charges
Starting point is 01:13:30 in there. And it's not, it's the level of security, right? So there's a couple of different ways to make up the population of Victorville Federal Prison Camp. That's the lowest amount of security. So we have the prison camp, medium security, maximum security, and that is based on the level of your crime, right? So you were in the camp? I was in the camp, which is the lowest level of security. So it's like fraud and lying to a federal officer, or we have other inmates that have spent a really long time incarcerated and have spent enough time that they've gotten
Starting point is 01:14:05 their points lower. So they qualify for being at a camp. So there was people in there that were child molesters. There were people in there that aggravated assault and things like that. There was quite a few people, but they'd been incarcerated for 10, 20 years at that point. So they qualified for being at a camp. So it was a lot of different. Were you in a cell with another person? Like what was your sleeping situation? It was kind of like the inside of a Costco. So it was very bare, open concept, open warehouse almost with these cement barricades and two metal bunks. And so it was a very small cell without a door and very open concept.
Starting point is 01:14:45 Like when you're on the top bunk, the bed is a little bit higher than where the cement is. So everyone can see you as well as you can see everyone else. There was not a whole lot of privacy. And then it's kind of like open concept locker room, bathroom style. Getting back to, you know, obviously you regret saying it was two women, but I'm guessing your biggest regret is that you gave them an ethnicity. That must have... I'm sorry.
Starting point is 01:15:18 Like I'm so sorry. I wish that I could apologize until the end of time. So sorry. And I wish that it was something that I had more control over. Obviously the race issue has been around for a long time and it didn't help. And I'm so, I deeply regret that.
Starting point is 01:15:34 It was just to try and provide the littlest fragment of James's identity that I could. It really had nothing to do about trying. Because you said, in just giving the sketch artist something, you focused on two women in his life, his mom and like what? Who was the other girl, a cousin or something? Cousin's wife. But then why give them the mask?
Starting point is 01:16:03 Why not give them a whole face? I was too scared. Yeah. then why give them the mask? Why not give them a whole face? I was too scared. I mean, I wanted to get them there, but I just, I froze. By the time we got to that part in the sketch, which by the way, I did not want to do. And they say that like I was enthusiastic to do the sketch. I didn't, and it took so long to do the sketch
Starting point is 01:16:20 because I refused to participate in it for so long. Keith Papini wanted me to do the sketch and he pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. Like you hear the officer say he was very pushy and he just kept getting in the way. So he really tried to control the investigation from day one. But I didn't want to do the sketch. I really didn't. So it was like, if I could cover the here down, then I could at least satisfy that like, well, they didn't have everything. So even if he sees it, clearly James would see that I'm trying to sketch his mom, but it's not incredibly clear. It was just a really hard choice.
Starting point is 01:16:57 And then when he does the Hulu doc, he goes this complete other route saying basically that you were doing munchausens by proxy, that you were making your kids sick because he said you'd soak a thing of alcohol and like put the that near their body. And I have to tell you when I saw the hulu doc, I was like, wow, this is weird. Like, oh my God, because I'm obsessed with like munchhouses by proxy too. But the way you explained it in your doc made a lot of sense, because you have sensitive skin and have gotten rashes and they had sensitive skin. So instead of doing a Vicks rub, you would do like a peppermint, like essential oils or something, and put it on a cloth so that the breathing could be better. Why do you think he went from...
Starting point is 01:17:51 Do you think he really... Do you think he knew that you were just doing an innocent essential oils thing, or do you think he then was putting a story together for himself to be so cruel? In my opinion, I think Keith Papini does not want anyone to know who he really is. And so the more attention you can get spent on villainizing me, the less you look at him.
Starting point is 01:18:16 And he's very invested in his image. Unfortunately, in family law, what we see a lot is when you have a toxic ex, false allegation claims are made. It's pretty common, which is horrifying, but it's pretty common. Unfortunately, this lie that he's concocted, it doesn't even make sense. You can't make somebody sick from inhaling rubbing alcohol. It's similar to smelling salts, for example. So the lie that you concocts doesn't even hold up. It dissolves pretty quickly. I would never harm my children, ever. I went to extreme lengths to do natural things with them. I've never tried to make them sick. There's no hospital visits or anything that demonstrates that I would ever harm my children.
