June 19, 2025 • 36 mins
In this raw and reflective episode, we sit down with Ashley Neil from the wetv show "Love After Lockup" as she opens up about her whirlwind relationship with Julius- the love, the betrayal, and the heartbreak that played out on- and off- screen. But this isn't just a story about being two-timed; it's about taking your power back. Ashley shares how she found clarity, strength, and healing after the storm, proving that even after someone does you dirty, there's still life - and light- waiting on the other side.
This one's for anyone who's ever loved hard, lost themselves, and found their way back.
Follow us on Instagram @prison_podcastgf or TikTok @morethananinmatesgf
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So I'm grand sister's sister on there and I guess she is the one
that ran and told her brother. She's the one that hosts him and
Alexis. So that's how he found out I was
hosting about him. Welcome to More than an Emmy's
Girlfriend. I'm your host Jay and you guys,
we are down to our final 2 episodes of the season.
(00:25):
For those of you that are new orhave never checked us out
before, we started this podcast to destigmatize prison
relationships. We saw a lot of negativity, we
saw a lot of cheating, we saw a lot of bad around these types of
relationships and we felt very differently about ours and we
thought that it was time that people learn the other side.
(00:49):
We are not ashamed of our relationships, but there is a
lot of shame around these relationships.
So it's for that reason that we created this podcast interview
different people so that others in the community can learn from
other people that are experiencing the same things as
them or maybe different things and you don't trying to connect
(01:11):
in that regard. But more importantly, we want to
get out to people who aren't connected to the community
because we want people to see the realities and see the truth,
See why we do what we do, why we're in these types of
relationships and how they really can help and how the
(01:35):
justice system really is different than it's perceived a
lot on TV. Unfortunately, our next guest
did not have the same experiences as AJ and I and
unfortunately it was exposed publicly on ATV show called Love
After Lock Up. We are blessed today to be able
(01:57):
to show you to give you an interview with Ashley Neal, who
for those of you who don't know,she was on this latest season of
Love after lock up and basicallyfound out that her man had
another girlfriend and she got to find out on TV.
So imagine going through a moment like that and only going
(02:20):
through that kind of moment and then having the T VS Cruise on
you while you are going through that moment and then for the
whole world to see it. And then not only did the whole
world see it, but now we're talking.
Everybody's judging you on top of that, judging you by your
looks, judging you by your demeanor, judging you by your
(02:43):
reactions, just judging you negatively.
And I'm sure she's gotten positive also because I feel
like when I watched it, so back story, I don't typically watch
love after lock up. I don't really typically watch
TVI don't have a lot of time. But I saw it on social media and
(03:04):
I was like, Oh my gosh, I need to see what's going on here.
And then I watched it and I don't understand how so many
people got so negative towards her.
And then I saw some comments online that were so negative and
I'm like, I don't understand where these people are coming
from because so many of us, specifically in the community of
(03:24):
prison wives and prison girlfriends, know someone who's
gone through that or is currently going through that or
going through something similar.And I guess there's a lot of
people from the outside world that are just judging her or
maybe people from our community.I don't even know.
But to me, the people in person that needs to get judged is
Julius, who Julius is the man that was incarcerated man quote,
(03:49):
UN quote. Side note, we did reach out to
him to also have an interview and see kind of maybe he's got
an explanation for it. Maybe, maybe he's not as evil as
he's portrayed out to be. Well, let's just say he wanted a
significant amount of money for us to interview him, which we
(04:10):
don't do that. We're a new podcast and I don't
think we'll ever do that. But thanks.
No thanks. I know for those of you who have
been following us for a long time, in April we had a month
where it was like the April Fool's month or whatever, and we
went through different things where the men weren't how they
seemed and different relationships where people
(04:31):
stayed or they didn't stay. Or anyway, it was a month of
betrayal. And we typically don't want to
focus on that. But in this instance, we really
wanted to interview her because I started following her on
social media after and I saw that she was glowing.
You know, she was happy. Yes, she was responding to the
haters sometimes, but she had gotten past that.
(04:53):
And keep in mind, these things are typically recorded like a
year before, a year and a half before.
So Fast forward to now, she's ina very different place than she
was a year ago, right? And we really wanted to show
that, yes, this could happen andit could happen in any
relationship really, but at the end of the day, she got through
(05:13):
it. And how did she do that?
And look where she is now. And we really wanted to showcase
that. We don't want to emphasize the
bad of what happened with her. What we really wanted to do was
just kind of explain the story for those of us who don't
understand, ask her a few questions that I was genuinely
curious about that I didn't see on TV.
But also just show like where she's at today and how you're
(05:36):
not your worst moment. And just like these guys that
are incarcerated, they're not their worst moment.
And I don't know if this was herworst moment.
I didn't ask her, but it was a pretty bad one, I would think.
And she's not that moment. She's so much more.
So we really wanted to showcase that.
And it was really difficult getting sometimes to arrange to
(05:57):
be able to speak with her. But finally we got through.
We got it. And she was just a lovely,
lovely woman. So we're really excited to be
able to share that with you today.
Like I said, last two episodes, the next episode we've already
released it will be Andrea from Prison Brides, the TV show
Prison Brides. If you haven't watched it, I
(06:18):
highly recommend it. It is one of the shows that I
did watch actually. And I watched it when Nick and I
first started talking and Andreawas one of my favorites.
There was 2 that were my favourites on the show, 1 of
them just turned out to be a hotmess.
But Andrea was super cool. I got really great interview
(06:38):
with her and learned so much because I feel like there wasn't
a lot said on the show about hiscase and the whole situation
with that. So I was so curious and I
remember digging and trying to find more information on her and
what was happening with him and who he was and all the stuff.
So I was super excited to finally be able to talk to her
and be able to talk to her aboutthe situation and she was just
(07:02):
really great. So that's next week will be Part
1 and that will be our season. Not only.
So cannot believe we've made it this far, cannot believe.
I think it'll be a total of 26 episodes for the first season.
