Love Is Blind’s Ashley Adionser Reveals DM from Woman at Center of Tyler Francis Sperm Donor Scandal

While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of The Viall Files podcast, the Love Is Blind star revealed that the mother of her now-husband’s biological children reached out to her.

“I will say she wrote me on Instagram and apologized to me and Tyler,” Ashley shared. “[She] said she’s praying for us and she never meant for it to go this way. She won’t say too much on this forum.”

She continued, “She also wrote me and said it was OK if I never wanted to respond and she knows my world is crazy right now and she never intentionally meant to cause me any pain.”

Those who watched season 7 of Netflix’s dating reality series will recall that Tyler detailed to Ashley his role as a sperm donor after the pair got engaged — sight unseen — on the show.

The post-pods reveal came as a surprise to Ashley. While Tyler claimed at the time that he solely was a sperm donor and the he didn’t think the kids knew what he looked like, the pair had actually spoken in detail off-camera, where Tyler was more forthright about his situation.

“My heart sank to the ground,” Ashley recalled of the first time Tyler told her the truth. “He was afraid to tell me because he didn’t want to lose me. I was like, ‘That’s robbery. You robbed me of my choice.’ … I was caught off-guard.”

Tyler previously donated a sample of his sperm to help his former military colleague and her then-wife have children. After the pair welcomed a son and then a pair of twins, the couple divorced. Tyler’s friend, whose name has not been publicly shared, then asked Tyler to step in as a father figure.

According to Ashley, Tyler only had an “uncle” role to the kids and he took a step back before going on Love Is Blind because of a lack of “connection.”

The mother of Tyler’s kids, however, claimed in a series of social media posts shared before the show’s Season 7 reunion that Tyler did in fact know what his kids looked like and had a close relationship with them. She also claimed he abandoned both her and their kids after going on the show.

As Love Is Blind started airing, the children’s grandmother even weighed in, repeatedly claiming via social media that Tyler was actually very involved in their lives.

“Honestly, the hardest part was seeing Tyler struggle during a time that should have been just about our love story,” Ashley said. “I think once [his friend] apologized, she kind of felt bad. ‘Getting beat up on social media is never fun,’ I told her.”

The woman apparently only apologized to Ashley and hasn’t been in contact with Tyler. He allegedly, according to Ashley, tried to message her via his dog’s Instagram page but didn’t get any response.

“If we never talk to [the woman] or the kids again, it’s still a thing,” Ashley explained Wednesday. “I wouldn’t mind having a sit-down with [her]. I want to know what the motive is here, like, even his mom. When I talked to her, she was like, ‘It is exactly what he’s saying,’ and it used to be so uncomfortable for [my mother-in-law].”

After getting detailed answer’s about Tyler’s past and his involvement in the children’s lives, Ashley ultimately came to the conclusion that she still wanted to move forward with their wedding.

“When I said, ‘I do,’ I said I do to all of it,” she told podcast host Nick Viall, noting she would “take [Tyler’s] lead” if the kids ever decided to reach out once they’re older.

While the sperm donor scandal didn’t break the couple apart, it definitely left them on shaky ground.

“It wasn’t broken, but it was tainted,” Ashley said of how the situation impacted the trust the pair had when they first came out of the pods. “[We worked through it] just by continuing the conversation. I will say that the pods and the experiment taught us a lot. I’ve never had this great of communication in my entire existence. … There’s no rulebook [for trust], I just had to take a leap of faith and say, ‘OK, I see this man and I know him.'”

Love Is Blind season 7 is currently streaming on Netflix.