Ashley Adionser and Tyler Francis found themselves at the center of quite a bit of controversy during Love Is Blind season 7 after he revealed he had fathered three children. Ashley has now opened up about what fans didn’t see regarding their conversations about his kids.
Ashley, 32, said that after she, Tyler, 34, and fellow star Nick Dorka returned from having drinks one night, Tyler explained that they needed to have a conversation. The Love Is Blind cameras weren’t around at the time and Tyler asked Ashley to sit down.
“So, I sit down and I’m like, ‘What?’” Ashley began during the Wednesday, November 6, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast. “He’s just, like, sitting there staring in the weirdest way and I go, ‘Please tell me you don’t have an STD.’”
According to Ashley, Tyler assured her that he did not have an STD, so she playfully asked, “What? You got some kids or something?”
The marketing director continued, “He doesn’t laugh and my heart sank to the ground. I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ So, he begins to deep dive into the conversation a little. He begins to allude to the fact that he’s a sperm donor to a lesbian couple who was married. You know, he was afraid to tell me because he didn’t want to lose me.”
Ashley explained that, at first, she felt “robbed of her choice” and the couple stayed up until the wee hours of the morning discussing things. However, the reality star said that she was in such shock that she didn’t ask Tyler a lot of questions as she tried to process the news.
Ashley said that Tyler explained that “he [didn’t] want to talk about it on camera or that he [didn’t] want to hurt that family or have people searching for them,” but she couldn’t do that.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way I can continue with this experiment if we don’t talk about this in some capacity because I’ve been giddy the entire time and if my energy is this low right now, the viewers are going to see it,’” Ashley continued. “I asked him, ‘If I were to sit down with your ex right now or flings or people you dated, what would they say about you?’ Because for two reasons: one, I wanna see if I can see remnants of that behavior and begin to look for it — not that I’m searching for it, but just to begin to pay attention. And two, I wanna see how you’re gonna answer because it’s a red flag when men blame everything on a woman.”
Ashley added that it was “refreshing” that Tyler admitted that “people wouldn’t say the best things” about him. She also revealed that Tyler told her that he was originally known as the children’s bio dad, but after his friend’s wife left her, he stepped into the role of dad as opposed to more of an “uncle,” like he was before.
“Biologically, these are still his kids, so he feels a certain way, but he’s like, ‘I can’t do this,’” Ashley shared. “[The children’s mother] was disappointed, and I can see why she was disappointed as well. But he’s like, ‘I just don’t wanna have any connection with you or them because if I talk to you, although you’ve been my long-term friend, there’s no way I wouldn’t be able to not talk to the kids. And I think it’s best if I remove myself.’”