We will be back in September fora whole new season that we will
run through until the spring, and we've already got like
(07:27):
probably 10 recordings already done and there's some good ones
coming up. We're talking business, we're
talking culture, we're talking rodeos, we're talking home
invasions there. There's so much going on.
We got an interview with Christopher Wheeler's wife who
(07:47):
gives her perspective. For those of you don't that
don't know, Christopher Wheelersis an influencer and we
interviewed him a couple weeks back.
Well, we got the chance to meet his wife and talk about her
side, which was really, really awesome.
So, so much for next season. So excited about next season.
So grateful for the first seasonand can't believe this is
(08:07):
happening. One more thing before we get
into the episode. I don't want to drag it out too
much, but I think this is important.
AJ and I have decided to showcase.
We want to use the platform for more than just this.
We also want to show positive and legit businesses that these
guys behind bars are doing. And we thought what better way
(08:30):
than to showcase on a weekly basis with the show different
businesses, like different booksthat someone has written or art
that they've made and that they are selling or stuffed animals
or blankets or whatever. If your man is doing something
and trying to make money legitimately, we want to promote
(08:53):
that because we don't want to promote negative.
We don't want to promote criminal activity.
We want these guys to do better and be better than their worst
mistake. And that's what we want to prove
that they aren't their worst mistake.
And we want to help in doing that.
And that's the first thing that we've decided we can help in
that way. So please, if your man is doing
something cool that is legitimate, that has nothing to
(09:16):
do with criminal activity, then please message us DMS on
Instagram at Podcast under ScorePrison GF AJ will connect with
you and we will showcase different people on a weekly
basis. So that will be fun.
We will start that next season and hopefully it kicks off and
hopefully you guys can support it because we think it's
(09:37):
important to support positivity and support rehabilitation.
And I personally publish books for guys that are incarcerated.
And I've had a few people that have spoken to me and said, you
know, thank you so much. No one's ever done something so
nice before for me. And to me, it's like I want to
show these people that there aregood people in the world.
(10:00):
And not only are there good women, there are good people and
good people that do good things.And a lot of them aren't around
that. So we want to promote
positivity. So follow us please, please,
please follow us on Instagram orTikTok or Facebook too.
Even though we don't really go on it that much.
But AJ is all up in that Instagram at podcast under score
(10:21):
prison GF. You can follow us on TikTok at
more than an inmates GF. We will be going live throughout
the summer a lot more, so we caninteract with you guys during
the downtime between seasons. And if you want to be a guest,
obviously we have a full season ahead.
So we are looking for more guests.
If you are interested, please reach out to AJ.
(10:44):
There is a form on the Instagramthat you can fill out.
It's called Be a Guest, I believe.
Fill that out, it comes right tous and we will sign you up.
We will call you and we will getthat sorted.
So if you have an interesting story that you want to share on
this platform, we absolutely want to share it with you.
So please reach out. And with that, I will get into
(11:07):
and leave you be to listen to Ashley Neal from Love After Lock
Up. Here's her interview.
Welcome, Ashley. Thank you so much for taking the
time and we were finally able toconnect.
So I'm really excited that you're here and that we get to
(11:30):
chat. Yeah, me too do.
You want it for people who don'tknow you or haven't watched the
show. How did you and Julius first
meet? He accidentally called my phone.
What? Really.
Yeah. Interesting.
Do you know why I? Don't know, he said.
He was trying to call one of hisfriends and he accidentally
called me. And you guys just continue the
(11:52):
conversation. I asked him what his Facebook
was because I looked him up and stuff and then we just went from
there. Wow, you hear so rarely of that
being the starting point. Of yeah, it was crazy.
Had you ever dated anyone incarcerated before?
No, my first time. Yeah, that's really my last two.
(12:12):
I think it's my last two. So what was it about him that
you were like? I'm going to keep the
conversation going of this random stranger that called me.
I don't know. We just started talking because
I said he sounded cute and stuffand we just kind of started
talking and then we started exchanging photos.
I don't know, we just ended up being together.
At least I thought, right? I guess now it's just a fairy
tale. What was it that made you feel
(12:35):
comfortable in waiting for him to get out?
Was there anything? Did he make you feel a certain
way that you thought everything was good?
Yeah, it was the day before he got out, he had texted me and
said that he's going to be like the perfect man when he comes
home. He's ready and he's just a liar.
Yeah. Were there red flags during that
time? I know you spoke about it on the
(12:56):
show. You were laughing about it with
your friends about all the red flags.
Was that true? Were there some red flags that
you were just kind of? Ignoring definitely was the
first one was that he was in jail and then when he told me
like he was using other girls while he was in there for money
and stuff like that should have been a red flag.
I found out the reason I couldn't visit him is because I
was on probation. I guess when you're on
(13:17):
probation, you're not allowed togo to prisons and stuff or talk
to anybody that's in prisons or associating with anybody like
that. So he ended up letting me use
another girl's account to video chat.
So that should have been a red flag too, right?
I think it would have been. I think it was the Lexus.
I'm not even gonna lie, because I heard he did that with other
girls on her account. Wow.
(13:38):
How did the whole idea of love during lock up come up?
Like a month before he was aboutto get out he asked me to be on
this TV show with him. They wasn't allowed to disclose
what TV show yet so we didn't even know which TV show it was.
And he asked me to be on it and he texted me and he was like I
don't want to bring any random girls on the show and come to
find out he had two girls the whole time plus more.
(14:01):
It's just the other ones wasn't on TV.
Oh gosh. Right, they was coming with
receipt. Wow.
So he approached you and said I want to do the show.
And you were like, yeah, let's do it, even though you didn't
know exactly what it was. Yeah.
Then once they figured out they really wanted us on the show,
then that's when they told us itwas love after lockup.
(14:21):
So you had no idea about Alexis at this point?
No, not at all. And they just told you they were
just going to record him coming home.
Yeah, with him and his mom. Oh wow when he said I remember
something on the show about him saying not to post that he
didn't want you posting him on social media was.
That Oh yeah, he didn't want me doing that because I guess.
(14:43):
So this is the thing. It's weird.