Starting point is 01:19:09 And as you see in the other documentary, it's concluded as unfounded. And the lengths that he went through to accuse my daughter is horrifying. It's heartbreaking. To have your daughter say it, you mean? To use her in the way that he has. And the doc. I would never hurt my kids, ever. I mean, it's the one weapon that he has and it ruined everything.
Starting point is 01:19:39 When that allegation came out, it was like they went through it and then they're like, oh, well, we've lost it. She's hurt her kids. He knew what it was going to do. He knew the ramifications of it. And what's most valuable and important to him in my opinion is making me look as bad as possible. So you stop looking at him and he stops gaining any culpability in his behavior that he did. But that act in and of itself is pretty terrible. It's, it's well, I mean, yeah, I mean, that's why it's the, like you said, no, no, I, I'm, you talk about my kids.
Starting point is 01:20:11 Yeah. I'll part of it. I mean, you know, you're right. It's the ultimate thing that happens in toxic divorces. And, you know, there are women that say the ultimate lie and say that the father is sexually abusing the kids and it's not true. In those cases, I know one person that believes that, you know, thought there could be something. But if but her attorney's like, if you say it, and it's not true, then the courts are so mad at you for accusing of sexual abuse,
Starting point is 01:20:54 that then you will lose you will lose. Yeah, which it's like, what are you supposed to do? But, you know, so he says this on the dock, which then adds to the narrative. Hey, it's Bobby from the Really Good Podcast. Sorry to pop in during your episode, but it's worth it. Amazon Prime Day is coming and I'm so ready. From July 8th through 11th, Prime members get four days to find some of the best deals of the year on Amazon. And four days in internet time? That's basically forever. More time to explore what you didn't know you needed. I've had my eye on this curling iron I found on Amazon. It's sleek, high-tech, and I've been thinking, it's time. I've been using the same curling iron since high school. It smokes
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Starting point is 01:22:50 seriously understand web design and what it takes to run your own business. Ready to create your own website? Go to wix.com. That's w-i-x dot com to start building your website today. Thanks Wix for sponsoring Juicy Scoop. So, you touch a little bit on the fact that you were sexually molested as a child by a family person or someone within your family. And there were experts that spoke about that. And I know that is a result of a child being traumatized is, you know, doing what you did, disassociation, pleasing. But
Starting point is 01:23:38 also there have been, you know, there is a pattern sometimes where children then do go on to lie, to not tell the truth. Do you cover that in the book about how that has happened? Because were there other things that prior to this that people could say you've lied about, you got caught in a lie that might be a result of you living from this trauma? Well, I think that frankly, there's theories out there, sure. And there's a lot of people like we all live our lives. We have enemies. There are people I may not have been kind to in the day, back in the day. There are people that I had tumultuous relationships with. You have to have evidence though to back up what you're saying. So there's
Starting point is 01:24:32 yet to be anything where someone has come out with something like that, where there's like excessive amount of evidence to back up what they're saying. Unfortunately, because my words don't hold as much weight, it's even more difficult for me to back up anything that I say from here on out. Well, it's also a pattern of when you've been abused as a child, you often do, unfortunately, end up with abusive partners, which that seems to be a pattern of yours, you know? I mean, you left, yeah, you left, you know, someone, you know, not physically, but not a great husband and then went to the worst. And so like in doing your therapy and stuff, do you say you get into that in the book a little
Starting point is 01:25:30 explaining and what you... The entire book. What's really cool about the book is you watch this progression. Like I go into depth about the progression of early childhood up until now, the things that I've learned, the progress that I've made, the journey of self-discovery where things have unfolded. And it's just steeped in this mental health language in there. And it's been really exceptionally extraordinary to be able to understand myself and figure out where I came from and why I behave this way and what defense structures I have and what caused where I am. And it's all from start to finish.
