Wind Down with Janet Kramer and I'm Heart Radio Podcast.
All right, So I gotta be honest, I'm having a difficult time with this because as an interviewer, you should have an unbiased opinion.
I believe. I believe that just interview somebody, yep.
I think that you should not come in with judgment, not come in with preconceived opinions. And most of the time, like you know, when we've had people like Whitney on who was very much like she was the.
How do we say that?
Like the what would they call her on that the first season of The Secret Antagonist? Yeah, and it's like where we could go in and be like, oh, I don't really know about her and we might feel it, but you still want to be warm and kind and give her the platform to be able to say what she wants to say. Yeah, have her truth, her story. And I feel like that should go. I mean, the best people that I've seen interview, like a Barbara Walters, you know, it's like they I don't feel like they ever.
From what I.
Watched as a kid watching twenty twenty, I never really saw them having judgment. I would agree, right, Okay, So with this it's like, I know we're a podcast, but we're still interviewing. Yeah, And I'm having a difficult time with this. If I'm honest with you and.
This, I really just want to go on the record for saying that you and I watched this entire documentary, but we have not spoken at all at all. We have not about this. So I don't know how you're entering this and you don't even have to tell me. Now, I think my I think you'll be surprised.
Let me be honest, and I'll be I'll be straight up honest with this, because again I'm teetering the line between I listen, I am no Barbara Walters, Okay, I have this podcast, and I think there's a difference between. I think it's two things can be true at once, right, So it's like, I have this podcast, and I have my opinions about certain things, and I want to be in to interview and give people the chance to have
their voices heard. Having said that, when I got this request for this interview, I said, no, that was actually going to be one of my questions to you. I said, I don't want to have her on. Can I ask why I don't believe her and it triggers something in me to have someone that lies given something that is freshly going on right now too. I have a and listen, I have lied countless times in my past. I am not by any means a saint or like I have
lie to people's faces. I've in my day back in the day, like having said that I have, you know, done my work and all the healing and all the things. But when I when I kind of started to research and then I watched the documentary, I was like, I wondered if this would be hard for you because of that, it triggers something post Mike Liars, I'm like, you're done.
You're done to me, You're dead to me, like you're I just I can see right through what you're doing, through the laugh, through the smile, like there's just And then so much so that something has recently happened with like a month or so ago, where this person was straight up lying and I'm watching it happen. I'm like, I know because I have proof, and you're lying through
your teeth right now. And it's like it then tended to have people then to tended to be interviewing someone that is a known liar.
A federally accused and found guilty liar. I'm just like, like lied to the FBI coming.
I don't want to sit in front of someone to be lied to again like I did it for years. I had someone lie to me for years to my face. I'm done, Like, I don't want to. I don't want to be like lied to. I feel that's my frustration and I'm making basing it. No, No, I felt the same thing. I started watching the documentary and I was like, I don't even want to give this chick my time.
But I will tell you. I think you'll be surprised at some compassion I have found where with miss Sherry. Really which piece you'll see?
Okay, okay, okay, okay, Well she's here, feed breaths, Let's get her.
Hello, Hi, how are you?
I'm good? How are you?
I am good? Cherry? We have a lot of questions.
First, not the only one, so yeah, and first and foremost, I just want to I'm curious because you know, obviously we watched the documentary. What and from what I've been told is that you didn't have editorial rights in piecing that together. So I'm curious as let's take you out of the equation, right, and you were a viewer sitting on the couch watching this show, how how do you think you were perceived in that and what as a viewer would you be thinking watching it?
Well, I watched at the same time that everybody else watched it, and that was absolutely terrifying because I had no idea how the edits were going to come together.
I certainly knew what my interviews were like. It was a year long process, and I knew what I had gone through and the excruciating process that I went through creating the film, but I had absolutely no idea how it was going to be edited and my direction sure that I worked with she continued to say, you know, we are going to do something very balanced, right, And so the primary objective of Sherry Pepini Cotton a Lie was every time you had something that made me look good,
they had to balance it with something that would make me look bad. For me, that's really scary because when you go in with this negative bias of how I've appeared online and the the reputation that I've had out there, it already kind of tips the scales a little bit. So it was pretty heartbreaking to watch for me to
watch how it came together. I'm proud of what I contributed to it, and I'm proud of even the you know, the moments that unfortunately are twisted or whatever, Like it's still all me in there, and it's still incredibly vulnerable, and I'm happy with what I can attributed to it.
