In 2016, Sherri Papini faked an elaborate kidnapping. First, she went lacking for 22 days, and when she was discovered on Thanksgiving Day, she claimed two Hispanic ladies kidnapped her whereas she was jogging close to her Redding, Calif., residence.

Almost six years later, Sherri was arrested in reference to the kidnapping hoax after investigators found that she willingly stayed at an ex-boyfriend’s residence for the 22 days she was lacking. Sherri pleaded responsible to felony costs of mendacity to legislation enforcement and mail fraud in April 2022.

Her kidnapping case — and subsequent costs — propelled her and her household, together with her two babies and her husband on the time Keith Papini, into the nationwide highlight.

Days after Sherri’s plea deal, Keith filed for divorce and now has sole custody of their two youngsters, who are actually 9 and 11 years outdated.

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After Sherri’s hoax made nationwide information, Keith debated altering his youngsters’s final title and even gave them a listing of final names to look via. However his youngsters had been skeptical.

“My son mainly stated, ‘Is that this about mother?’ And I stated, ‘Nicely, possibly,’ and he goes, ‘Nicely, I do not assume we should always have to vary our final title due to mother’s errors,'” Keith tells PEOPLE. “Him saying that simply sort of hit me like, ‘Oh wow, this child is … He is proper.’ However once more, as a dad or mum, you consider your youngsters and you already know that final title may be very distinctive, and it is endlessly going to be on the market. However presently, anyhow, they each are glad youngsters. They’re very glad youngsters, and so they’re thriving proper now.”

Keith spoke out on this week’s situation of PEOPLE. He additionally speaks about his ordeal in Excellent Spouse: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, a brand new three-part documentary collection now streaming on Hulu.

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Sherri was sentenced to 18 months in jail, and was launched early in 2023. She additionally was ordered to pay greater than $300,000 in restitution to a number of legislation enforcement associations. She now sees her youngsters as soon as a month throughout supervised visits.

To this present day, Keith continues to be grappling with the trauma that Sherri inflicted on their youngsters over time.

“A whole lot of their childhood years had been, in my view, stolen from them,” Keith says. “So my largest purpose is giving them a contented and wholesome life and surrounding them with loving individuals. And a number of these conversations that I’ve needed to have, no dad and mom ought to ever must have with their youngsters.”

Keith Papini tells his story in Excellent Spouse: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, a brand new three-part documentary collection streaming on Hulu on June 20.