Starting point is 01:26:07 Now, can we talk about a little bit? So you get out of prison, you go, you have like a little halfway house situation. Was that, what was that like? The halfway house was horrible. I would have rather spent my entire time incarceration in prison. Really? Why? Oh my God.
Starting point is 01:26:24 Well, the halfway house was in prison. Really? Why? Oh my God. Well, the halfway house was in Oakland. The day that I arrived, the following morning, it was surrounded by police officers because there was a dead body down the street in front of the halfway house. We weren't allowed to go outside anymore because someone had been stabbed in the front and shot in the back. So it wasn't in the best part of town, one would say. There wasn't really
Starting point is 01:26:46 a whole lot of time that would go by without hearing sirens as well. And it was a mixture of men and women. So it was both men and women. There was 74 men and four women in the halfway house with doors that did not lock. This was like a dormitory then, not a house. Okay. I was imagining like a five-bedroom house that they had converted to a facility. It was like a compound and it was disgusting. Disgusting, I mean, I was like trying to wash my clothes in a garbage can upstairs and fighting the cockroaches
Starting point is 01:27:17 as well and there was even a rat issue. And why did you have to do that at all? Like why is that was just part of the- It's just part of the way that the Bureau of Prisons operate. And for me, I was so enthusiastic to get out of prison that I was like, yay, halfway house. And I had no idea what it was like. I wish that I could have gone back, but it was-
Starting point is 01:27:37 And how long did you have to be there? Six weeks, about six weeks. And then you leave there and then you go where? To your mom's? To my mom and dad's. Okay. And you're still close to your sister-in-law? And so then you, is that when you start
Starting point is 01:27:56 with the therapist that we see in Hulu? I mean, sorry, not Hulu, in your doc, the Max docs? No, I'd actually started seeing him. So this is an interesting, I don't think I've ever talked about this part. This is an interesting part of the story. So I was seeing a previous therapist for a really long time. I got in a reasonable amount of EMDR, which is fantastic. And that stands for?
Starting point is 01:28:22 Eye movement, desensititization and reprocessing. So they utilize the left brain and the right brain by using like a wand or something like that to activate left brain and right brain to calm the sympathetic nervous system in relation to PTSD. It's a phenomenal treatment and it helped so much when it came to my treatment. The FBI was starting to build their case against me. So the funding for witness something or other had gotten caught off. So I wasn't able to continue with that
Starting point is 01:28:51 therapist because I couldn't pay her. Keith had complete control of the finances and he wouldn't allow me to go to therapy anymore. And I had lost her and I was just lost. Like I was desperate and lost and she was like the one place I could go where Keith wasn't tracking me or watching me or had this freedom. And I was starting to really break down. And Suzanne, his sister said, I have this therapist. Why don't you meet him on Zoom and see what you think? He takes pro bono cases on occasion. And why don't we meet with him together so we'll have a couple of Zoom sessions where you can meet Dr. Diggs and you can start therapy with
Starting point is 01:29:30 him. I was still married to Keith at the time. It was prior to my arrest and I had started seeing Dr. Diggs secretly because unless this therapist had been previously vetted by Keith, he wasn't allowed and he hadn't. Keith doesn't particularly care for Suzanne. His sister. Yes, because she was someone that, well, actually, I don't want to speak for why he likes her
Starting point is 01:29:55 and why he doesn't. I just know Suzanne was the one family member who if Keith did something shitty to me or he was rude to me, she'd stick up for me and she'd go, no, no, no, don't do that. That's like if you're at an event or something or there was a long time ago, while we were married, Susanna said, Keith, an email saying I've picked up on some really bad behavior. And Sherry's told me about some things. And I'd like to talk about that because you're going down a really dangerous road and I don't like what I see, but I love you and I'm here for you. So can
Starting point is 01:30:31 we talk about it? What's their age difference? A couple of years. Oh, close. I think three years. Oh, that's close. Yeah. And he ghosted her and started cutting communication. And then suddenly I wasn't allowed to go spend the night at Suzanne's house anymore. And I wasn't allowed to see communication. And then suddenly I wasn't allowed to go spend the night at Suzanne's house anymore.
