Is Ashley Martson From 90-Day Fiancé Faking Lupus?
Is she just faking it for the show?
Instagram Ashley Martson of 90 Day Fiancé has been accused by fans of faking being diagnosed with lupus.
Only a few days after Martson and her reality TV husband Jay Smith, 20, announced that they were quitting the TLC show amid a slew of rumors and accusations of fake storylines, fans flipped the script on her and started questioning if she really had an autoimmune disease.
With all the drama coming from Martson, 32, and TLC, many people are wondering — is Ashley from 90 Day Fiancé faking lupus?
1. She recently shared a video to Instagram showing her medical records.
Ashley Martson is taking no time to squash rumors that she's faking lupus. In a video posted to Instagram on Feb. 8, the reality star logs into her Pinnacle Health account and shows her medical history that's listed on the website. According to the video, she's been diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, seizure, anemia, kidney stone, heart muscle disorder — and lupus.
“Reality TV is a maze," she captioned the video. "I wish I could tell you all exactly what’s happening, but the contract is strict. Good thing that medical records can’t be faked."
"For those of you who want to see 2014 This is my HISTORY so everything will be on it. Lupus isn’t something you can cure #90dayfiance #tlc.”
2. She was preparing for an upcoming surgery.
Last month, Ashley Martson announced that she would be taking time off from the beginning of February until the mid-March to get ready for an upcoming surgery.
I will be undergoing surgery and will be down at least a month,” Martson captioned a post that has since been deleted. “Out of service for repairs.”
“I will not be sharing much information about my health any longer, my willingness to overshare came with nothing but scrutiny and backlash,” she said. “I need to focus on my health, family, and recovery for that month. I appreciate all who support me very much #90dayfiance #tlc #healthcomesfirst.”
3. That announcement came two weeks after she was hospitalized for kidney failure.
On Jan. 13, Martson posted a photo of herself lying in a hospital bed and said that she had been found unresponsive in her home that morning. An ambulance took her to the hospital where she learned she had acute kidney failure due to her lupus and that she would need to begin dialysis.
"I’m sorry if this photo offends anyone but I will not hide that I’m sick," she captioned the post. "If I can help one person with lupus then posting this is worth it."
"I will not let this beat me. I know I’m strong enough to battle through this, not just for myself but for my kids. I will be transferred to another hospital this evening that is better equipped. Please pray for myself and my family as I know it’s going to be a very tough road ahead for all of us. Thank you for your continuous support and prayers.
4. She doesn't want to discuss the upcoming surgery because it will be talked about on the show.
After she was accused of faking lupus, she told Radar Online that she had surgery on Feb. 12
"I have surgery," Martson said. "It is going to be discussed on the show so I'd rather not talk about it. The surgery will help me long term and it's a long recovery."
"It's not a kidney transplant. When I was first admitted that was the plan. They wanted to put a port in and start dialysis. Dialysis is rough. There was a small chance we can do medication to see if that would work before dialysis. It ended up working for now."
5. Fans started accusing her of lying because of her healthy appearance.
Earlier this month, Martson went out with her husband in New York City and many people were questioning her "happy and healthy" appearance after her kidney failure diagnosis.
"I'm being attacked by my appearance," she said. "Makeup and hair can make a difference. Makeup does a lot. It's an invisible illness. You look fine from the outside, but inside you feel horrible. Right now we're being thrown under for me faking the illness. It's awful. Still I'm being told I'm a liar."
6. That caused people to start reporting a GoFundMe page for Martson.
Because of the rumors that she was faking her illness, fans started reporting a GoFundMe page that had been started by Martson's friends to help pay for her medical bills.
"I've gotten a lot of heat about the GoFundMe," she said. "We don't get paid a lot. Once we realized the medicine was working, I told her to stop it since there were people donating."
She said that she and Smith are thinking about just returning the money that was donated because they're "sick of being scrutinized."
7. They recently quit the show.
Martson and Smith announced that they quit the show after she discovered he was talking to other women on Tinder only a day after their Las Vegas wedding. She said that they only appeared to be broken up on social media and never ended their marriage even though it looked like it on the show.
"I stayed by his side after the Tinder scandal," she said. "They wanted us to keep everything private and say we weren't together, but when people were seeing us out they thought we were lying. We never confirmed or denied our relationship status."
"We have notified them that we quit the show. The final straw was when our story started to become inconsistent because what we were being asked to hide and not tell followers."
Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She covers all things pop culture, news, and true crime.