Do you feel like it was balanced?
Well, again, I think when you already go into something with a level of negative bias, I think it generally can tip the scales one way or another. But yeah, I think so, Yeah, I think so.
I have Okay, So the one question that burns in me is a pretty intimate and it's a pretty heavy one. So I don't know how. I guess you can just say pass if you prefer not to, but I know, don't brace yourself. I'm a kind human, so I'm like the I'm not one that's going to like attack, so
the compassion part of me. So I watched the whole thing, and I felt like there was a part that they maybe didn't give enough time to, and that would be the childhood trauma piece and the sexual assault in your early I know you said early double digits, so maybe ten eleven, twelve, and so my question because I think that this deserves a little space because it sets a tone for all of your life, in my opinion, and
I have childhood trauma as well. It is not as significant is something as that, but I know how it has shaped me. The way I see things, the way I do things, the justice I seek, my inability to tolerate liars. That's no offense to our present guest, but there is things that trigger me because of the way I grew up. Do you feel like there was justice in the sexual assault that happened to you early on, because in the way the film is telling the story,
it was kind of swept under the rug. It felt like this family never talked about it, which I would say, we're the same age, so I would say that that generation of parenting is pretty good at sweeping and not
identifying and not really digging in. But I am now, I'm a mother of a nine year old, and I can't imagine that I am in your father's place and I walk in, as it's told on the documentary, he walks in to find this person sexually assaulting his daughter, and then there's not some sort of really deep dive into you as a human and as a little girl, little Sherry, and we're not working through that. So do you feel is there any parts of those stories that
you want to retell? I don't want to make you live a trauma, So that's why I'm careful in the way I'm wording this. But I'm really super interested in the non resolution that you got out of that maybe, and how that could further shape all of these events that now all of America is involved in.
I would say, for me, certainly, the bravery that it took for my parents to even speak about that, to feel comfortable coming out and being able to share that very deeply rooted family secret, that a significant amount of healing happened. So after I got out of prison and I moved back in with my mom and dad, you know, we were able to have family dinner every night, we were able to really dig very deep into therapy together,
and this beautiful healing, blossoming relationship occurred. And to me, that's really what I've always desired and what I've always needed. Coming out in a film that's going to be seen by millions of people, and my parents being willing to speak on what happened to me, that's it's pretty incredible. It's pretty incredible because there's you know, certainly with my dad, he's carried around this tremendous guilt and this tremendous shame.
Because we're older, it's not like there's anything that we even can do about it other than heal talk about it. He's given me a tre tremendous amount of grace with how it happened and the sweeping it under the rug and not talking about it when we were that age. We're talking about it now though, and it's become quite a comfortable conversation with my parents, and I'm really I'm really happy with the relationship that I have with the trauma now.
I know that this is kind of a hindsight question, so this may not be something you can even answer, but one of the psychologists in the film talks about how if that trauma, that trauma was not dealt with appropriately at the time, and how that does and we all know that just from existing in the world, if little Sherry was to get the treatment she needed and the healing and the emotional and mental support at the time of that incident, do you think that shapes who
you are now differently? And do we think that we even know who you are, because in my brain, I don't even think we know who you are if you had gotten the support at that time that you should have gotten and is that I you know?
And the thing too, to add on to that, it's like your friends from school were saying, you know, she was always saying she was going to leave and then make up lies and she was always lying about about stuff. Do you think those lies came because of that on field trauma?