This whole time I found out I was friends with his sister on
Facebook. Didn't know it was his sister
because our city that we live inis like wrong.
So I'm friends with his sister on there and I guess she is the
one that ran and told her brother.
She's the one that hooked him and Alexis up, right?
(15:03):
So that's how he found out I wasposting about.
I put two and two together. So I just blocked her from my
page. Oh my gosh.
So the sister knew about Alexis and you?
Yeah. I'm so sorry.
But The thing is, that really iswhat's denying it.
So right, I feel so often we think that if your man's telling
(15:24):
you I'm asking other women for money and I'm not asking you, it
makes people feel like they're not getting scammed, right?
Like they're not being told untrustworthy things.
I've been in a similar situationkind of with my husband at the
beginning. I feel like for me that would
have made me feel like he was being honest.
(15:45):
I find it even more shocking because you weren't.
He wasn't getting anything from you other than conversation,
correct? Exactly.
Like, what was the point? Why?
And The thing is, he could have been told me we wasn't together.
Why did he wait to put me on national television just so that
we were not together? Yeah.
I don't understand it either. That was why I want to talk to
(16:06):
you was because so many women think that they're not the one
because they're not contributinganything and they know that he's
asking other women so they know he's scamming other people.
So he's not scamming me. So it must be real, right?
Right. So I have no idea how it
happened to you. Seriously.
I I watched it and I was like, Idon't understand how this
happened. Yeah, it was really confusing.
(16:27):
You said you did meet him on video before.
Yeah. Multiple times.
Like 3 times. OK.
How was that like? He obviously met you.
Yeah, it was fine. At that time, I was literally 90
lbs lighter. I looked like I looked in the
pictures, you know what I mean? Then literally almost 9 to 12
months later I had gained so much weight in like 90 lbs.
(16:49):
But being on video chat with him, he's seen, he seen me when
I was smaller and he seen me when I was bigger.
It really wasn't a surprise. I wanted to talk about this
because I think it's really important to talk about and I
want to talk about it later, butlet's just get out of the way.
Since you brought it up, I feel people have unjustly said you're
catfishing and whatever. How many people use filters?
(17:13):
How many people don't use filters?
People. Are making this big deal out of
people using using filters but out of you using a filter and I
don't understand where that comes from.
I think it's just that people are so blown away of the
different from me because I'm a chameleon.
If I have red hair or I have blonde hair or I have a wig, I
(17:34):
look totally different each and every time.
That's every makeup artist's fantasy because my face is like
a canvas. So.
Right. Yeah.
Have you always been into the? Wig.
But yeah, I've always one. Wig.
I like them. And The thing is, I don't see
what people were seeing. They said that my wig was like a
Funeral Home, a morgue or something like that.
(17:56):
No it don't. So obviously you're looking at
the comments. That must be really hard.
I kind of stopped. I haven't read any comments in a
few weeks. Yeah.
Because there was a lot. Yeah, especially I feel like
there was a lot that you went through publicly.
Was it real? Everything that was going on
(18:16):
that was real. Everything.
Everything was real. Yeah.
Wow. On the show also he stopped
saying he loves you all of a sudden.
Yeah. What was that about?
I don't know. It was weird.
It's like the moment he got out,he just kind of said, forget me,
OK, He had a goal. He needed somewhere to stay.
(18:37):
And that's what he does. He's a manipulator.
He will get anything that he wants.
He needed somewhere to stay and he needed somebody to take care
of him, and that's exactly what he got.
I got two kids to take care of him.
I'm not about to take care of him without the phone with.
You. No.
So he wasn't going to stay with you.
That was not the plan. No.
OK. So we're eventually going to
talk about moving with each other, but I told him I wanted
(19:00):
to give it at least six months to see how good we do, but it
didn't even happen. What's the story with the
tattoo? Can you talk about it?
Yeah, I was at work and I was talking to my friend Candy.
She's a bartender, and we were just there having a couple of
drinks after work. He called me and I kind of joked
about it. It's so weird.
At this time. It was my birthday the previous
(19:22):
year. But yeah, so I was like, I'm
going to go get your name to have to.
And he was like, if you get my name, I'll get yours.
Like, for real? For real.
He was dead ass. He sounded dead serious.
It was just a pissy mistake. I shouldn't have got it and he
ended up not getting mine at all, but I got it covered up.
So you just went and got it and then he just forgot about it?
(19:43):
Or did you stop asking him if hegot it?
I just stopped asking him about it and I think that's when we
ended up taking our break too. We had a break.
Oh, you did. Why did you guys take a break?
That's when I found out he was talking to the other girl.
Oh, fair. And how did he weasel his way
back? How did he get back in your
life? I knew it was getting close to
him getting out I re downloaded the getting out app.
(20:07):
I wrote it and I said hey it's getting close to you getting
out. How are you you know just seeing
what was going on and that's when we just started talking
every day again. I.
Just restarted, what did your friends think about all this?
They were trying to tell me I was living in Lavali and.
My friends do that too. Yeah.
(20:27):
And we don't believe. That right?
Were they supportive in the end with everything happening?
Yeah. When the time came to pick him
up from prison, did you guys have a conversation about you
picking him up or was it just always that you?
Weren't. Yeah, actually I was supposed to
pick him up, but a couple days before it was a day before it's
time to get out. He's talking about all of a
(20:48):
sudden his mom was coming to getme.
So weird. Yeah.
I asked him when does he plan onmeeting his mom and he is just
like, you got to wait. We wait for that.
You got to wait, be patient kindof thing.
Yeah. He didn't know what he was
doing. Yeah.
Then the people that are filmingyou, they're not really telling
you anything. No.
And it was crazy because I know the producer.
(21:10):
I know she knew. I'm sitting there talking to
her. I have a feeling or someone
else. And I'm like, does she have his
own film crew? It's he.
I don't know. It was a weird situation.
