Until a few weeks ago, 90 Day Fiance star Jay Smith was still on probation after his arrest in early July.
Fans have wondered about his side of the story of his latest and final breakup with Ashley Martson.
Now — after months of media silence — Jay Smith has opened up to In Touch Weekly about his time on TV and about his divorce.
Jay had so many cheating scandals that it’s easy to lose count.
But he claims that 90 Day Fiance trickery was somehow involved.
In fact, to hear him tell it, one of those cheating incidents was a work of pure fiction. Do you believe him?
Oh, Jay
Jay Smith is one of the most controversial men to appear on 90 Day Fiance in recent memory. We’d say most “hated” men, for his string of cheating scandals, but not everyone hates him. And Jay says that no one would hate him if they could see through the alleged fog of lies woven by 90 Day Fiance producers.
Why did he appear on 90 Day Fiance?
“She said they reached out to her,” Jay says of the decision to film for 90 Day Fiance. “It was Ashley’s idea. I had no part of it.”
What does he think of their edit?
“I think the show portrayed my relationship as a very toxic relationship,” Jay says accurately. “Like I’m a bad person.”
Does he think that it was accurate?
“No,” the infamous cheater who spent most of July of 2019 behind bars insists.
Was his Tinder Cheating Scandal real?
“The Tinder incident that happened, that was staged,” Jay claims. “It was just an act, so it was easy to show.”
He says it was no big deal
“We just acted on the TV,” Jay alleges. “And then after that, we’re good.”
And then …
The interview goes into how Jay ended his trip to see his brother in Florida to return to Ashley’s side after her health crisis in January … after she had filed for divorce. He says that he “didn’t want to leave her in that situation, all alone, where she [doesn’t have] anybody to look out for her.” Jay says that going to his wife’s side is evidence of “how good of a person” he is.
What about his barbershop bathroom bang?
“To my knowledge, they got paid to do that,” Jay claims. “They got paid $500 each just to do that.” While it initially sounds like he’s claiming that producers paid a woman to seduce him in the bathroom, a simpler explanation is that his “friends” at the barbershop were lightly compensated for appearing on an episode of 90 Day Fiance. Which … has no bearing on the topic at hand.
Jay explains why he had no CHOICE but to cheat
He claims that he boned a random girl in the bathroom “because there was a lot that Ash and I was going through … and I just couldn’t take it anymore so I decided to do my own thing.” My dude … that’s not an actual excuse. You have to break up, THEN lay pipe wherever you want.
And when they told Ashley what he’d done?
Jay claims that “at first, it was a relief for me” that they exposed his cheating, as if he had been experiencing guilt over it. Wow, he must have felt relieved so MANY times in 2019!
He says that he voluntarily takes the blame
“I made the decision to take the blame because I don’t got kids,” Jay says, implying that his rampant cheating is somehow Ashley’s fault. “She got kids. I can take the blame I’m just a young kid I got my life ahead of me. So I keep that stuff to myself.”
Why is he sharing this now?
Jay explains that he is now “off probation” and can therefore speak his mind.
Oh, THAT
Jay spent most of July in ICE custody after violating Ashley’s Protection From Abuse order, one that she secured after he allegedly broke into her home while she was on a much-needed family vacation (which was after they had broken up after he yet again cheated on her)
On the one hand, we get why Jay didn’t just get a divorce
It seems clear that he wanted to move to the US and saw Ashley as his ticket. That’s the only conceivable reason for the rampant cheating. If Jay wanted, he could have broken up with her and gone back home to Jamaica. Instead, he stayed married as long as Ashley would put up with him.
We don’t have to ask why she kept taking him back
First of all, Jay is hot. Second of all, if all of this boning hasn’t made him something of an expert at sex by now, he has no excuses.
But the results were toxic
Yes, they both got their time on TV. But even if we ignore the allegations of abuse within the marriage (and we have not), the emotional distress and the on-again, off-again nature of their marriage is just not healthy for anyone involved.
And what does Ashley have to say?
She tells In Touch Weekly that she wishes Jay the best, adding: “I hope he moves on with his life to more productive things, instead of finding new ways to justify his past transgressions.”
MOOD
When you follow reality stars both on TV and on social media and in interviews, you start to see different sides of them. Not all reality TV villains are bad. Not everyone given a good edit is nice. But Jay … does not seem willing to take responsibility for his actions.
He’s not alone
Of the men in this photo (something can be a thirst trap and hilarious at the same time, folks), only Asuelu is still married. Both Jay and Jonathan’s marriages ended with very contentious breakups.
What will it take for Jay to open up?
It’s not clear if it’s an act — that he hopes to convince people that he’s innocent and knows that he is not — or if he really, truly believes that his cheating is not a big deal, and doesn’t see why Ashley and everyone else are so mad at him.
As for his Tinder claim
We don’t doubt that producers may have asked for them to have confrontations and conversations on camera that they would not have otherwise. But Ashley spoke to the girl from his Tinder cheating scandal. The girl was a high schooler (18, though). Is Jay claiming that this was made up?
Jay is not going to change
Let’s hope that his next woman, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one realize that the first time that he cheats. Maybe people can learn from what Ashley went through.