A Chilliwack woman is sharing her story about surviving her mother’s web of lies in her newly released book.
Phillippa Mann’s memoir House of Cards was released in February and she’ll be having a book signing on June 27.
She grew up in a home where everything appeared perfect on the surface while something much darker was happening behind closed doors.
Her mother has “undiagnosed munchausen by proxy,” she said, which is a mental illness where a caregiver (often a mother) fakes or exaggerates physical or psychological symptoms in their own child in order to gain attention or sympathy for themself.
“I just though I was sick my whole life,” Mann said.
She called her mother a “pathological liar.”
From stories about Mann having breathing and medical issues as a child, to her mother having cancer, to her dad having a twin brother, everything was lie, she said.
“I believed all of it.”
Mann was even admitted to a psych ward twice as a child.
When Mann was in her early 20s, she found out her father didn’t have a twin brother. She approached her mom who admitted that was a lie.
“I said ‘Is there anything else that you’ve lied to me about?’ And she said ‘No.’”
Mann was very vulnerable at the time. She had been out of a mental institution for about three years, and had a six-month-old baby. Her mother was a “great nanny” to her son, she said.
“I needed her, and she was my mom, so I believed her.”
As the years went on, she found herself telling stories throughout her life and then she’d pause wondering if any of it was true.
“I had lapse in memory. There’s so many things I just don’t remember,” Mann said. “I really needed to find out the answers.”
There was a five-year gap in her life that she had questions about, so in January of 2025 when Mann was 50 years old, she went to her mother for answers.
She got no response. It was the last time they spoke.
That’s when Mann requested her own medical records from Surrey Memorial Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital, including documents from when she was admitted to the psych ward twice.
“That’s when all the pieces started to really fall into place,” she said. “[It was] the most devastating moment of my entire life. It was like someone just pulled the rug out from underneath me.”
As part of her healing process using “timeline therapy,” Mann had already started writing about her childhood – with no firm plans to even write a book – when she approached her mom in January of 2025.
Her counsellor suggested she turn it into a book, saying it could help people.
“I wanted to heal and I wanted people to know I was ashamed of my life. I was so embarrassed. I didn’t tell anybody I was in the psych ward.
“Even though I knew that my mom had a mental illness, I was always very close with her. I was the only person in my family that didn’t walk away from her.”
Her story in House of Cards is told decade by decade, instead of in chapters, starting when she was a young child, then a teenager, then into her adult years.
She said writing the book has been a positive healing process for her.
“It’s freed me from the embarrassment of my life. It’s freed me from the hold that she’s had on me literally until I was 50. I didn’t even realize how much control she had over me until I started writing the book.”
What she wants people to learn from this book is that they are not alone.
“I want people to realize that mental illness has so many different faces, especially munchausen by proxy,” Mann said. “People are so much more resilient and stronger than they actually think they are.”
She’s already had positive feedback on her memoir.
“I just needed one person… I didn’t need it to be millions… just needed one person that said ‘Wow. That story really touched my heart.’”
And that’s exactly what she was told by one reader.
People can meet Phillippa Mann during her book signing on Saturday, June 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Book Man. House of Cards: Surviving Munchausen by Proxy and a Mother’s Web of Lies is $25 and she accepts cash, debit and credit card.
For more, go to phillippamannauthor.com.
Jenna Hauck is a journalist with The Chilliwack Progress. Email her at jenna.hauck@theprogress.com