| “ | Hello, happy family | „ |
| ~ Lydia Newman's creepy greeting |
Lydia Newman was the main villainess from the 2011 Lifetime film, Possessing Piper Rose (alternately titled, Possessed By Evil).
She was played by Sarah-Jane Redmond.
Backstory
Lydia Newman 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 was 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 Ashley could re-apply for custody. However, Lydia actually tricked Ashley into signing away her parental rights to Piper, with plans to sell her. Ashley didn't learn about Lydia's evil deception until it was too late, and due to her despondence over never seeing her daughter again, Ashley hung herself in her prison cell.
Lydia sold Piper to a wealthy client of hers, who ended up killed by Ashley. After her following clients ended up dead, Lydia pawned off Piper to Beth and Jon Harland, but Piper ended up back in the system, as she had visions of her deceased mother. Following Ashley's death, Lydia would be haunted by her spirit, usually via telephone calls.
Events
After listening in 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 parents. She visited the Maxwell's home 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 villainess even hid from sight in her own home 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, the evil Lydia entered the home and was encountered by Joanna. She had possession of a stuffed duck that belonged to Piper and told her that she would be back with her mother, who Joanna informed was dead. Lydia confessed to tricking Ashley out of signing away her rights to Piper and to her greedy plans to sell her, while stating that Ashley's spirit wouldn't leave her alone. When Joanna's phone rang, Lydia smashed it to pieces and screamed at Ashley to leave her alone, while Joanna and Piper ran off. The crazed villainess later grabbed a knife and went upstairs to Piper's room, where Joanna and Piper locked themselves in. Lydia banged at the door repeatedly and loudly demanded that Joanna hand Piper to her. She was later confronted by Gretchen, whose attempt to fight Lydia ended with the villainess killing Gretchen with the knife.
Lydia finally broke through the door and moved towards Joanna and Piper, while voicing her willingness to kill Joanna to get to Piper. 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 later charged at Lydia, causing her to fall over the bannister, and later sent the knife to plunge through her, killing the villainess. In the movie's final scene, Lydia's evil spirit appeared in the home, flashing a sinister smile.
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