Just watched this. Absolutely fucking wild. An absolute psychopath imo.
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I will watch this tonight!
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Don’t read any spoilers or anything about the case in advance!
Spoilers
Summary
Had heard about the story at the time when jt was in the news but forgot about it until later on in the documentary when I remembered. Probably bc the mum was in the doc to start with framed like a normal mum helping her kid, it threw me off. What a vile woman, she was defending herself too and making excuses, no remorse. And the shit she was saying was so disgusting. I don’t buy that it’s like munchausens by proxy and she was hurting her daughter to make her rely on her and isolate her, bc she was sexualising the boy dating her daughter and stalking him and any girl talking to him. She was jealous of her daughter for dating the boy and wanted that child for herself. She’s a paedophile and a very evil woman. The doc tried to humanise her with the munchausens by proxy shite and the crap about her childhood. No, she’s an evil predator who knowingly did what she did and took care to use her IT skills to conceal her evil. I’m sure like other munchausens by proxy parents she enjoyed being the hero coming to the rescue of her child, but she’s more than that, she’s a paedophile
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Honestly think it’s both tbh and she was able to indulge in her fantasies about the boyfriend at the same time as using it all to make not just her daughter but the husband too reliant on her. The daughter is still completely brainwashed and clearly heavily medicated during some of her interviews. Beneath all the scandal and WTF of it all, it’s all just pretty sad tbh
Summary
So sad, seeing the girl struggling to process when she finds out its her mum while the mum is smothering her with kisses and hugs was so uncomfortable and sad, that poor child. Idk why this mum gets access to her kid still and is not behind bars still
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I agree mostly. One of my main thoughts towards the end though was that putting her in prison literally benefits nobody. The daughter is still massively traumatised and able to communicate with her abuser, the mum hadn’t learned anything or been rehabilitated in any way, the boyfriend and his family are still scarred by it all. She should be in hospital more than prison imo
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My wife was watching this in the next room while I was playing video games. I kept hearing little snippets until eventually I was more listening to the doc than playing the game and in the end went and watched it with her.
Crazy story.
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this is what I found interesting, I noticed that only the Dad had any reaction to it while the daughter just sat in the chair. Either that or heavily in denial about it?
I wondered if at some point the mother confessed, perhaps to make sure Lauren knew it wasn’t a real threat, but manipulated Lauren into thinking it was for the best somehow. Eg, ‘this will show you who your real friends are’, or ‘if he loved you then he’d be able to get past it, the whole thing was a test’. The kid had no reaction at all and only seemed upset when her dad entered the equation to kick her mum out of the house.
Oh also I think the first number around the time of the Halloween party was the mum’s work phone, and then she couldn’t use it after getting fired, hence switching to her personal
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Gonna watch this tonight, thanks!
I absolutely love Catfish and various catfishing documentaries. As staged as the show is, there’s always a human story at the centre of it and I find them so fascinating.
For folks who already watched, there was an in-depth article in The Cut a while back that goes over some stuff the doc didn’t
Spoiler in case the link gives anything away Why Did Kendra Licari Cyberbully Her Own Daughter for Years?
Oh yeah the link contains a big spoiler, don’t unspoiler until you’ve seen it
20 mins in and just want to get down my guess It’s the one of their mums, probably the girl
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What is it on?
Netflix
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Genuinely, the culprit is a real creepy, sinister psycho
That’s the Sweet Take with me, your host, SB.
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Just thought it was really upsetting 
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Agreed, just made me feel sad for everyone involved. Not enough time has passed / Lauryn isn’t old enough to fully reckon with what happened. I think she needs no contact with her mam, who is a genuinely unwell person who hasn’t fully admitted either the extent or the reasoning behind what she did. Felt icky having her in the documentary, or indeed making a documentary about it at all when so many of the participants are still so young.
Do love the name Bill Chillman though. Bet people call him the Big Chill
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But really, people break the law all the time right, so who are we to judge?
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