Sherri Papini’s Ex Speaks Out Ahead of Perfect Wife Premiere

Keith Papini, Sherri Papini’s ex-husband, is speaking out for the first time since Sherri was arrested in 2022 for orchestrating her own kidnapping hoax. In 2016, Sherri made national headlines after claiming she was kidnapped, beaten and branded by two Hispanic women who ultimately freed her after three weeks. Her story faced intense scrutiny at the time, but it wasn’t until 2022 that the Justice Department filed a criminal complaint claiming Sherri had lied and was living with an ex-boyfriend. friend while nationwide searches were underway.

“She made us all believe her story was true; every day she engaged in lying,” Keith Papini said in a new interview with Hello America while promote the next documentary Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. Keith was the person who discovered Sherri missing after she failed to pick up their two children from daycare. He found her phone and headphones on the road a mile from their home and called the police to report her missing. When Sherri returned home 22 days later, her story immediately caught the attention of some people since there appeared to be no motive for the kidnapping. At the time, Keith refused to give any credence to these questions.

“We are not going to allow these people to take away our spirit, our love or our rejoicing over our daughter found alive and the home she belongs to,” he said in a statement upon his return. “I understand that people want the story, the photos, the proof that this wasn’t some sort of hoax, a money-making scheme or a manufactured race war. I don’t see the point in tackling every absurd lie.

Now, Keith has revealed that he wasn’t as confident in Sherri’s story as he seemed. “When I pulled the curtain and I saw her and I saw her look, I felt at that moment that she was lying,” he said. GMAIt’s Matt Gutman. “It wasn’t until I got really close and I could see the amount of wounds, bruises and burns on his body, and it was a shock to me. I remember thinking, It’s horrible of me to think that she could have done this to herself..”

In 2022, Sherri signed a plea agreement admitting the kidnapping was a hoax and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for mail fraud and lying to a federal agent. Shortly after Sherri pleaded guilty, Keith filed for divorce. She was released from prison after ten months. In a strange twist to an already strange story, Sherri was briefly back in the spotlight two weeks ago after being namechecked on Eminem’s latest song, “Houdini.” “Caught sleeping and seeing the kidnapping never happened / Like Sherri Papini, Harry Houdini / I disappear into thin air as I leave,” he raps on the track.

When asked if Sherri had ever apologized to him or their children, Keith said no. “No never. She has no remorse that I’ve ever seen or seen,” he said, later noting that he was doing his best to move on from the ordeal. “I think it will always be there we want to move past this. I want to give my children an extraordinary childhood, but I think it will always be there.