It wasn’t so cheerful.
The unbelievable true story of a mom who got embroiled in a “murder-for-hire” plot — all to oust her daughter’s cheerleading rival — is chronicled in the new documentary, “The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot.”
Premiering Wednesday, Dec. 18, on ID (and streaming on Max), the documentary covers the 1991 case of Wanda Holloway, a churchgoing mother in Channelview, Texas, who was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill her daughter Shanna’s cheerleading rival’s mom, Verna Heath. (Per police, Holloway thought her daughter’s rival, Amber Heath, would be too distraught to compete if her mother got killed).
Shanna, now 47, told The Post that participating in this documentary was a “healing process” for her. She also said she hasn’t spoken to Amber since the incident.
“I was 14 when it happened. So, I was at that pivotal age where you’re figuring out who you are and discovering yourself and what your interests are and what you’re good at and start to think about the future a little bit,” said Shanna.
She added, “When this happened, it just totally destroyed my personality. It changed it to where I became very introverted instead of extroverted and didn’t want to be even noticed.”
Shanna, whose mother pushed her into cheerleading, recalled, “I wanted to disappear because I was so embarrassed and humiliated. It was shameful. It was traumatic, and I didn’t deal with it for many, many years. And it affected me in all kinds of ways.”
In conjunction with this documentary, Shanna also created a website called “Smile More, Worry Less” and online courses to help people with depression.
She said she “came through” the incident in which her mom achieved notoriety, “although it almost killed me.”
Shanna, who still lives in Texas and is now an educator with two sons, said that one of her biggest issues was the perception that “people were hating me” over this incident.
“I’m sure that was aimed more at my mom. That still hurt me, too… I was a victim in this, and I had nothing to do with it like that… I was just thrust into it. And it was so bizarre and so unheard of. How do you even know where to start in order to deal with something like that?”
Holloway — dubbed “The Pom-Pom Mom” — is still alive and no longer in jail.
At the time, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but she received probation after serving just six months, per ABC13.
Shanna told The Post she doesn’t believe Holloway would have gone through with the hit man. “I can’t know for sure, but I don’t think so. I really do believe that she tried to get out of the situation and wasn’t able to.”
The documentary covers how Holloway allegedly reached out to her late former brother-in-law, Terry Harper, to see if he could arrange a hit. He then went to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, where he agreed to wear a wire and gather evidence against her.
Shanna, who still has a relationship with her mother, said Holloway is convinced that Terry set her up.
“[People] think that she’s crazy or evil, and I think that’s a misconception. I think everybody has a little crazy and evil in them to some degree and don’t always get called out on it. But she’s also got a really fun side to her. She’s got that personality that draws you in, like the light in the room,” Shanna explained.
She added, “She’s not crazy. She’s human. And she’s got her good days and bad days, just like everybody else.”