Well, I think when the news story broke and everything came out, everyone wanted to jump on the bandwagon. So you know, you went to middle school, you went to high school. We weren't friends with everybody that we met. We weren't friends with everyone that we interacted with in school, and so when you have AM it's kind of like
confirmation bias. Right. So, if this is a particular story, if I have something that I want to talk about that's in the avenue of the story, I'm going to call and talk about what I have that contributes to the story. There's so much more to my life and there's so much more to the depth of my relationships. But it's like when they pick out certain things just
to fixate on this one issue that I had. It makes it really difficult because it's like there's other people in my life that I've had these exceptional relationships with, or even tumultuous tumultuous relationships with, and some of these people that came forward like they've done really terrible things and they are really horrible people, and now I have to come back and I have to be able to clean it up. And you know, there's a great example is there's an ex boyfriend that went on and said, oh,
she just likes to make up stories. And I'm like, you were cheating on your fiance and I didn't even know you were engaged, and yet you're being brought up in these news stories about me without evidence and just trying to trash me, when it's like your life is so incredibly horrific in and out of itself. So it's it's really I feel so mean girled all the time, and I feel so picked on all the time by these people who are just getting up and giving their
opinion without even providing evidence of it. It's just like rumor after rumor after rumor, and I've continued to try and demonstrate my remorse and my accountability for what I've done. But I'm done taking too much accountability and i am done trying to continue to defend myself when people come out with things that are just not true about me.
I think, honestly my interaction and watching it, I still was just having the hardest time trying to understand why the lie in the beginning. And I'm still kind of confused on that piece because I'm like, if I and I get, you know, to an extent, some of the stuff you were talking about, but it's like, if I knew I was gonna, did you have I guess I'm just I guess I'm just confused. I guess I'm just lost on why why even lie? Make up this thing? Because I'm like, you make up a lie because you're
trying to cover a shame piece. You're trying to cover up something that's That's when I lied. I lied to an ext boyfriend that I cheated on because I didn't want him to know the truth that I that I cheated, you know, and I made up this elaborate lie to cover up my own shame stuff. And so you know, that was what back in my twenties. But still it's like with this situation. It's like I still just don't understand why, Like I just I don't know if I
I just don't understand that. I don't. I don't understand where the lie even started. It was like a bad plan gone wrong, like did because obviously you were texting with this guy. I know you said it led to something else, but there's it's just doesn't something about it just I don't. It doesn't make sense. And I think that's maybe why other people don't believe the story, because it doesn't. It's hard to make sense of it.
The narrative that's out there prior to me coming forward is the part that doesn't make sense. I think now that I've come forward, and now that I'm able to be able to speak on what happened, it tracks and it aligns and it fills in all of the gaps of the why and the confusion. And are you talking
about the Hulu documentary that you watched or the HBO documentary? Okay, So for me, you know, I was carrying on this emotional affair and I got in over my head and was in a very dangerous situation, and then coming out of it and going back home, I was too afraid to tell my ex husband that I was having an emotional affair, and the story that was made up to cover up his identity, And that's all my story is. I've always maintained that I was kidnapped and tortured and brutalized,
always continue to say that that is what happened. I was just too afraid to come out and talk about his identity. I was too afraid because James was watching. I was afraid because I had already lied to law enforcement, and I was terrified to tell my ex husband that I was having an emotional affair. Because what you see
is happening right now. There's bits and pieces and details of my marriage that are starting to come out now, particularly starting with the documentary of the coercive control and the abuse that I was suffering in my marriage. And that's really all it was. I got into a dangerous situation and I was too afraid to tell my ex
husband that I was having an emotional affair. And now I'm not married anymore, and I'm not ashamed anymore, and I've taken accountability for what I've done, and so I'm able to very clearly talk about what happened, and why the lie was created, and how I'm picking up the pieces and rebuilding my life and moving forward from what happened.
What were you afraid Keith would do if you told him the truth before this abduction, if you were to just come because there's burner phones involved, So this is next level, sister. We got to be honest. Like I've we're in the music industry, We've seen some shady things, but like the burner.
Phone was a sex addict, so he had the burner phones. Like there's a level of like deep.
Yeah, So I want to know what were you nervous would happen? What would Keith do that you were nervous of if you were to tell the truth to him.
