A disturbing true story behind the new Lifetime movie inspired by a Michigan mother who bullied her own daughter online with heartbreaking messages telling her to ‘kill herself’

• Mommy Meanest tells the story of a mother who bullied her daughter
• It’s inspired by Kendra Gail Licari who pleaded guilty to her crimes.
• She assumed a false identity and cyberbullied her child and her boyfriend

A new Lifetime movie has exposed the horrific case of a mother secretly bullying her own daughter online for years.

The film is inspired by Kendra Gail Licari, who was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison for assuming a false identity and cyberbullying her teenage daughter and her boyfriend.

Mommy Meanest premiered on Lifetime on May 11, and the true story behind the film left viewers stunned by the extreme lengths the 42-year-old Michigan-based mother went to inflict fear on her child without any known pattern.

A year after Kendra pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment of a minor, Lifetime decided to present this disturbing case in the film inspired by the mother – played by Lisa Rinna but named Madelyn from Mommy Meanest – who has constantly targeted his own child and even accompanied him. her child to the police station to report the crime.

In the film, Lisa plays a divorced high school choir teacher named Madelyn.

Madelyn’s daughter is played by Lisa’s real-life daughter, Briana Skye, known as Mia in the film.

The film follows Mia and her high school boyfriend who are violently harassed by an online stalker who sends messages to the teenager asking her to “kill herself.”

However, the cruel tyrant was not a stranger at all. In a shocking twist, the person sending Mia text messages telling her she was poor and ugly, among other vile statements, was her mother.

The film’s real-life inspiration, Kendra, gained national attention last year when she pleaded guilty to the crime.

In April 2023, Kendra was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months in prison after admitting to two counts of harassment of a minor, according to The Morning Sun.

Sentencing him, Judge Mark Duthie admitted the “truly horrific” case had shown him “the worst in human nature”.

He added: “I can’t imagine a parent saying such horrible things to their own daughter.”

Kendra was arrested in December 2022 after sending thousands of cyberbullying messages to her daughter over several months.

An arrest warrant obtained by NBC News at the time said the text messages were “specific in nature.”

“Most messages contain hateful language and contain terms such as ‘kill yourself…’ Many messages repeat this same language,” the report said.

Kendra went to great lengths to try to hide the fact that she was the mastermind behind the messages, even manipulating them to make it look like they came from a victim’s phone.

Although Kendra did not reveal the motive for her crime, in the film the mother bullies her daughter because she does not want her to become more independent.

At the time, Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi called the texts “humiliating, demoralizing and just plain nasty” in an interview with WKRC.

He noted that it was “almost hard to believe” because they collected more than 349 pages of evidence against her.

Once arrested, Kendra made a full confession and accepted a plea deal, leading the prosecutor to drop three additional charges against her: one count of obstruction and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.

At her sentencing, the Michigan-based mother admitted she was “ashamed, remorseful and embarrassed.”

Kendra’s defense attorney revealed that she began taking parenting classes as well as counseling.

The lawyer also revealed that the mother suffered from mental illness after undergoing a psychiatric examination.

According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Kendra will be eligible for parole on November 3, 2024.

The maximum release date for the mother is April 3, 2028.

Fans can now stream Mommy Meanest on Lifetime.