I feel like you probably. Had a if they want to tell me
anything, Yeah, yeah. We've talked to a few people who
have been on some TV shows or weactually spoke to someone who
(21:30):
gave up the first day. She was supposed to be on Love
After Lockup and she did the recording for one day and she
was like I'm not doing this, this is crazy and you guys are
blowing shit up out of proportion and she was out.
Yeah. You kind of signed your life
away a bit in that moment, so you said it was real when you
were filming. How did you keep it together so
(21:53):
well? I think considering everything
that happened, what were you thinking in your head?
What were you going through? I feel like I would have lost
it. At that point, I had already
went through so much trauma, literally so much.
I had just got out of a really bad relationship with two years
and my baby had passed away. So he was just, yeah, I was
just. It's like you were used to going
(22:15):
through bad stuff. Yeah, I was just at that point
he was just icing on the cake. Yeah, I'm.
So sorry. I'm grateful that I do follow
you on social media now and to see you now, it's so nice to
see. And I think that's the main part
of this is seeing where you're at now and how much you've
gotten through it because, I mean, you know, you're not the
(22:35):
only person that's gone through this.
In hindsight, do you think he had any feelings for you at all?
I know he did. I know it sounds kind of selfish
to say. I know he did.
Things just didn't play out the way he wanted to do it.
He took the survival route, yeah.
When did you find out about Alexis?
So stay in the hotel when he came to see me.
(22:56):
On TV. Yeah.
Are you serious? Yeah.
What did you do? I started ball with my eyes out
on TVI was like, I was, You knowhow when you cry so hard, you're
like, yeah. You.
Can't breathe. I was crying.
I was crying so hard. Did you try and talk to her
ever? There was one time I was live on
(23:16):
TikTok and everybody was saying she was live at the same time
and they really wanted us to be live together.
So I ended my lives and I went in her conference and I was
like, hey, girl, She just basically was saying.
She wasn't really saying anything much.
She just ignored my comments, like I wasn't even there.
So I just left the chat. So you kind of got the answer.
(23:37):
Yeah. I don't think she wants to talk
about it. When you stopped filming, was it
your decision to stop or was it just over?
It was because we we were done. OK, We were supposed to.
The surprise was he didn't even know.
But I had a video book and everything.
So when he came to that and it was my birthday.
So when he came to the hotel, wewere supposed to go to the
(23:57):
studio, no. So that was supposed to be the
continuation of the show? Yeah.
I wonder if he ever knew that. No, he never did.
I never told him. And did you ever speak to him
again? He wrote me.
It's crazy. I know the day, April 8th, I
don't know why I keep remembering it, but he wrote me
(24:18):
and then he called me on Messenger on Facebook and he was
trying to be all nice and telling me I need to capitalize
off of this and basically telling me no I hurt you but
here's the way to make money offof it right?
I was with my boyfriend at the time so I just hung up on him.
It's fair though. Out of everyone in the season,
(24:39):
your story caught the most attention and I would argue that
you were the person that everybody gravitated to.
And I think maybe you've seen a lot of the negative attention.
Have you seen some positive too?Yeah, I've seen a lot of
positives. I've grown a lot of followers
and fans. I went from like 3K on Facebook
(25:00):
to like 23. Ki see that because I've seen
some negative comments and I've seen you respond to negative
comments. Trolls be trolls, but I think
there's so many more women that were like, Oh my gosh, this
sucks. They feel for you when they want
you to succeed. They don't have any negativity
the way that sometimes it feels like online.
(25:21):
Did you anticipate this happening?
All the attention that you got from the show?
Actually, they did kind of warn me.
They told me I was gonna have super fans and stuff and I just
didn't believe it. When the show aired.
The attention I got, I just, it was a lot and I got 7.6 million
views on my Facebook within a couple of weeks.
(25:42):
I was doing numbers and I had just created a TikTok.
I didn't have the TikTok at all.I created it.
I went from 0 followers to 24K623, something like that.
Yeah. And just a couple of weeks.
It was crazy. Wow.
But it's, it's died down now a lot, right?
Overall, I mean, the show did give you a lot of attention and
(26:05):
I don't know if that's what you wanted even.
Is that something you were looking towards doing or is it?
Just, well, I'm an artist and I think I was thinking I was going
to be able to use this platform to get my music out there.
In hindsight, do you regret going on?
No, I don't. It was a cool experience.
I got a little bit of famous offof it, so it's pretty cool.
(26:28):
And. Really good money.
Do you have any advice for anybody if they're thinking
about going on a lot in those prison wise groups everyone
talks about are you going on, are you going on?
Do you have any advice for anyone who just thinking about
it? Don't do it but.
You just. The thing is, if these guys in
jail, they could sit here and say I'm going to buy Saturn
(26:50):
through you and they you will believe it.
They Susan Nail have some. They have their game.
Their game is unmatched. Did.
You feel like you were reliving it watching.
Yeah, honestly, from side looking in, it was crazy
watching it because I kind of cried because I feel bad for
myself and I feel bad for how vulnerable and open I was.
Yeah, yeah. I felt like my filed, you know,
(27:13):
like I just felt so bad. I wanted to get myself out.
Looks like you're blessed to have some friends that you could
turn to. Yeah.
Is that what you did? How did you get through the the
shock of everything that's happened?
I kind of just went into my shell and went off the grid.
I was just in my. I was going through a healing
(27:34):
stage. And what did you do to heal just
for people who are going throughsimilar things because you're so
much better it looks like today.How did you get through that?
You have to learn to understand that literally everything
happens for a reason. So when you open your eyes and
you see and you see things for what they are like, I don't know
how to describe it, it's just easier to deal with.
(27:55):
And what is your relationship status today?
I am happily in a relationship. Do you want to talk about how
you guys met A? Few years ago we are
acquaintances, our friends or friends we met at a party and me
and him we're so much alike it'scrazy.
Me and him would always just go somewhere and just be sitting
(28:17):
there having weird conversationsabout aliens.
You know people don't know me totalk about.
We were the oddballs. But like me and him could sit
there and talk to each other about stuff that people would
think we were crazy and we wouldtotally understand.