Starting point is 01:30:45 And I wasn't allowed to see Suzanne and there was this alienation that happened between her and I. And then I reached out to Suzanne because I hadn't seen my therapist in a while and I really needed that. And so she connected me with Dr. Diggs. And in fact, there was a time,
Starting point is 01:31:04 it was like when maybe we had like a couple months of therapy sessions, so we'd met with each other maybe three or four times. And it was in the studio. So I would have these Zoom sessions, right? And I closed the sliding glass door and I locked it because we were about to start talking about some of the more sexual issues that I was suffering. And Keith tried the door
Starting point is 01:31:27 and it was locked. And so he's outside the door now, banging on the door, screaming at me through the door, not knowing that the laptop is open. And I have a doctor and his sister on the other end while he's banging down the door and screaming at me. Now, Dr. Diggs doesn't treat Keith, so he can't talk about it, but I had two witnesses of Keith banging down the door and screaming at me just because the door was locked, because I didn't want the kids to walk in on that conversation.
Starting point is 01:31:57 And then he found out what I was doing and tried to shut it down immediately and said that, you know, this is my sister and this is Diggs and I don't get to be present during the therapy session so you absolutely cannot see him. So I just secretly see Dr. Diggs as well. And when you were in prison, was there any kind of therapy they offered you there? Not particularly. They're not, you know, you would think that they're trying to rehabilitate to try and lower the rate of recidivism. So reoffending, but no, not really. The therapy
Starting point is 01:32:33 that I got was getting engaged with some very incredible women, sharing stories and having moments of deep vulnerability and really experiencing some deep relationships with some really incredible women in there. You keep in touch with some of them? Within the parameters of my current probation. Okay. Yeah. Not really.
Starting point is 01:32:55 Yeah. Well, that's good. Yeah. What was the food like? Oh my gosh, disgusting. So I had a job. When you go to prison, you have to work. And when I say work, I mean it's hard labor and you get 12 cents an hour to do it and you're working
Starting point is 01:33:12 eight, 10, 12 hour days in the heat in the desert of Victorville. And so I had this job for a short period of time at the food service warehouse. So on the compound, we have maximum security prisons, so murderers and rapists and child molesters in the men's compound. We'd hear the rubber bullets flying and the riots. Oh, the men's was near you? I could see it from the track. Oh.
Starting point is 01:33:36 Yeah, you could see them. Terrifying. Oh, it was horrifying. And like I said, you can hear them from the compound. And then we had two medium security locations that were on the same compound as well. So at the food service warehouse, the females took care of it. The prison camp, it's all run by inmates. There's no staff there. There's guards that do the count,
Starting point is 01:33:54 but we run the entire facility. So we're at the food service warehouse, which means I'm handling the food and building the pallets. I'm lifting these huge 50 pound bags and trying to distribute it to all the men's facilities as well. And I noticed some food, it's like, not just a couple weeks expired, it's like years expired. And then there's other boxes that say not for human consumption. So we're like eating the meat that would be made into like dog food or you know I watch these other women drive a forklift into a bag and all the frozen meat would come out and then they just stuff it back in and wrap it with tape or like there was a time where we get the shredded pork right yeah and there was like a nipple like a full cow or pig. It's so bad.
Starting point is 01:34:45 It's so bad. Would you just luckily like your parents would just give you the money on the books and you just have ramen or what did you have? Like what could you get from the little concessions? Yeah, you know, prison's expensive because if you don't have commissary, if you're just indigent, you have nothing. Because you have to buy shampoo and you have to buy toothpaste and you have to buy a brush and all of these, like you have to buy shower shoes. They don't just give them to
Starting point is 01:35:11 you. The Federal Bureau of Presidents is a business and they make a lot off of the inmates that are there. So it's like you'd get out and you'd go to a grocery store and how much do you think you spend on toothpaste, for example? For a big tube, I guess, whatever, $3.99. It's probably about $12 in prison. And you have no other options. I had friends and family that were assisting putting money on my commissary. Did you have guys reaching out and wanting to be your boyfriend?
