As you read in our 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? recap, Ashley Martson was trying to move on after Jay Smith’s cheating scandal.
But since Season 4 was filmed, Ashley has been through the wringer, including public humiliation after Jay cheated on her yet again.
A fan asked Ashley how she remains so strong despite everything, prompting her to reveal the heartbreaking truth.
"How do you manage to stay strong after all that you’ve been through?" one of Ashley’s fans asked on Instagram.
Ashley’s response admits that fans have the wrong idea about her.
"I’m not strong at all," Ashley reveals.
She explains that "it’s all an act for the ‘gram."
In the background, the word "broken" appears on screen, it itself broken.
Ashley has endured two major cheating scandals from her ex, Jay Smith. Both took place while they were married.
She is also engaged in a battle with lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease that has sent her to the hospital more than once.
Earlier this year, she and Jay endured a scandal after fans felt betrayed and deceived by a fake "leaks" account.
The backlash was so bad that Ashley was accused of not even being sick — which is outrageous.
And she’s endured far worse.
In her late teens, she was abducted and assaulted, but managed to escape in the end.
This last cheating scandal of Jay’s, revealed in April, clearly hit Ashley hard.
After his Tinder scandal last year, she had spent weeks wrestling with the decision to give him another chance.
Ultimately, they tried to make it work.
She was even talking about one day having kids with Jay. Having Jaybies, if you will.
And then, Jay decided to allegedly bang at least one other woman.
The interesting thing is that Ashley says that fans don’t know the half of what Jay has done, and that "America will be shocked" when they know it all.
Ashley is working on picking up the pieces and moving on with her life.
But not with Ex on the Beach hottie Malcom Drummer.
"Reality worlds always seem to collide," Ashley observed in the captions of the photo with the handsome reality star.
Fan assumptions became so intense that she had to edit the caption with an update.
"Side note: You people need to relax," Ashley admonished her followers.
"I can take a photo with someone and not be dating them!" she reminded them.
It seems likely that Ashley and Jay’s latest split won’t remain a mystery forever.
(Sure, she called out one particular woman as a "homewrecker," which is not a thing, but it sounds like that’s just the tip of the iceberg)
It’s been a few weeks since the 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? Season 4 Tell All special was filmed.
When the Tell All is done airing, our guess is that Ashley will have revealed all that she is prepared to say.
In the mean time, she is bound by contract to keep a lid on at least some of her personal drama.
