Mayumi Heene, mother of 6 year old “Balloon Boy” Falcon Heene thought to be inside a runaway helium balloon, has now admitted what many of us already knew all along — that the entire saga was a great big hoax!
According to sheriff’s deputies, Mrs. Heene said she and her husband Richard (whom she met in an acting class) “knew all along that Falcon was hiding in the residence” in Fort Collins, which blends perfectly with the on-air confession of the young son, who admitted on live television that his father told him they were pulling this stunt “for the show.”
In the affidavit, Mayumi described that she and Richard Heene devised this hoax approximately two weeks earlier and instructed their three children to lie about it to authorities as well as the media, believing the story would make them more marketable for a reality TV show idea of their own. But since the “balloon” stunt, the episode of the Heene family appearing on the ABC-TV show Wife Swap has since been pulled from it’s scheduled rebroadcast, and the LIFETIME NETWORK has also scrapped ideas for the Heene’s to be part of a developing reality series. Authorities are also expected to pursue legal and criminal charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene, including possibly having them repay the nearly $68,000. spent during the false rescue.