Starting point is 01:35:46 I got the weirdest mail. I have an entire box full of the weirdest mail that I got in prison. I also got a lot of support too. There were a lot of people that were like clearly there's more to the story. Because at this point we hadn't ever heard you say, I'm not lying. Right. We, you went to prison, us thinking, because we didn't really hear you go, no, I didn't want this. We never heard it until now. So then we hear the promotion for the Mac show
Starting point is 01:36:16 and it's like, oh my God, now she says, yes, it was him, but I didn't, but I was kidnapped by him, by James. And so when they reach out to you, you decide to do it, and are you pleased with the result? Like when you watched it back, obviously you did a lot more footage that didn't make it. So are you happy with how they place the story or do you wish they would have done it differently?
Starting point is 01:36:48 It was a complicated process. So in the documentary, you watch me go from like, I mean, obviously you see that it's taken a year, you watch my hair grow out and you watch my body change a little bit because it took an entire year to film the documentary. And you kind of watch me go from being poised and demure and fairly quiet to like really,
Starting point is 01:37:11 and so irritated and agitated. Because again, my director was lovely. She did an amazing job and she was absolutely incredible, but we were not friends. There was no comfort there. It was, we're pushing to see how honest she is. And they did. They pushed, it was grueling.
Starting point is 01:37:29 It was incredibly grueling. And I gave them full access to everything for just that point and gave them everything that I had in every capacity. But it really is, it's grueling to go through, similar to this process, but interview after interview, after interview, after stunt, after thing. I mean, it was incredibly grueling. And you did a lie detector test during that time. I did. I can't remember what was the results that you passed it or what happened.
Starting point is 01:38:00 I think that the docu-series demonstrates a really stark difference between what we hear from law enforcement, which is that James Ray has passed his polygraph and they say with flying colors or he passed every question, for example. And what you see in my polygraph is that it shows that there's a result that was a little bit sticky, right? Because I experienced quite a lot of shame. What that shows is my body has a response to a lie or not even necessarily a lie, but when you bring up a subject, my body is showing a response, which means, which demonstrates I'm not a sociopath. And it demonstrates
Starting point is 01:38:41 that there's still quite a lot of shame or remorse or something in there. To say that someone has passed their polygraph with flying colors with absolutely no showing any lie or expression in any way kind of leads one to believe that there's not something right up there because taking a polygraph is exceptionally difficult. Yeah. It's a very cruel process. Which is why it's not used, you know. Right. up there because taking a polygraph is exceptionally difficult. It's a very cruel process. Which is why it's not used, you know, in court. So you get out, you leave the halfway house and I did see that you had a boyfriend, Daily
Starting point is 01:39:17 Mail picked it up, but you're no longer with him, right? And what was, can you speak on that? Like how is, did it end amicably or what's going on? Because I saw you were in court about something about the housing situation. That is a whole sad situation that's going on. So unfortunately we did not work out for a number of reasons and I haven't really spoken about that relationship much, but in my opinion, there's a lot that he needs to work on
Starting point is 01:39:58 with himself and the ending of our relationship was really unfortunate. Right now we're trying to come to some kind of a settlement and agreement for the location that I'm staying in. And it's wrapped up with a lot of immature behaviors and a lot of unfortunate circumstances surrounding it. And I'm trying so hard to be as amicable as possible and as kind as possible. And it's really hard when you have someone who's trying to hurt you at every turn and trying to harm you at every turn.
