Lisa Rinna and her real-life daughter Delilah Hamlin share a few moments of screen time in Lifetime's disturbing new movie “Mommy Meanest," premiering May 11 and inspired by the true story of Kendra Licari.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star plays a divorced high school chorus teacher named Madelyn, whose teenage daughter (Briana Skye) and her boyfriend are being stalked by a vicious cyberbully.
Hamlin plays Summer, one of Mia’s friends, who, like everyone else at school, is horrified by the harassing texts Mia's been receiving, especially since Mia previously dealt with emotional trauma after being bullied as a freshman.
The twist? Mia's cyberbully isn't an anonymous stranger or a nasty school rival. The person sending those cruel texts telling her she's ugly and poor — and, worse, that she'd be better off dead — is actually her own mother.
The plot of “Mommy Meanest” is so shocking, it's hard to believe the movie was inspired by real-life events.
In April 2023, a Michigan mom named Kendra Licari was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, according to The Morning Sun newspaper.
At Licari's sentencing, Judge Mark Duthie told the court that the “truly horrible” case had shown him the “worst in human nature.”
“I can’t imagine any parent saying such horrible things to her own daughter,” he told Licari.
Read on to learn more about the shocking true story that inspired "Mommy Meanest."
What real-life case inspired 'Mommy Meanest'?
"Mommy Meanest" was inspired by the real-life story of Kendra Licari, a 42-year-old mother in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, who was arrested in December 2022 after sending harassing texts and social media messages to her teenage daughter and her boyfriend.
Licari, who reportedly sent thousands of cyberbullying messages over many months to the teens, was initially charged with two felony counts of stalking a minor, among other charges, according to an Isabella County arrest warrant obtained at the time by NBC News.
The arrest warrant indicated that Licari's bullying texts were “specific in nature" indicating that the sender was someone the teens knew.
“Most messages contain hateful speech and contain language like, ‘kill yourself ...’ A lot of the messages repeat this same language,” the report said.
Licari allegedly disguised her phone number and location by using a software platform that made it look as if the texts were coming from multiple numbers and area codes, per the report.
Licari, who had been working as a girl's basketball coach at her daughter's school during the time she sent the messages, manipulated some of the messages to look as if they were coming from one of the victim's phones, according to the Morning Sun, a Michigan newspaper.
Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi told WKRC that Licari's messages to her daughter and her boyfriend were "demeaning, demoralizing, and just mean."
Barberi added that the case was "bizarre and almost hard to believe."
Licari was later caught after the Isabella County Sheriff department got involved and reached out to the FBI for help, per NBC News' prior reporting.
Did Licari ever admit sending the messages?
Licari made a full confession when she was arrested, said Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi, according to the Morning Sun.
She pleaded guilty in a March 2023 plea deal to two counts of stalking a minor.
In exchange, Barberi dropped the three additional charges against her: one count of obstruction and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, the publication reported the following month.
At Licari's sentencing in April 2023, she reportedly cried when she told the judge she was sorry for the pain her actions caused her victims, according to the Morning Sun, including her daughter and a teen she initially blamed for the messages.
Licari told Judge Mark Duthie that she would take back her actions if she could, and that she was "ashamed, remorseful and embarrassed," reported the publication.
A defense attorney for Licari told the judge that the disgraced mom had begun counseling and was also taking parenting classes. The attorney also stated that a psychiatric examination had determined that Licari suffers from mental illness, the newspaper reported.
Judge Duthie told the court during the sentencing that the "truly horrible" case had shown him the "worst in human nature."
“I can’t imagine any parent saying such horrible things to her own daughter,” the judge told Licari.
He added, “It’s the kind of case that makes me glad that at the end of my term, I’m retiring."
Where is Kendra Licari, subject of 'Mommy Meanest', now?
Licari was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison.
According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Licari is imprisoned in the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility. She is up for parole on Nov. 3, 2024.
Her maximum release date is April 3, 2028.