It's what you're seeing right now. So after after the details started to come out and I was arrested and I was released from jail, my defense attorney had a meeting with Keith and was trying to get him to understand why we would be taking a plea agreement rather
than going to trial. And he let out a little detail that about the burner phones that I had been keeping secret from my ex husband and called me right away and said sorry, I really I didn't mean to do this, but he's on the way and he's pissed, so please be careful. I don't really know what's going to happen, but he's really upset. So I took my phone when he showed up, I hit record, and I split it under the bed. And what happened after that was Keith said, Okay, here's what's going to happen. I
want you to sign all of these unfair agreements. I want you to sign your rights away to your custody and to all of the assets in our marriage. And when you come out and when you're ready to sell the story, I get control of it. So if you sign this contract and you sign all of these agreements, you can come home, but I'm in complete control of everything,
and you can live in the guest bedroom. And if you apologize to me every day and I believe that you've earned the right to our marriage, then you can come in and we can rekindle our marriage. And at that point, I was living with my sister in law already. It was after my arrest, and I was preparing to go to prison, and I was preparing to sign a plea agreement, and I had finally gotten the strength to say, no,
I'm not doing that. I'm not going back home. I now see what it feels like to be without you, and that I'm going to survive. And I knew I was going to prison, which was the safest that I felt in sixteen years. And so I didn't sign. And he threatened me and said, if you don't sign, then I'm bringing the entire world down on your head, which won't be hard, because you're Shery Peppini and everyone loves me and I'm the hero and this is all I have.
It it's all recorded, and he says, if you don't sign the agreement, you don't do what I want, I will be taking your children from you, which won't be hard, and I will completely obliterate your life, turn the media on you, change your entire family's perspective on you. If you sign this, I will lie for you. If you sign this and come home and shut your mouth and give me all the control, you'll have your kids and
you'll have everything. And I didn't sign it, and I went to prison instead, and he did exactly what he threatened to do. He's taken custody, full custody of my children. He has absolutely everything. I lost my trial and the divorce and the separation of assets because he had the trial while I was in prison. He's ruined relationships in my life and manipulated using my crime against me in
every way. So the post separation abuse that I'm experiencing now you're seeing firsthand, and everything that he's threatened to do. He did everything that I was afraid of happening. He's done and continues to do.
Why did he create a post up? Because that's a very that's not a common thing to have in a marriage, especially a healthy marriage. I mean, if my husband slides to me a post up, now, I'm like I gave ax a post up when he was rehob right, That's why.
So I so the viewer side of this and this is just me and I promise I actually have this is I'm not on a side because they did to me a very fair job of balancing you, and I felt like the only thing that was a little imbalanced is me getting a little more backstory, and like, why Sherry is the way Sherry is. That's why I wanted to lead with the question about your youth, because I think it does determine so much of our older years.
But when someone is coming to you with a post up, it's usually because there's already been some sort of something that's a red flag to him, whether it's infidelity or lying or something, and you signed it. So can you expand on why there was one?
What?
Because I because it's easy to divorce someone and get all the assets when they're in prison. A But when they're in prison and they've already signed off that they can have everything, you can that he could literally have everything because you've already agreed upon that legally before while you were married.
Well, Puppini has changed his story quite a lot. So when you see him in interrogation room, see him on the stand in court, and see him in his documentary, he says three different stories. So the first one is that I was bad with money and he wanted to make sure that he separated the assets because I was bad with money. The second story is that he just wanted to protect his own assets. And the third story
is that he caught me text messaging another man. So, to be frank with you, I think the post nuptial agreement was designed to continue to have to demonstrate a level of control. Why he actually decided to do it. I think it could be a myriad of reasons. When you do a post nuptial agreement, generally you're supposed to have dual representation, meaning a lawyer for him and a lawyer for me, and I didn't get that. I didn't have the opportunity to have my own representation, and so
the post nuptial agreement technically should be considered invalid. It was drawn up by Keith himself, so it was a pretty flimsy contract in general, and I didn't have the option to not sign it. Not signing it meant I had to get out, and I had to move out of my home, and there wasn't a lot of I didn't have a voice. I didn't get to say, okay,
well this is unfair. And and when it was created it was prior to having kids, even it was never updated, and it was a really unfair agreement that I didn't have a lot of choice in.
Were you texting another guy? Though?
Like?
Was that truth?
I mean I there was no a built Yes I was, but I was also texting females like there. It wasn't about a guy, It was about not having friends that he didn't have control over when we say emotional affair. I was desperate to have an emotional connection with someone. I was desperate to have conversation with someone. Didn't matter to me. Whether it was a male or female. That mattered to Keith. And it's not like I was able to just go to Starbucks and make new friends or something.