Starting point is 01:40:32 And it ended really badly. It ended with a lot of sneaky stalking behavior and a lot of control and a lot of things that I didn't expect. I've been through quite a lot of abuse, but they come in so many different forms. And this passive aggressive covert abuse, I'm so used to the overt abuse. I really didn't see it coming. And I'm trying the best that I can to get through this as quietly as possible, but it's just not happening anymore. Yeah. And so are you dating anyone now? Right now, my primary focus is Tyler and Violet. That's where my heart is right now. It's difficult to really have any time for that because I kind of, I started getting engaged in dipping my toe in that and it's clear that
Starting point is 01:41:31 I really need to focus on tie and buy and on moving forward with my life. And is Keith with anyone? I have no idea. I have no idea. And so, you know, we see in the documentary, we wish you the best with getting regaining, you know, 50-50 custody. I'm hopeful. I mean, that's what it should be. Yeah. I mean, that's what it should be for everybody unless you really are an abusive parent, you
Starting point is 01:42:00 know. So I don't know why that's not happening for you, but I hope it works out. It just takes time. Yeah, it just takes time. We have to have a trial to have the ruling and we haven't had that yet. So it's just gone on and on and on and on. And he's delayed. He's really good at delaying in the court. And he's also really good at not following court orders. And it was, do you feel that the documentary, like getting your story out, going and doing some press is, I would think it would help your case. Do you think it'll help?
Starting point is 01:42:29 Well, you see- Sharing your story. You see in the Hulu documentary, right, that my kids are completely exploited. In the one that he did. Yeah, it's like borderline, in my opinion, it's borderline child abuse, how much they were exploited. It's absurd how much they were in the documentary. And when I had gone to the director,
Starting point is 01:42:46 when they were interested in my piece, I said, I absolutely will not participate in any way if you have my children in here. I do not want my children in here. So anything that you have has to be blurred. They have to be muted. I do not want my children in here in any way. I wanna protect them as much as possible
Starting point is 01:43:01 because they just got horrendously exploited in the last documentary. And that was really valuable to me and really important. When they came to you, the the Max Doc people, did they know what your story was, what your truth was that you... because like I said we just thought that you admitted to the lie. It didn't make a lot of sense, but we're like, whatever. Obviously, she's crazy. And you know what I mean? So did they get word from anybody else?
Starting point is 01:43:34 Like, you should do something on Sheri Papini because her story is great. Like, how did they know that there was so much more to this? Well, the director has done quite a few interviews, and I love so much what to this. Well, the director has done quite a few interviews and I love so much what she says. As she says, I made the story that I found. And so when we began the documentary, it's not mine, it's theirs, I was just a subject.
Starting point is 01:43:59 And so she pushed me really, she was trying the whole time to catch me in a lie and to see what she could find. And she literally made the story that she found. You know, there's bits and pieces in it that are still messy. And there's, I mean, the only, the only part that I thought, and I thought I was like, not a big gotcha is when you, when you said, I just tried to make those two women look like his mom and the cousin's wife, whatever. And she's like, well, do you know that the mom is not Mexican, she's English?
Starting point is 01:44:30 And you're like, oh, she is. I thought that was pretty awesome. Okay, I'm sorry. Like, you know, I was like, yeah. But I really feel like there was no other moment really. I don't think there was like, like, I don't know, but I could see that's, but I, you know, that's what makes it compelling
Starting point is 01:44:49 if it was too much, you know, because honestly when it came out, I was like, oh my gosh, this is kind of reminds me of Casey Anthony, then coming out and telling her story, which was a whole nother story. Like it was like, it was not only wasn't me, but it was this thing with my dad. And it was, it was just very,
Starting point is 01:45:11 it was like a whole nother story. And I was like, so is everybody just going to have documentaries where it's like a whole nother story, like five years later? And so in watching yours, I didn't feel like it, like it was that at all. And have, had you ever watched Gone Girl or read the book? Mm-mm.
Starting point is 01:45:31 No, I have now. Okay, but- Everybody calls me Gone Girl. So when they were saying it, you were like, what is this? I watched it and was like, oh my God, she killed somebody. Yeah. Like that's-
Starting point is 01:45:42 She kills the guy in the- Yeah. Right, right? And the only person in this entire story that got hurt was me. Yeah. Like that's it. She kills the guy in the end. Yeah. Right. Right. And the only person in this entire story that got hurt was me. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:45:50 It's crazy to be compared to the Gone Girl story. Right. Yeah. That's sad. That's really sad. Oh, now we have to cut this out. We have to cut it out. But were you compensated for the doc?
