Season 7 of Netflix’s runaway hit “Love Is Blind” (LIB) premiered Oct. 2 and it’s already created a sizable rift in the hopeless romantic community. The series debuted a new group of singles from Washington D.C. who are looking for love without the distractions of the outside world, including couple Tyler Francis and Ashley Adionser.
The early 30-somethings both made it clear from the beginning that they were ready for the real thing, including marriage and children. The latter actually came up quite a bit, so much so that the childless pair planned their future babies’ names and birth order (a girl and a boy, how sweet). After getting to know each other, praying together and confessing their love, they got engaged. Adorable, right?
Well, this is exactly why, in the last 10 minutes of episode 9, viewers were left slack jawed when it was revealed that not only does Francis already have a child, he actually has three.
The Child(ren)
On the show, it was implied that Adionser was made privy to this information after receiving messages about the truth on social media, but what wasn’t made clear was why Francis didn’t didn’t disclose this information from the beginning. This is particularly interesting because LIB participants are in their pods for 10 days, then immediately after are put together in a simulated cohabitation arrangement where they test their chemistry in the outside world for several days at a time. During that period, Francis was never shown mentioning his children to Adoniser.
Although the dilemma here is layered, his lying by omission is irrefutable and understandably, Admoniser was shaken. But during Adonider and Francis’s final conversation it’s revealed that the children are actually the result of sperm donation and he isn’t involved in their lives by an agreed upon arrangement with the custodial parents. Understandably so, Ashley is upset about this previously undisclosed information, Francis is contrite but it seems as if the couple is going to work through it together, because after all, they are getting married.
But wait..there’s more!
The Fiancee
Social media sleuths took to TikTok to reveal more context about what viewers didn’t see, and it doesn’t look good for Francis, at all. StoryTimeWithRikkii posted in an explainer video that not only did Francis pull the wool over Adionser’s eyes, he blinded viewers from the whole truth as well.
“Francis from Love Is Blind was allegedly engaged {in 2017} at the time that his first child was conceived, and the fiancé had no idea that it was his child,” the user said. To add insult to injury, the ex-fiancé is actually a public figure and a local Washington D.C. news anchor who explained on Facebook in 2017 in a since deleted post why the engagement ended. The alleged ex-fiancee’ also implied that Francis impregnated someone else, prompting the broken engagement.
The Child(ren)’s Mother
According to social media posts from Francis’s purported ex-fiancee, it appears that not only was Francis engaged to her when this child was conceived, but the child’s mother, a woman named Bri Thomas, was allegedly married. The donor’s identity (Francis) was to remain a secret and he wasn’t supposed to be involved in the child’s life.
According to StoryTimeWithRikkii who says they spoke with some of the parties involved, explains that not only did Francis meet the child, he built a relationship with them over time.
This was unbeknownst to the other parent, Thomas’s wife, who was purportedly under the impression that Francis would barely be around the child. Social media photos of Francis, Thomas and the child paint a very different picture as Francis is seen clearly being involved with both parties, so much so that the child’s mother wound up accidentally getting pregnant with twins a short time later, who were also presumably fathered by him.
Remember...all of this happened behind Thomas’ wife’s back.
The Custody Case
According to social media explainer posts, Francis was in an ongoing, secret relationship with his children’s mother which was of course revealed after she wound up pregnant with twins, prompting her now ex-wife to file for divorce and spurn a custody battle.
Francis claimed he’d always been an active participant in the children’s lives. Per court documents obtained by Life & Style, Thomas filed a complaint for petition for custody in Baltimore City Circuit Court in October 2021. The case was settled in May 2022, but was reopened in January, a short time after Love is Blind wrapped filming. Unsurprisingly, the case is now ongoing and there will be a disposition hearing on Nov. 15.
With this, the question remains: will Ashley Adaronis stand by her man’s side? Or will her head win out over her heart. We’ll find out when the second half of the season premieres. Are you tuning in?