We just became kind of best friends and we were always see
each other whenever we would go out with our friends on the
weekends. And then one day I just told him
(28:38):
I was like I like you. He was shocked and he ended up
telling me like the whole time he liked me too.
And then we ended up dating. But see that was when we and
Julius was having a break and then me and him ended up dating
and then we ended up breaking up.
Then we and Julie got back together, but now me and him
back together. So he was kind of there.
Yeah. So he knew what was going on
with you and Julius. Yeah.
(29:00):
Then how would you say, cuz I can tell in your voice how much
happily you are in your relationship and yeah can you
compare your current relationship to Julius's and
what the differences were for you?
What other things would you say are different in this
relationship than the one you had with Julius?
It's healthy, he's my safe place.
(29:21):
I've never felt safe, you know what I mean?
In love. So trusting everything's OK.
It's just he gives me Peace of Mind.
Mind you, I'm 31 and he's 27, sohe's not.
He's a year older than John and then he's a manager at his job.
For instance, my car ended up having horrible issues and I
(29:42):
have nowhere to fix it. This man came out of pocket and
fixed everything without me evenasking.
He's a provider for him to be soyoung.
He's a very good dad. He gets his daughter every
weekend while we get about his daughter every weekend.
And his child's mom is super sweet.
Me and her get along great. We even hang out sometimes.
It's it's a miracle. I always wonder like is this too
(30:05):
perfect? Because what's going on it?
Feels like you found the light at the end of the tunnel.
Yes, that's amazing. I'm.
So happy for you and I'm sure there were moments before where
you didn't think that you would find this.
He's just awesome. Oh.
I'm curious, how come you went back to Julius?
(30:27):
Oh no, because me and him ended up separating, so me and him
wasn't together for a while and then that was where I wrote
Julius back. OK.
But at that time the secret was I was drinking a lot.
There was no way I could be withour relationship.
You know, I mean, all of our problems from that.
So we that's the only reason we want.
And now we've been together for a really long time and we're
(30:50):
healthy and I haven't drank in over six months.
I know, I saw that. How did you?
Do yeah, so I feel like I fixed the problem.
Yeah. How did you realize?
I just woke up one day and I'm just like, I don't want to feel
like this anymore. What was it?
It was just exhausting. Yeah.
What's the journey like to sobriety?
(31:12):
At first it's really hard, but once you finally get past your
three months, I feel like the first three months is really
hard because you're so sensitive.
But then once you get past your third month, things will get a
lot easier. You just have to ride that wave
out until. You got the other side.
Yeah. I feel like I agree with you.
Everything happens for a reason.But I also believe that I
(31:33):
really, sincerely believe that the universe helps those that
help themselves. Call it God, call it whatever
that if you help yourself, doorswill open up in a positive way.
Anything. That's what you did, really.
Yeah, anything. That from this experience and so
far what we've talked about, is there anything that you want
people to know about you or yourrelationship or the past or the
(31:58):
show? Is there anything that you want
people to know? I'm just tired of the whole.
Catfish thing, I was that personat one point in time and just
because I looked different, by the time he got out, he knew
that. I even told him on the phone
like I gained 90 lbs. He knew he knew I I gained
weight and all that stuff. I just feel like people should
just stop trying to bash me about it.
(32:18):
It's just annoying. Can you share just?
On that topic, how it feels so people understand what it's like
to see those comments. I feel like people don't
understand the impact that it would have on someone.
Yeah, people are just. People are mean.
I'm sorry you had to go through.That like I really AM.
And I'm really, really, really excited to see where you're at
(32:39):
now. And I can hear it in your voice
that you found you. Finally found.
It so I'm really happy for you congratulations on that thank
you where do. You go from here.
I know that you've got a few things going on.
Do you want to just share a little bit about what you're
doing right now? Right now I'm in the.
Process of looking for a new shop.
I had a detail shop for about two years.
(33:01):
I have 8 employees because I wasdoing really good.
I want to do that again. I really want to get another
detail shop and I want to get a van to be able to be telling you
because I'm really good at what I do.
My boyfriend is taking me on a trip for my birthday in July.
Last year on my birthday I was crying because of Julian and
this year for my birthday, I'm going out of town.
(33:23):
Congrats. You do readings and stuff too,
right? Yeah, I've.
Always been very in tune with stuff.
I can think about something and then it'll pop up right in front
of me, or I can think about somebody and then they'll call
me. I don't know how to describe it.
I guess this did when I started reading.
It just comes to me when I look at the car.
I read my book, I read through my book.
I'm still like learning, but it's just naturally I know what
(33:46):
the cards are saying. I think some people are.
Naturally intuitive. Yeah.
How long you been doing it? About five years.
That's quite. Some time.
So if someone wanted to do one with you, what's the process?
So at first I was. Saying once they've been a
payment through Cash App or Venmo, they'll have it in 24
hours. But I was getting a lot of
greetings and it got overwhelming, so I had to change
(34:09):
it to every 72 hours to send you.
So once they paid, I video record myself doing the reading
and then I upload it to YouTube.But it's not public.
It's only if that person can seeit.
You only know their name. I now look at the picture.
And stuff. Yeah, I know their name and
that's it. Yeah, there's no previous
conversation about what they're looking for.
(34:29):
Nope. I mean sometimes if.
They want to tell me some they'll they'll be like hey,
like I'm going through this, canyou read cards for me and tell
me what's going on? But most of the time, no.
I just know and I've done it so many times and I have never been
wrong. I've predicted 2 pregnancies
too. One time it was crazy.
I was on the phone with this girl doing it over the phone and
(34:52):
I don't know how but I was like,do you know my name?
Ella? She started crying and I was
like, what's wrong? She was like, Eleanor is my
grandma. And I was like, what?
She was like, yeah. Then I told her that her grandma
was basically telling her she was about to have another baby
and here we were and found out she was pregnant.
You have no formal training. No.
(35:12):
That's insane. It's.
Crazy. I just.
I don't know how to decide it. It's just a feeling that's
crazy. And then?
You have T-shirts too, right? Yeah, my.
Boyfriend's making them, he ordered them for me.