Starting point is 01:46:02 No. Subjects aren't paid. Oh. But were you compensated for the doc? No, subjects aren't paid. Oh, you know, it's interesting that you say that, because I've been on docs and I never asked to be paid, you know, because that's the way it is. If I did an ABC News nightline thing as a, you know, commentator, I didn't get paid. But I do know for certain docs, people do get paid. Because I've done like entertainment docs about things and then someone will go, what did they pay you?
Starting point is 01:46:31 And I'm like, I didn't ask. Well, okay. And that's why I was wondering if you did. They paid for my dinner. Right. Like they'd pay for my food and like my travel and stuff like that. Well, I'm glad that people know that.
Starting point is 01:46:46 Yeah. I'm almost... And the director says that too. I'm literally kind of sad because I'm like, you should... That's why everyone needs to buy the book because you should make somebody from this thing. Thank you. And the movie...
Starting point is 01:46:57 And the funds that are being made from the book are going to the government. I owe $300,000 in restitution. And there's a contract with the government. Wow. Yeah. So that's my hope. My hope is to pay my restitution. I'm enthusiastic about doing it as well. Well maybe there'll be another movie made.
Starting point is 01:47:18 Then you'll make your money and more. The industry has made millions of dollars. It's time that we do yours acted out. It can do this scene. I'll play myself. You have a very colorful divorce attorney. Not your typical attorney type. She's so fantastic.
Starting point is 01:47:36 The father daughter like team. I was like, I mean, I really kind of made the doc pop because you're like, what? Like, I thought that, I mean, she seemed like a badass, but you know, when you think of an attorney, you don't think of someone with like crazy blonde hair, tatted up arm, but she was great. She's incredible.
Starting point is 01:47:56 Chase has for sure been a driving force for me because when I start losing it and I start just getting so hopeless, she reminds me that there's so many people that support me in my community. And there's so many people that sure are curious about it and have a lot of questions, but that are really supportive because she has such a vast connection to our community. She's really up in the opinion of our community. And Chase has been exceptional at keeping me motivated
Starting point is 01:48:26 and understanding because it's grueling going to court and doing this year after year and still being in supervised visitation and him still not answering the phone even though there's court orders for them and him doing whatever he wants. Chase has really been very stoic in keeping me going and making sure that we keep the fight. Well, I hope that you can regain 50% custody. I hope that you may- Well, I'm sure you'll hear about it. I mean, I hope that you, at some point,
Starting point is 01:49:05 your kids have two healthy parents that maybe get other partners, that maybe if he got another partner that's lovely to you and lovely to your kids, like maybe there's a future of that. In the process, it's an incredible story of what happened, media fascination, being the pretty blonde girl that went missing where people say the pretty blondes get way more attention than women
Starting point is 01:49:35 of color and children of color and all of that. And then the world turning, like let's burn her to the stake kind of a situation. And then going through like six years of going of like laying in bed at night and being like in my every good like, I don't even know how like the stress that you must have felt all those years knowing that you were keeping this lie. And did you ever fear that James would come and try to get you again or try to contact you again? I still do. I still do. I mean, the day that the documentary came out
Starting point is 01:50:19 was a really hard day. It's still hard. You know, it's like I've suffered from PTSD for so long and it's like all flooding back. My sleep has not been the same since the doc has come out because now it's now it's all out. And it's not just James, it's Keith too. And, and it's what's going to happen when I regain my kids and he starts to lose, then it gets really dangerous. How old are your children now? Preteens. Okay.
Starting point is 01:50:46 Well, you know, when they're once they're 13, isn't it? Don't they have a real say? It's case to case. Okay. Well, I'm going to pray for you. I think you, you know, are a very good mom. And I think kids need to be with both parents and need to know both parents and I don't think people benefit.