I had an incredibly oppressive life, so it didn't matter whether it was male or female. Everything had to be run through him and it had to be vetted. So regardless of whether it was a male, which was unacceptable to him, if one of my girlfriends didn't meet a level of status, if they were overweight, if they were gay, if they were whatever Keith had on his list, I was not allowed to be friends with them. So it's not like his only issue was that I was texting men. That's just part of the story.
But the text messages found on the phone that was left the day of the abduction were romantic in nature with men.
How do you hear that?
Well, So that's what the FBI said, I believe, wasn't it They the police department. It's in one of those The.
Phone was never found. The FBI didn't.
No, no, nor your cell phone, the one that was found.
I had the hair strand like perfectly curled up in the year.
It said that there was conversation. It was in one of the interrogation like films of the police department's interview with you. They talked about that there were numbers saved in your phone that were but it had female names. Female names were actually and romantic, which I did like that. They noted that because not to throw you under the bus it was. I liked that they noted that because anybody could do that if you are in a controlling relationship. Any man that texts you could be alarming to a
husband that is an abusive husband. But they said they specifically they were romantic in nature. So there was more than James.
Yeah, there was. There was, And you know, I think it's really about where you judge that I did have what's considered emotional affairs with another man when it's considered romantic in nature, I think you really kind of have to break down your level of degree there, because there's also text messages from my girlfriends saying the exact same thing.
So if you were to send me a text message this morning and say good morning, beautiful, it would be the same thing as a text message from someone else when you say romantic in nature, there's another tax thing.
I don't know.
I think if someone texts my phone and says good morning, beautiful and it's a man, I think that's crossing a line. Personally, if my husband saw that, that would not be appropriate. Yeah, you text me all the time good morning, Yeah, like great love. But like I that's where I respectfully don't see how that's the same thing.
I would say this. Is there a point, because Sherry, you are still a human, so I promise you I am being as objective as empathetic as I can be for the whole story. Is there a point pre abduction where you were like in over your head, exhausted. I mean, this has to weigh on you too. We've got texts coming in from guys. We're hiding them under girl names for whatever reason. All of that is heavy. Sherry is still a person and a mom at this place in
the story. I mean, you're still a person in a mom but I mean pre abduction that is so heavy. Is there a point ever where you're like, I just want out of all of Like how do I get
out of all of this? Because that's a lot to keep up with too, and you're seeking emotional and I have been there at times, not in this marriage, previous relationships where I have felt a little bit of that and so, but I also just know the tax it takes on a human body and your spirit and your mind, and it's exhausting to keep up with all of that. Is there a point where you're like, I just want out of all Like, how do I get out of
all of this? And is that where this this James situation comes in, where you are now entertaining the thought of him, you guys being together and doing a trip to northern or southern California? Is that the breaking point for you or you? Like I just like, is anything better than where I'm at?
I was incredibly miserable in my marriage at the time. I was seeking so much more external validation than internal validation, Like I really didn't understand.
And by the way, a lot of people can relate to that, Yes, that's what I'm saying. It's like I can relate to that. I can relate to that too, Like if I had something in front of you my last marriage, like, yeah, I almost you know, I probably could have and especially the emotion of part so bad.
That's why I relate on that that part. I think I can relate to that a little bit, not to the extent, but enough that I'm like, I see, and then it starts to go too far, because these guys are going to fall further fall in love with you.
I my marriage was falling apart already, and then I had two children, and so I was incredibly miserable. I really, I hadn't started therapy. Then I was incredibly emotionally immature and very stented. And again with like the seeking the external validation rather the internal validation. What I knew is that I was really miserable and I didn't understand, frankly, how to maturely cope with that. And there are a lot of mistakes that I made and a lot of
regrets that I have. And you know, with the emotional affairs, to me, they seemed safe and they see deemed less than having a physical affair. I understand that differently now, and I take full accountability for that. I really do understand that. You know, it wasn't right to be having an emotional affair. What would have been right would have been ending my marriage rather than doing that. What would have been right was understanding that I'm valuable and where
my value person as a person stands. But I was always trying to find a plan. It's very complicated when
you have children. It's very complicated when you have someone, when you're married to someone with the status that they have in the town that you live in, and not necessarily having a family support system that I had, having been alienated from my parents as well, I didn't really know where to go and where to turn with that, and I did want to get out, and in terms of my emotional affair with James, there was no plan to go to southern California, and so starting my emotional
fair with James, to me, it felt safe because he lived in southern California and there was no intention to go anywhere with him. There was an intention to meet up with him in town and to end that engagement and to end because you're right, When you have an emotional affairs, someone gets feelings and they get deeper feelings, and that's what was happening. What was happening is James wanted more than I was willing to give. For me, it was just I just need a little text message.
