Sherri Papini Claims She Was Having 'Emotional Affair' — and 'Prison Was Far Safer' Than Husband Finding Out

Sherri Papini is speaking out — again. 

In a new interview with ABC News, the California woman accused of faking her own kidnapping in 2016 says she was trapped in an emotional spiral — and was willing to go to prison rather than face her husband with the truth. 

In a recent Investigation Discovery docuseries released last month, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, Papini claimed for the first time that she actually was abducted — just not by two Latina women, as she first told investigators. 

Instead, she alleged that her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, had taken and held her against her will — a dramatic reversal of earlier admissions. 

“To be clear, there was one thing that I lied about,” Papini told ABC News’ Juju Chang. “Everything else was accurate and true. I lied about the identity of my captor.”

Her soon-to-be self-published memoir, Sherri Papini Doesn’t Exist, further details this account. 

“There are several versions of what happened out there, several versions. This is mine. This is my words. It’s backed by loads and loads of evidence. And it’s, my heart is in it. It’s vulnerable,” Papini said. “My story isn’t even done.”

Papini pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2022 — one count of making false statements and one count of mail fraud. In a signed plea agreement, she conceded that she had not been kidnapped and that she stayed voluntarily with her ex-boyfriend during the 22 days she was reported missing.  

Now, Papini claims that she was in an emotionally abusive and controlling marriage to her then-husband, Keith Papini, which he vehemently denies. In the ID documentary, Papini pointed to a post-nuptial agreement she signed, which gave Keith full custody of their two children in the event of physical or emotional infidelity.

She lied about the identity of her captor, she said in her interview with ABC, out of fear of her husband and Reyes. 

“Prison was far safer than the consequences that I would suffer if my ex-husband found out I was having an emotional affair,” Sherri Papini said. “I’d prefer prison over telling Keith Papini that I was having an emotional affair.”

In the ID documentary, Papini explained that she had a months-long emotional affair with Reyes before, she claims, he kidnapped her on Nov. 2, 2016. Reyes has not returned People’s requests for comment, but has previously rebuked these claims; he was never charged with a crime. 

“James Reyes was interviewed extensively by the FBI and Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit,” the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News. “Not only was he fully cooperative and forthright with his answers, but he passed a polygraph in verifying his statements.”

Papini’s initial story began to unravel after male DNA was found on the underwear she was wearing when she reappeared by the side of a rural road — with a chain around her waist and a bible verse branded into her shoulder. 

In 2020, investigators traced that DNA back to Reyes with the help of genetic genealogy. 

In the interview, Papini urged her ex-boyfriend to “tell the truth,” saying that she hopes he’ll eventually come forward and corroborate her version of events.

“It’s time to tell the truth. I’ve done it. I’ve suffered for it. You watched me burn for it, go to prison, and lose custody of my children and ruin my entire life,” she said. “And it’s time to come forward and tell the truth to everyone. He knows what happened.”

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Papini told ABC that she is speaking out now because, for the first time, she feels “free.”

“I’m not actually asking anyone to believe anything. I just, I’m free now,” she said. “And I have the capacity to speak for myself without being afraid and without having to lie, and not being as fearful as I have been before.”

Keith Papini filed for divorce in 2022, shortly after Papini was charged criminally; currently, he and his ex-wife are embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their two children. 

“You have to love your children more than you hate your ex,” Papini said when asked what message she wanted to send to her ex husband. “Just love them more than your hate for me.”

Sherri Papini Doesn’t Exist is currently available for pre-order and will be published on June 26, according to Papini’s website.