r/netflix • u/Ok-You-5930 • 2d ago

SPOILERS Unknown Number: What mental illness does Catfish Mom, Kendra Licari have? I have questions.. Spoiler

SPOILER ALERT: first, I’m really curious as to what mental illness Kendra Licari has. I have several family members with severe mental illness but I can’t figure this out…

It was so disturbing to learn what she did to her innocent daughter and her friends. But she was also obsessed with the boyfriend! And then we learn that she lied about having a job! And then we hear her skirt accountability blaming it on her trauma, and then we see how manipulative she is at every level. Like… I have questions. Weigh in on any:

  1. WTF did we just watch?
  2. What mentally illness do you think she has? And what makes you think that?
  3. Why was she fired?? We need a follow up on this. Sounds like Casey Anthony at Universal Studios..
  4. We’re all in agreement that she was obsessed with Owen right?
  5. HOW DID THIS PSYCHOPATH GET FREE IN 18 MONTHS?
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u/Orion_Kryptnt 2d ago edited 2d ago

There are so many questions. I almost quit watching 5 minutes in with all the vocal fry in most every interview.

1) First, I’m going to say it, there is a failure in parenting in several aspects (other than the obvious being Kendra). The parents involved all seemed to get sucked into the drama, blaming other children, etc. (Khloe’s parents threw that Adriana girl under the bus - poor kid).

I will withhold my opinion on children needing smartphones, that being said, IF you’re giving your 13 year old a smart phone and they are receiving obsessive and horrific text messages to the point that you worry your child is suicidal, you shut-that-shit-down. Owen’s mother didn’t even want to change his phone number! She would rather feed into the game by playing detective. I realize that may not have been fair to Owen, but if you’re scared for the wellbeing of your kid, ditch the phone for a bit, change the number, take other basic precautions. Maybe Kendra would have gotten his new number anyway, but in the vast majority of these situations, it’s not going to be the psychotic parent in your close circle.

2) The guy in the blue suit, I don’t remember his role (some school administrator?), but he was insufferable. He loved hearing himself talk.

3) How did Kendra obtain the photo of the black phone case from Christmas? Was that ever explained? Did I miss it?

4) Why did production fail to ask Kendra about her continued harassment with Owen’s new gf and mother. There wasn’t much focus placed on her weird obsession with Owen.

5) How did Kendra know about conversations that were happening in real time at the school (unless Lauryn was in on it perhaps?)

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u/Alternative_Sun_8784 2d ago

Agree with point 1 - I started to suspect Owen’s mum at one point when the police officer was telling her to get Owen a new phone and she said no. That was the most obvious thing to do to try and handle this situation.

It wasn’t explained how Kendra got the photo of the case

Her obsession with Owen was not focused on enough. As a viewer I was so focused on the nasty comments she made to Lauryn that it wasn’t until afterwards when I thought more about Owen and how she was a paedophile. She should be on the sex offenders register.

I really don’t think Lauryn was involved. I don’t know how quick after something was said it was messaged about, but I imagine Lauryn innocently told her mum a lot of what was said as they were close. Plus the mum was around the kids a lot as she was at loads of the sporting events and was the basketball coach so she could have overheard some things.

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u/No_Flamingo_6511 10h ago

Amen. Like change his phone number. Take the phone! Block text messages. She was like ‘I have the phone right now’. All the parents were WAY too into it.

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u/pandorabach66 1d ago

It was insane to me that Owen's mother didn't get him a new phone and change his number.

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u/Fat_Cat_1973 1d ago

  1. She was at the Christmas party, and that is how she took the picture.

  2. I believe she was pumping her daughter for info since she was "helping" investigate, and that is how she got inside information!

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u/Orion_Kryptnt 1d ago

Ah! Thanks for clarifying about the Christmas party. I missed hearing that Kendra was there

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u/EarlDwolanson 1d ago

6) To add to one the local police were clearly way over their head and should have escalated that immediately to FBI/someone with minimal cybercrime competency... I gotta say I spent the majority of the doc raging at the police and parents and their bs just saying "get a warrant, go to ISP, sorted in a week"

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u/Orion_Kryptnt 1d ago

Not only were the local police in way over their head, but they clearly had a lot of time on their hands. Which makes sense I suppose being such a small town with a stoplight and two bars….

I’m not law enforcement, but I do wonder why they brought Lauryn in during the confrontation with Kendra and the search warrant. Especially when the husband/dad showed up. Perhaps there was a reason for it, but I felt awful seeing her put in that position. Kendra used her as a crutch in that moment as well as furthering the manipulation of Lauryn.

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u/No_Flamingo_6511 10h ago

💯 Lauryn should’ve been removed from that situation.