Starting point is 01:51:09 I just don't think he's thought of that. I don't think he's considered because he's tried so hard to just annihilate me. I don't think he thought about me not giving up. I think he just thought that that hulu doc was going to make me run away and give up on the kids. And I don't think he, you know, he spent so many years trying to break me down and break me and make me feel like I was nothing without him. I don't think he counted on that I was stronger without him and that I can endure without him. And I think that he thought that I was just going to run for the hills and I'm not. My kids are far
Starting point is 01:51:43 more important to me and I love them way more than I dislike him. And I don't think he's thought about what it's going to be like when I get them back and have to sit next to him at assemblies and basketball games. Because I'm- You don't have to sit next to him. I'm putting in all the work- You can sit on the other side and you know, you can sit three rows back. Right, but we're going to have to co-parent. Yes, you're going to have to co-parent. You know, and he sit three rows back. Right, but we're gonna have to co-parent. Yes, you're going to have to co-parent. He's caused so much destruction, not just for me, but with the kids.
Starting point is 01:52:08 And we have one parent that's trying and it's putting in all the work and doing all the right things for the kids. And you have another parent who just really isn't. So I don't think he's ever considered that he's gonna lose anything. Well, you know, you're never gonna give up. Never.
Starting point is 01:52:24 And they're going to realize it. Hopefully while they're still young and you can parent them, but they will, they will, they always get it. They always get it. And I mean, so- And time with my kids when they've reached mature adulthood is going to be longer. Yeah. Than the time that they're littles.
Starting point is 01:52:43 And they'll, they probably know far more than we understand. Yeah. Than the time that they're littles. And they'll probably know far more than we understand. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, everybody. The book is Sherry Papini Doesn't Exist. And buy it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to start reading it tonight. And where can they get it?
Starting point is 01:53:02 You can get it at sherrypapiniBook.com or you can purchase it on Amazon. On Amazon, there are a few books, exploitative pieces, where people have written books about me. This is written by me. So just make sure that you get that one and not one of the others or buy them all. And then, I don't know, go deeper than I've gone. Don't give them your money.
Starting point is 01:53:22 Don't give them your money. They're exploiting me. But get this one. SherryPapini money. Don't give them your money. They're exploiting me. But get this one. Sherrypapinibook.com are the most reliable links. Yes. But you can also find Sherrypapini doesn't exist on Amazon as well. Awesome.
Starting point is 01:53:33 Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for having me. You answered so many questions and I hope you enjoyed your time here. Yeah. Sorry to make you cry a few times. Oh, it's okay. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:53:44 This episode of Juicy Scoop is brought to you by Booking.com, Booking.Yeah. Whether you're booking for yourself, your partner, your picky teens, or your sleep light mother-in-law, you can find exactly what you're booking for on Booking.com. What I really love about a vacation is at the end of it, you all had a great time because you chose the right place. So if my family can find the perfect stay on booking.com, anyone can. Find exactly what you're booking for, booking.com, booking.yeah, book today on the site
Starting point is 01:54:19 or in the app. Hey, it's Bobbi from The Really Good Podcast. I don't get excited about much, but I am counting down the days because Prime Day is coming. From July 8th through 11th, Prime members can shop some of the best deals of the year on Amazon. Prime Day is now four whole days, basically a lifetime in internet years, which means
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Starting point is 01:55:05 Hey, it's Bobbi from the Really Good Podcast. I don't get excited about much, but I am counting down the days because Prime Day is coming. From July 8th through 11th, Prime members can shop some of the best deals of the year on Amazon. Prime Day is now 4 whole days, basically a lifetime in internet years, which means more time for spontaneous finds you'll feel great about. I've been using the same curling iron since high school. It smokes and somehow I'm still here saying she's fine. On Prime Day, beauty products like fancy curlers will be on a deal because it's finally time to retire the vintage fire hazard I've been clinging to.
Starting point is 01:55:35 Whether it's a sleek new kitchen gadget or something stylish and sparkly, Prime Day is your moment to explore and discover your next favorite Amazon find. So don't forget, shop great deals this Prime Day, July 8th through 11th. Get ready to treat yourself. You'll be glad you did.

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