An eye-opening movie is ‘Girl in the Closet’ is not just ripping boring stories from the headlines, it’s more than that.
‘Girl in the Closet’ which premiered on March 11, follows the story of Tami Roman and Remy Ma as very different sisters with very, very different ideas about childcare.
Remy Ma plays a mother whose daughter Cameron is handed over to her sister (Roman) while she recovers from an aneurysm.
That’s when Cameron learns the horrible truth about her aunt: Aunt Mia has people locked up in the basement while she sits back and cashes their benefit checks.
Soon after the movie, many speculated if the movie was based on a true story: Here’s what we know about the real girl in the closet:
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Is ‘Girl In The Closet’ based on a true story?
Girl in the Closet is loosely based on a true story. The movie was apparently inspired by the true story of a girl who the media nicknamed ‘the girl in the closet’.
In contrast to the movie’s character, Cameron, the true story of the “girl in the closet” centers on an 8-year-old girl named Lauren Kavanaugh. Her mother, Barbara Atkinson, originally attempted to put Lauren up for adoption, and Lauren was in fact placed with adoptive parents for eight months. However, Atkinson regained custody of Lauren due to a legal technicality regarding the adoption process.
Because of the legal oversight, Lauren’s biological parents, Barbara Atkinson and her husband Kenneth, were granted full custody of her. Sadly, Lauren was kept locked inside a closet for a period of six years, living in her own waste, and only allowed out to endure physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her parents.
To make matters worse, the Atkinsons also loaned Lauren out to be sexually exploited by pedophiles when they weren’t directly abusing her themselves. The extent of the abuse Lauren suffered is truly horrifying and highlights the urgent need to protect vulnerable children from such heinous acts.
The police got involved when they were tipped off about the Atkinsons abusing their daughter. What they found was a severely malnourished and abused 8-year-old who doctors said had stopped developing around the age of two. Lauren received her nickname the girl in the closet upon her rescue in June 2001.
Similarities in both stories
There are a few similarities between The Girl in the Closet and Lauren’s story. Both Lauren and Cameron were taken from a healthy home and handed over to an abuser.
While the Atkinsons did not keep prisoners in their homes, they did have five other children who all endured varying levels of neglect and abuse.
Where is the girl in the closet today?
Bill and Sabrina Kavanaugh were finally able to legally adopt Lauren after her rescue. Lauren was able to graduate high school, but her escape from her parents wasn’t the end of her hardship.
At the age of 12, Lauren was sexually assaulted by a relative; and in 2018 at the age of 25, Lauren was arrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old.
Lauren was found mentally unfit to stand trial and, three years later, the case was dismissed.
Where is Lauren?
Lauren is currently out of jail and reportedly living in Texas with the Kavanaughs. Barbara and Kenneth Atkinson are serving life sentences in prison.
