Kidnapping hoaxer Sherri Papini insists she was ‘tortured’ for weeks, in first interview since disappearance

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Dr. Phil calls out Sherri Papini for laughing as she lied about being chained

Dr. Phil spoke with guests about the case of Sherri Papini, who infamously faked her own kidnapping. 

The California mother who staged her own kidnapping in 2016 is speaking out for the first time since her disappearance nine years ago in a new documentary series.

Sherri Papini, dubbed “the perfect wife,” pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges related to faking her own kidnapping six years prior, but the California mom of two is insisting that she was, indeed, kidnapped, tortured and branded in the 2016 incident that prosecutors said she staged herself.

“Haven’t you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?” Papini asks in a trailer for the new docuseries, “Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie.”

“I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured, I was branded, I was chained to a wall. All that is true. I did keep some secrets from you, though,” she says in the trailer.

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Papini’s family reported her missing on November 2, 2016, after she had left home for a jog in Redding. Family members had grown concerned after she never picked up her children from day care and her husband discovered her cellphone and headphones along the road. 

She reappeared around Thanksgiving in 2016, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. She was still wearing bindings, and her injuries included a battered nose, ligature marks, burns, rashes and a branding on her right shoulder. 

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Sherri Papini departs a child custody hearing in Redding, California, on Friday, March 21, 2025. Papini previously served 18 months in federal prison for faking her own kidnapping in 2016. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Papini claimed to have been kidnapped and held at gunpoint by the two women and told a tale of her time in captivity. 

FAMED CALIFORNIA KIDNAPPING HOAXER SHERRI PAPINI BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO SCHOOLMATE’S 1998 DISAPPEARANCE

However, during repeated interviews, she changed her story or was not able to provide key details, investigators alleged. 

Sherri Papini, center, leaves the federal courthouse after federal judge William Shubb sentenced her to 18 months in federal prison, in Sacramento, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Police determined that DNA found on Papini after her disappearance belonged to her former boyfriend, James Reyes. When confronted with that information in a different August 2020 interview previously obtained by Fox News Digital, Papini became distressed.

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Papini claimed she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. She was still wearing bindings, and her injuries included a battered nose, ligature marks, burns, rashes and a branding on her right shoulder.  (CBS screenshot)

She apparently begged her husband and police not to pursue charges against one of her fake abductors before confronting her with the fact that her abductors did not exist at all.

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The new documentary, which premieres on May 26 and May 27 starting at 9 p.m. EST, revisits the case, retracing Papini’s last steps leading up to her disappearance to her arrest in 2022.

Sherri Papini disappeared and later claimed she had been kidnapped. (Fox News)

“For the first time, Papini will share her account of events as she recalls them, offering rare insights into her mindset during her disappearance and the subsequent investigation into her abduction claims upon her return home,” a press release from ID states. “‘SHERRI PAPINI: CAUGHT IN THE LIE‘ will also chronicle the aftermath of her 2022 guilty plea that Papini continues to navigate, including her present custody battle with her ex-husband, Keith Papini, as she seeks joint custody of their children.”

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Papini, now 42, pleaded guilty in April to two of the 35 total counts she was charged with — for engaging in mail fraud and making false statements to a federal office, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her costly scheme. 

Sherri Papini departs a child custody hearing in Redding, California, on Friday, March 21, 2025. Papini previously served 18 months in federal prison for faking her own kidnapping in 2016. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

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She is currently engaged in a legal battle with her ex-husband for visitation rights with their two children. 

In addition to her sentence, Papini agreed to restitution payments of up to $300,000. More specifically, she was ordered to pay nearly $149,000 to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, at least $127,568 to the Social Security Administration, $30,694 to the California Victims Compensation Board and more than $2,500 to the FBI, according to court papers.

Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.