I just need a little validation. I needed a little bit of emotional connection, because I mean, my husband had a rule that I wasn't even allowed to speak to him past six o'clock at night. So it was like
I didn't have friends and I didn't have this. I thought that getting married met you married your best friend, and I thought that getting married was something completely different than what I had experienced, And to me, having that little bit of connection with somebody was really what I needed and understanding it now, you know, it's really sad.
It's incredibly sad that I didn't have enough confidence and I didn't have enough self respect to just be able to walk away from the marriage and the courage that it took to walk away from the marriage that I'm doing now.
Yeah, And I think so many women can relate to that piece of that, and we've all been in that well, a lot of us have been in that situation where it's, you know, where that we can relate to that. I guess my final question is just, you know, because of what happened and with James, are you now wanting to
seek because I did like with that. I don't know if he was the DA or who he was an investigator, but he basically was like, you know, she's going to need a confession both verbally and written down from like the wolf itself, because like she's the you know, the girl who cried Wolf's like, you're going to need the confession from the wolf actually saying I did X, Y, and Z. Are you wanting to get actual proof of what James did so so that you can be proven
telling the truth and that you're not lying again? Is there even a world where there's possibility to get that kind of proof from that.
First and foremost in the story of the Girl that Cried Wolf? The girl still gets very hurt in that story, regardless of the crying of the wolf. And yes, it's highly unlikely that we're going to get a written confession, but there's I mean, I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful James has an ability to heal everybody in this story by coming forward. He knows what he did. And in these other interviews that I've had, one of the questions they ask is are you afraid of defamation? And I'm not. I'm not
because we have that proof. You know, you say we need the wolf's footprint. You literally have a photograph of his footprint on my back. You have injuries that I couldn't possibly do myself. And when you look at these photographs of my body, you dismiss them because you think I I did it to myself, or you think that I gave permission to do it to myself. And I'm saying that I didn't. And so we do have that proof.
And James knows what he did. He knows that, and that's why I think he's not going to come forward because he has no alibi for consent, He has no proof of consent. He has proof, and he stated in his interrogation videos that he did, in fact do this to my body, and he participated in it, and he didn't get even as little as a conspiracy charge. You know. When I was in prison, I met women who had
no idea what was happening. They had no idea drug deal was even happening, but they happened to be in a car and they got six years in prison, you know. And James has continued to demonstrate culpability in my case, and I am the only one that caught the charge with it, and I wanted to take accountability for the lie that I created to conceal his identity, and I
do feel like I have done that. There are other key players here though, and James, there's so much evidence to what happened to my body that I couldn't possibly do myself.
Yeah, I don't think that is was ever in question. I think that was that for me asked him to do that, Like I wouldn't think that you would do that to yourself. It was that you asked and listen, if that is the truth, like that is awful and I'm so sorry that you had to go through that experience. If that is you know, the your truth in it, like that is terrible. As a domestic balance survivor, that is awful and I'm so sorry that you were in
that situation. I think what is hard for people that have you know, watched the stuff is going, okay, well she lied once you know, is what is the truth? Now? Bottom line is there's the truth and then there's the actual truth, right like there's your truth, there's his truth, then there's the actual truth. And if this is the truth, like that is awful and I'm so sorry that you went through that. Bottom line and that sucks that you'll
never be able to to get that and listen. We have people that talk about us all the time and be like, oh she did this, and it's like, no, that's not true. But and you know, you can spend the rest of your life trying to say, you know, this is what's happened, but instead you're like, no, you know, I know my truth. And now you've you know, you've done your healing and you're working. I see now with Tim's story, who's incredible.
We love him.
So you know to that, like, yes, you know, stand in your truth and empower those and help those because I do know the women that are afraid to get out because of an abusive partner. So to that, you know, I empathize with that piece of it, for sure, is.
