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A hopeful mum-to-be, who owns 15 reborn dolls to "practise" parenting, fears that the recent scandal involving Kira Cousins and her fake baby reinforces the stereotype that doll owners are "crazy". Jess Ellis, 29, began creating and collecting these incredibly lifelike dolls after a struggle with PCOS made it difficult for her to conceive. The content creator finds them "beautiful" to look at and believes they trigger similar hormonal responses as those experienced by mothers caring for newborns. However, reborn dolls have been thrust into controversy this week following revelations that Kira Cousins, 22, allegedly faked giving birth using one of these dolls. Reports suggest she received hundreds of pounds worth of gifts before her family discovered that her newborn daughter was in fact a doll. Cousins stands accused of donning a prosthetic baby bump, sharing ultrasound images, throwing a gender reveal party, and even posting a video of the 'baby' kicking. While Jess does not condone Cousins' alleged actions, she suspects that Cousins may have experienced some form of loss beforehand. Jess, an HR business partner from Newham, London, expressed: "I absolutely cannot condone what she's done. "It's really awful to do to your family, having said that, I wonder if she's had some sort of mental breakdown or something. A mentally well person does not do that kind of thing. "I've seen a lot of people talking about her online and I think she needs some help." Jess started her collection in May 2020, finding solace in the dolls during the loneliness of the pandemic. Her inaugural doll, Rebecca, set her back £250 - and she swiftly expanded her collection with newborns Zain, Sam, Annalese and Aria. Altogether, Jess has splashed out more than £6k on baby accessories to date. The soothing properties of these dolls stem from their "weighted" sensation and the therapeutic ritual of dressing them. Jess also maintains they trigger comparable maternal hormones to genuine babies – providing solace for women battling fertility issues or couples who've experienced pregnancy loss. However, she's concerned that Cousins' alleged behaviour might give people misconceptions about reborn dolls. She explained: "Most of the time people get a reborn because they like the dolls, but they are also used for some kind of grief and they can be very beneficial. "I worry that when stories like this come out that it's reinforcing that people who have reborn dolls are crazy and that we think they are real and that we're trying to trick our family and friends and that's not the case at all. "I've seen people who have used them for grief but not pass them off as real, I've never seen that before." Jess, who creates content about the dolls across her TikTok and YouTube channels, reports she's yet to encounter any hostile feedback. She continued: "I haven't had any backlash so far - I made a video about this story, so we'll see what kind of comments I get." For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .
