Lydia Newman (Sarah-Jane Redmond) was the true main villainess of the 2011 Lifetime film Possessing Piper Rose (alternately titled Mommy's Little Girl and Possessed by Evil; airdate October 24, 2011).
Backstory[]
Lydia was a case worker for an adoption agency, and prior to the events of the film, she approached a young woman named Ashley Henderson, who had gotten "caught up with the wrong crowd" and was then sentenced to 26 months in prison for breaking and entering. Ashley had a young daughter, three-year-old Piper Rose, and Lydia's meeting was (as Ashley thought) to hold Piper up for adoption with the hopes that the former could reapply for custody. However, Lydia actually tricked Ashley into permanently signing away her parental rights to Piper so that she could sell her. Ashley didn't learn about Lydia's deception until it was too late, and her tearful despondence over never seeing her daughter again drove her to hang herself in her prison cell.
Lydia sold Piper to a wealthy client of hers, who ended up being killed by Ashley's vengeful spirit. After her following clients also perished, the villainess pawned the girl off to Beth and Jon Harland, only for her to end up back in the system, as she had "visions" of her deceased mother; in reality, her spirit was making her presence known to her on numerous occasions. Following Ashley's suicide, Lydia was haunted by her spirit, usually via telephone calls.
Events[]
After eavesdropping on Joanna and Ben Maxwell's meeting at her agency, which ended with the couple being passed over as adoptive parents, Lydia decided that they would be perfect as Piper's adoptive parents. She visited the Maxwell residence and used dubious means to help them adopt Piper, and as a result of her actions, the couple (mainly Joanna) was haunted by Ashley's angry spirit, who continued to pursue Piper. The callous woman even hid from sight in her own house when Joanna and Ben went there and noticed that Lydia had been burning Piper's file. Even with Piper living with the Maxwells, Lydia was still haunted by Ashley, and that prompted her to come to a twisted conclusion: she had to kill Piper so she could be with her birth mother again.
After Ben left to meet his son (and Joanna's stepson) Dylan—who was also haunted by Ashley's spirit—the evil Lydia entered the home and was encountered by Joanna, who had already uncovered the truth about her earlier. She had possession of a stuffed duck that belonged to Piper, and she began officially turning heel by telling the girl that she would be back with her mother, who Joanna informed was dead. Lydia then confessed to her past machinations while stating that Ashley's spirit refused to stop tormenting her, cementing her heel turn. When Joanna's phone rang, Lydia smashed it to pieces and screamed at Ashley to leave her alone, with Joanna herself and Piper using the opportunity to run off. The crazed villainess grabbed a knife and went upstairs to Piper's room, where the aforementioned pair had locked themselves in. Lydia banged on the door repeatedly and loudly demanded that Joanna hand Piper over to her. She was later confronted by Gretchen, whose attempt to fight Lydia ended with the unstable criminal murdering her with the knife.
Lydia finally broke through the door and moved towards Joanna and Piper, while voicing her willingness to kill the former to get to the latter. She was thwarted by Ashley's spirit, and at that moment, Lydia came face to face with Ashley, begging her to let her kill Piper so that they could be together. Ashley charged at Lydia (causing her to fall over the bannister) before sending the knife plunging through her abdomen, killing her. However, in the movie's final scenes, which took place three months later, Lydia's evil spirit appeared in her house—letting Ruby (the new owner's child) know of her presence by rearranging some of her toy blocks to spell out the word "mine" along with saying said word out loud for her to hear. Facing a mirror, the twisted apparition flashed a sinister smile and gave a creepy greeting right before said mirror cracked.
Quotes[]
- "GIVE ME THE GIRL! GIVE ME THE GIRL!" (Lydia demanding that Joanna hand Piper over to her as she attempted to break into Piper's room)
- "Mine! Hello, happy family." (Lydia's creepy greeting as a malevolent spirit)
Trivia[]
- Sarah-Jane Redmond later portrayed Jackie in Season 1 of iZombie.
Gallery[]