The freedom for you? And then I promise in Kingdon, is the freedom for you? The truth? This truth seeking in an attempt to get your kids back, because I can imagine publicly, it's a very public thing that you're doing. So the documentary obviously is public and I'm I wondered if that was a way to lean into resources that allow you to start to get some of these things proven so that the goal is to just be back with your kids. Is that what's happening because you don't
see you only get to talk to them once a week. Still, is that correct? That's terrible. I'm sorry.
I'm supposed to talk to them once a week, but he doesn't tend to follow court orders, so at the moment, I speak to them once a month.
So if this, if this truth, your truth, is proven to be the truth, does that give you some leverage to be able to get your kids back? Is that in your brain? Is this how everything starts to unlock.
I don't need leverage to get my kids back. My charge was from a crime that was committed in twenty sixteen, and as the courts have stated, we don't take children away from lying. So I'm hopeful the reason why I don't see if my children is because I went to prison.
And you shouldn't though you know what I'm saying, Shure, absolutely you shouldn't. You know, So, is there a world where you get to have your kids back? This is the part out of all the shary things. I really went deep into Little Sherry because I resonated deeply there and then I resonate with the fact that you're a mother that doesn't get to see kids, and I can't imagine that feeling.
Well, the trial. We have to have a trial. So there's a process when you go through the family court system, and it's it's a lengthy process. I'm sure you have friends and family that have gone through family court. It's it's really it's one of the hardest things that people can go through. Is not just you know, when you when you have an amical or breakup, you don't see family court. So when you have healthy people and there's not abuse and there's not toxicity, you don't see those
in family court. They just amicably split outside of court. So generally, those that you see in the family court system, it's evident that there's some kind of toxicity or some kind of abuse happening, otherwise you wouldn't see them. So the lengthy process of going through prison, getting out of prison, starting the process of getting the trial, it's all taken time. So the conclusion of my trial is in August, and then I'm hopeful there will be a shift in custody.
It's because it's taken so long, there's going to need to be like a step up program to reunify with my children. But in terms of regaining my custody. I'm hopeful. I don't think it's going to be a problem.
Okay, Well, fingers crossed for that, because as mama's I can't even imagine, like literally cannot imagine that piece. And I don't think courts should take kids away unless it's obviously an abusive sord you know, actual situation. So danger, yeah, danger, Yeah, Well I can't imagine. You know, I know you've got a lot going on. You have what is you have something else coming out right as well?
Yeah, I just read a book, okay.
And that will there be more things in that that are not that wasn't on the documentaries.
Oh toens. I mean, this is this is my my words, and it's my story. It's my journey unedited without the editing process and without the constraints of having to try and bring somebody else's side on. For example, this is just me and it's it's my entire adult life from my marriage on you has been this self discovery for me, this journey being steeped in therapy and understanding who I am and the choices that I've made and where I've
come from, and understanding authentically who I am. So it's I think it's quite a lot of just personal.
About me, and that is the Scherry Peppinie doesn't exist, a lie that defined me, the media that destroyed me, and the truth that no one has heard.
It is available now. Awesome. Thank you so much, Sherry. Appreciate you coming on.
Thank you guys for having me.
All Right, Hi, Cherry, so I listen. I think it's I think it's a tangled it's it's tangled that that's her truth. That's a terrible I mean, I can't even imagine being abducted. I think what's hard is the lie in the beginning I had. I couldn't imagine lying to an officer, you know, like when an officer came to my place when the guy tried to kill me.
It's like there it was word for war, because it's like, so I'm going to say something that's a little this isn't this has I have no degree in psychology at all. I know what you'r. I know I knew where you were always going with it, and I agree with that. I just wanted to ask the question to her, but I wasn't sure if we could get there with her. In my brain there is a unhealed unjustified incident that might have landed And I am not saying I believe her,
don't believe her. It's whatever that might have landed on this James character. And the quest for justice is not always is not solely about James the person. It is about all of this retroactive stuff that happened to her that never got clarity. Yeah, and I think no matter who Sharey is now the forty three year old, and I can resonate with a lot of peace of that, there is a deep need for immediate mental and physical
support for children that go through any abuse period. And I am passionate about that because it will change the trajectory of their lives. So if they get nothing else out of this media, that is what I hope they get. Amen, one thousand percent couldn't agree with you more