Paul Servat truly believed that he and his girlfriend Barbara Bienvenue were going to have five children when she told him she was pregnant with quintuplets. However, on the day Bienvenue was supposed to deliver, Servat was informed by a nurse that it was, in fact, a fake quintuplet pregnancy.
The false pregnancy was a shocking and unpleasant surprise to Servat, who had spent 34 weeks caring for his “pregnant” wife. While Bienvenue showed the signs of being pregnant, there was no question that she had faked being pregnant. Everything Servat had believed for the last nine months suddenly fell apart.
Servat met Bienvenue on a dating site. After only two months of being together, Bienvenue informed Servat that she was pregnant. Even though it was sudden, Servat was prepared to be a father. However, Bienvenue kept adding to the number of babies she was having. First, it was twins, but that turned into triplets and eventually quadruplets.
Servat never faltered and never suspected that he was dealing with a fake pregnancy. The couple accepted gifts and donations made by the people in their town, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Servat even created a Facebook page to keep their friends and neighbors up to date. Geneviève Laflamme, a mother of triplets, became friends with Bienvenue.
Even though Laflamme had befriended Bienvenue, she became suspicious when Bienvenue told her that the latest ultrasound showed five babies. Bienvenue’s fake pregnancy continued up until the expected due date. Servat took her to the hospital where a nurse pulled him aside. She informed him that Bienvenue was not pregnant, nor had she ever been pregnant.
Servat was devastated by the news, saying, “I lost everything, it was my whole life.” Bienvenue’s family told reporters that the fake quintuplet pregnancy was not the first instance that Bienvenue had lied about something like this. She had once faked having cancer and lied to a previous boyfriend about having twins.
Bienvenue received psychiatric treatment. Doctors believed she may have been suffering from a mental illness known as pseudocyesis, wherein a woman truly believes she is pregnant to the point of showing symptoms such as lactation, a swollen belly, and morning sickness. Servat is no longer with Bienvenue and either returned all of the gifts or donated them.
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