He's making them for me. We ordered a cricket machine and
a cricket presser. He's mastered it and he just
makes them and we got 40 right now.
(35:34):
So OK. And how does?
Someone order it so they'll sendto my.
Cash App or my, my Venmo and then they'll inbox me at their
shipping address and then I justship it out.
OK, And that's your Facebook. Yeah, awesome.
Well, that's awesome. I wish you luck with that.
I think that's so cool how you're intuitive and I'm scared
to ask you. What?
You think about me, but. Thank you so much.
(35:56):
For your time, I really do appreciate it.
I really appreciate you kind of sharing your experiences a
little bit more in depth about what happened and how you got
through it because I think it's really important.
There's a lot of women that go through similar, unfortunately
with guys that are incarcerated.And sometimes they need to know
that there is another side. And you are an example that
(36:17):
there is another side, right? Yeah.
So thank. You again, I appreciate it and I
wish you. Well, thank you.
So I'm grand sister's sister on there and I guess she is the one
that ran and told her brother. She's the one that hosts him and
Alexis. So that's how he found out I was
hosting about him. Welcome to More than an Emmy's
Girlfriend. I'm your host Jay and you guys,
we are down to our final 2 episodes of the season.
(00:25):
For those of you that are new orhave never checked us out
before, we started this podcast to destigmatize prison
relationships. We saw a lot of negativity, we
saw a lot of cheating, we saw a lot of bad around these types of
relationships and we felt very differently about ours and we
thought that it was time that people learn the other side.
(00:49):
We are not ashamed of our relationships, but there is a
lot of shame around these relationships.
So it's for that reason that we created this podcast interview
different people so that others in the community can learn from
other people that are experiencing the same things as
them or maybe different things and you don't trying to connect
(01:11):
in that regard. But more importantly, we want to
get out to people who aren't connected to the community
because we want people to see the realities and see the truth,
See why we do what we do, why we're in these types of
relationships and how they really can help and how the
(01:35):
justice system really is different than it's perceived a
lot on TV. Unfortunately, our next guest
did not have the same experiences as AJ and I and
unfortunately it was exposed publicly on ATV show called Love
After Lock Up. We are blessed today to be able
(01:57):
to show you to give you an interview with Ashley Neal, who
for those of you who don't know,she was on this latest season of
Love after lock up and basicallyfound out that her man had
another girlfriend and she got to find out on TV.
So imagine going through a moment like that and only going
(02:20):
through that kind of moment and then having the T VS Cruise on
you while you are going through that moment and then for the
whole world to see it. And then not only did the whole
world see it, but now we're talking.
Everybody's judging you on top of that, judging you by your
looks, judging you by your demeanor, judging you by your
(02:43):
reactions, just judging you negatively.
And I'm sure she's gotten positive also because I feel
like when I watched it, so back story, I don't typically watch
love after lock up. I don't really typically watch
TVI don't have a lot of time. But I saw it on social media and
(03:04):
I was like, Oh my gosh, I need to see what's going on here.
And then I watched it and I don't understand how so many
people got so negative towards her.
And then I saw some comments online that were so negative and
I'm like, I don't understand where these people are coming
from because so many of us, specifically in the community of
(03:24):
prison wives and prison girlfriends, know someone who's
gone through that or is currently going through that or
going through something similar.And I guess there's a lot of
people from the outside world that are just judging her or
maybe people from our community.I don't even know.
But to me, the people in person that needs to get judged is
Julius, who Julius is the man that was incarcerated man quote,
(03:49):
UN quote. Side note, we did reach out to
him to also have an interview and see kind of maybe he's got
an explanation for it. Maybe, maybe he's not as evil as
he's portrayed out to be. Well, let's just say he wanted a
significant amount of money for us to interview him, which we
(04:10):
don't do that. We're a new podcast and I don't
think we'll ever do that. But thanks.
No thanks. I know for those of you who have
been following us for a long time, in April we had a month
where it was like the April Fool's month or whatever, and we
went through different things where the men weren't how they
seemed and different relationships where people
(04:31):
stayed or they didn't stay. Or anyway, it was a month of
betrayal. And we typically don't want to
focus on that. But in this instance, we really
wanted to interview her because I started following her on
social media after and I saw that she was glowing.
You know, she was happy. Yes, she was responding to the
haters sometimes, but she had gotten past that.
(04:53):
And keep in mind, these things are typically recorded like a
year before, a year and a half before.
So Fast forward to now, she's ina very different place than she
was a year ago, right? And we really wanted to show
that, yes, this could happen andit could happen in any
relationship really, but at the end of the day, she got through
(05:13):
it. And how did she do that?
And look where she is now. And we really wanted to showcase
that. We don't want to emphasize the
bad of what happened with her. What we really wanted to do was
just kind of explain the story for those of us who don't
understand, ask her a few questions that I was genuinely
curious about that I didn't see on TV.
But also just show like where she's at today and how you're
(05:36):
not your worst moment. And just like these guys that
are incarcerated, they're not their worst moment.
And I don't know if this was herworst moment.
I didn't ask her, but it was a pretty bad one, I would think.
And she's not that moment. She's so much more.
So we really wanted to showcase that.
And it was really difficult getting sometimes to arrange to
(05:57):
be able to speak with her. But finally we got through.
We got it. And she was just a lovely,
lovely woman. So we're really excited to be
able to share that with you today.
Like I said, last two episodes, the next episode we've already
released it will be Andrea from Prison Brides, the TV show
Prison Brides. If you haven't watched it, I
(06:18):
highly recommend it. It is one of the shows that I
did watch actually. And I watched it when Nick and I
first started talking and Andreawas one of my favorites.
There was 2 that were my favourites on the show, 1 of
them just turned out to be a hotmess.
But Andrea was super cool. I got really great interview
(06:38):
with her and learned so much because I feel like there wasn't
a lot said on the show about hiscase and the whole situation
with that. So I was so curious and I
remember digging and trying to find more information on her and
what was happening with him and who he was and all the stuff.
So I was super excited to finally be able to talk to her
and be able to talk to her aboutthe situation and she was just
(07:02):
really great. So that's next week will be Part
1 and that will be our season. Not only.
So cannot believe we've made it this far, cannot believe.
I think it'll be a total of 26 episodes for the first season.
We will be back in September fora whole new season that we will
run through until the spring, and we've already got like
(07:27):
probably 10 recordings already done and there's some good ones
coming up. We're talking business, we're
talking culture, we're talking rodeos, we're talking home
invasions there. There's so much going on.
We got an interview with Christopher Wheeler's wife who
(07:47):
gives her perspective. For those of you don't that
don't know, Christopher Wheelersis an influencer and we
interviewed him a couple weeks back.
Well, we got the chance to meet his wife and talk about her
side, which was really, really awesome.
So, so much for next season. So excited about next season.
So grateful for the first seasonand can't believe this is
(08:07):
happening. One more thing before we get
into the episode. I don't want to drag it out too
much, but I think this is important.
AJ and I have decided to showcase.
We want to use the platform for more than just this.
We also want to show positive and legit businesses that these
guys behind bars are doing. And we thought what better way
(08:30):
than to showcase on a weekly basis with the show different
businesses, like different booksthat someone has written or art
that they've made and that they are selling or stuffed animals
or blankets or whatever. If your man is doing something
and trying to make money legitimately, we want to promote
(08:53):
that because we don't want to promote negative.
We don't want to promote criminal activity.
We want these guys to do better and be better than their worst
mistake. And that's what we want to prove
that they aren't their worst mistake.
And we want to help in doing that.
And that's the first thing that we've decided we can help in
that way. So please, if your man is doing
something cool that is legitimate, that has nothing to
(09:16):
do with criminal activity, then please message us DMS on
Instagram at Podcast under ScorePrison GF AJ will connect with
you and we will showcase different people on a weekly
basis. So that will be fun.
We will start that next season and hopefully it kicks off and
hopefully you guys can support it because we think it's
(09:37):
important to support positivity and support rehabilitation.
And I personally publish books for guys that are incarcerated.
And I've had a few people that have spoken to me and said, you
know, thank you so much. No one's ever done something so
nice before for me. And to me, it's like I want to
show these people that there aregood people in the world.
(10:00):
And not only are there good women, there are good people and
good people that do good things.And a lot of them aren't around
that. So we want to promote
positivity. So follow us please, please,
please follow us on Instagram orTikTok or Facebook too.
Even though we don't really go on it that much.
But AJ is all up in that Instagram at podcast under score
(10:21):
prison GF. You can follow us on TikTok at
more than an inmates GF. We will be going live throughout
the summer a lot more, so we caninteract with you guys during
the downtime between seasons. And if you want to be a guest,
obviously we have a full season ahead.
So we are looking for more guests.
If you are interested, please reach out to AJ.
(10:44):
There is a form on the Instagramthat you can fill out.
It's called Be a Guest, I believe.
Fill that out, it comes right tous and we will sign you up.
We will call you and we will getthat sorted.
So if you have an interesting story that you want to share on
this platform, we absolutely want to share it with you.
So please reach out. And with that, I will get into
(11:07):
and leave you be to listen to Ashley Neal from Love After Lock
Up. Here's her interview.
Welcome, Ashley. Thank you so much for taking the
time and we were finally able toconnect.
So I'm really excited that you're here and that we get to
(11:30):
chat. Yeah, me too do.
You want it for people who don'tknow you or haven't watched the
show. How did you and Julius first
meet? He accidentally called my phone.
What? Really.
Yeah. Interesting.
Do you know why I? Don't know, he said.
He was trying to call one of hisfriends and he accidentally
called me. And you guys just continue the
(11:52):
conversation. I asked him what his Facebook
was because I looked him up and stuff and then we just went from
there. Wow, you hear so rarely of that
being the starting point. Of yeah, it was crazy.
Had you ever dated anyone incarcerated before?
No, my first time. Yeah, that's really my last two.
(12:12):
I think it's my last two. So what was it about him that
you were like? I'm going to keep the
conversation going of this random stranger that called me.
I don't know. We just started talking because
I said he sounded cute and stuffand we just kind of started
talking and then we started exchanging photos.
I don't know, we just ended up being together.
At least I thought, right? I guess now it's just a fairy
tale. What was it that made you feel
(12:35):
comfortable in waiting for him to get out?
Was there anything? Did he make you feel a certain
way that you thought everything was good?
Yeah, it was the day before he got out, he had texted me and
said that he's going to be like the perfect man when he comes
home. He's ready and he's just a liar.
Yeah. Were there red flags during that
time? I know you spoke about it on the
(12:56):
show. You were laughing about it with
your friends about all the red flags.
Was that true? Were there some red flags that
you were just kind of? Ignoring definitely was the
first one was that he was in jail and then when he told me
like he was using other girls while he was in there for money
and stuff like that should have been a red flag.
I found out the reason I couldn't visit him is because I
was on probation. I guess when you're on
(13:17):
probation, you're not allowed togo to prisons and stuff or talk
to anybody that's in prisons or associating with anybody like
that. So he ended up letting me use
another girl's account to video chat.
So that should have been a red flag too, right?
I think it would have been. I think it was the Lexus.
I'm not even gonna lie, because I heard he did that with other
girls on her account. Wow.
(13:38):
How did the whole idea of love during lock up come up?
Like a month before he was aboutto get out he asked me to be on
this TV show with him. They wasn't allowed to disclose
what TV show yet so we didn't even know which TV show it was.
And he asked me to be on it and he texted me and he was like I
don't want to bring any random girls on the show and come to
find out he had two girls the whole time plus more.
(14:01):
It's just the other ones wasn't on TV.
Oh gosh. Right, they was coming with
receipt. Wow.
So he approached you and said I want to do the show.
And you were like, yeah, let's do it, even though you didn't
know exactly what it was. Yeah.
Then once they figured out they really wanted us on the show,
then that's when they told us itwas love after lockup.
(14:21):
So you had no idea about Alexis at this point?
No, not at all. And they just told you they were
just going to record him coming home.
Yeah, with him and his mom. Oh wow when he said I remember
something on the show about him saying not to post that he
didn't want you posting him on social media was.
That Oh yeah, he didn't want me doing that because I guess.
(14:43):
So this is the thing. It's weird.
This whole time I found out I was friends with his sister on
Facebook. Didn't know it was his sister
because our city that we live inis like wrong.
So I'm friends with his sister on there and I guess she is the
one that ran and told her brother.
She's the one that hooked him and Alexis up, right?
(15:03):
So that's how he found out I wasposting about.
I put two and two together. So I just blocked her from my
page. Oh my gosh.
So the sister knew about Alexis and you?
Yeah. I'm so sorry.
But The thing is, that really iswhat's denying it.
So right, I feel so often we think that if your man's telling
(15:24):
you I'm asking other women for money and I'm not asking you, it
makes people feel like they're not getting scammed, right?
Like they're not being told untrustworthy things.
I've been in a similar situationkind of with my husband at the
beginning. I feel like for me that would
have made me feel like he was being honest.
(15:45):
I find it even more shocking because you weren't.
He wasn't getting anything from you other than conversation,
correct? Exactly.
Like, what was the point? Why?
And The thing is, he could have been told me we wasn't together.
Why did he wait to put me on national television just so that
we were not together? Yeah.
I don't understand it either. That was why I want to talk to
(16:06):
you was because so many women think that they're not the one
because they're not contributinganything and they know that he's
asking other women so they know he's scamming other people.
So he's not scamming me. So it must be real, right?
Right. So I have no idea how it
happened to you. Seriously.
I I watched it and I was like, Idon't understand how this
happened. Yeah, it was really confusing.
(16:27):
You said you did meet him on video before.
Yeah. Multiple times.
Like 3 times. OK.
How was that like? He obviously met you.
Yeah, it was fine. At that time, I was literally 90
lbs lighter. I looked like I looked in the
pictures, you know what I mean? Then literally almost 9 to 12
months later I had gained so much weight in like 90 lbs.
(16:49):
But being on video chat with him, he's seen, he seen me when
I was smaller and he seen me when I was bigger.
It really wasn't a surprise. I wanted to talk about this
because I think it's really important to talk about and I
want to talk about it later, butlet's just get out of the way.
Since you brought it up, I feel people have unjustly said you're
catfishing and whatever. How many people use filters?
(17:13):
How many people don't use filters?
People. Are making this big deal out of
people using using filters but out of you using a filter and I
don't understand where that comes from.
I think it's just that people are so blown away of the
different from me because I'm a chameleon.
If I have red hair or I have blonde hair or I have a wig, I
(17:34):
look totally different each and every time.
That's every makeup artist's fantasy because my face is like
a canvas. So.
Right. Yeah.
Have you always been into the? Wig.
But yeah, I've always one. Wig.
I like them. And The thing is, I don't see
what people were seeing. They said that my wig was like a
Funeral Home, a morgue or something like that.
(17:56):
No it don't. So obviously you're looking at
the comments. That must be really hard.
I kind of stopped. I haven't read any comments in a
few weeks. Yeah.
Because there was a lot. Yeah, especially I feel like
there was a lot that you went through publicly.
Was it real? Everything that was going on
(18:16):
that was real. Everything.
Everything was real. Yeah.
Wow. On the show also he stopped
saying he loves you all of a sudden.
Yeah. What was that about?
I don't know. It was weird.
It's like the moment he got out,he just kind of said, forget me,
OK, He had a goal. He needed somewhere to stay.
(18:37):
And that's what he does. He's a manipulator.
He will get anything that he wants.
He needed somewhere to stay and he needed somebody to take care
of him, and that's exactly what he got.
I got two kids to take care of him.
I'm not about to take care of him without the phone with.
You. No.
So he wasn't going to stay with you.
That was not the plan. No.
OK. So we're eventually going to
talk about moving with each other, but I told him I wanted
(19:00):
to give it at least six months to see how good we do, but it
didn't even happen. What's the story with the
tattoo? Can you talk about it?
Yeah, I was at work and I was talking to my friend Candy.
She's a bartender, and we were just there having a couple of
drinks after work. He called me and I kind of joked
about it. It's so weird.
At this time. It was my birthday the previous
(19:22):
year. But yeah, so I was like, I'm
going to go get your name to have to.
And he was like, if you get my name, I'll get yours.
Like, for real? For real.
He was dead ass. He sounded dead serious.
It was just a pissy mistake. I shouldn't have got it and he
ended up not getting mine at all, but I got it covered up.
So you just went and got it and then he just forgot about it?
(19:43):
Or did you stop asking him if hegot it?
I just stopped asking him about it and I think that's when we
ended up taking our break too. We had a break.
Oh, you did. Why did you guys take a break?
That's when I found out he was talking to the other girl.
Oh, fair. And how did he weasel his way
back? How did he get back in your
life? I knew it was getting close to
him getting out I re downloaded the getting out app.
(20:07):
I wrote it and I said hey it's getting close to you getting
out. How are you you know just seeing
what was going on and that's when we just started talking
every day again. I.
Just restarted, what did your friends think about all this?
They were trying to tell me I was living in Lavali and.
My friends do that too. Yeah.
(20:27):
And we don't believe. That right?
Were they supportive in the end with everything happening?
Yeah. When the time came to pick him
up from prison, did you guys have a conversation about you
picking him up or was it just always that you?
Weren't. Yeah, actually I was supposed to
pick him up, but a couple days before it was a day before it's
time to get out. He's talking about all of a
(20:48):
sudden his mom was coming to getme.
So weird. Yeah.
I asked him when does he plan onmeeting his mom and he is just
like, you got to wait. We wait for that.
You got to wait, be patient kindof thing.
Yeah. He didn't know what he was
doing. Yeah.
Then the people that are filmingyou, they're not really telling
you anything. No.
And it was crazy because I know the producer.
(21:10):
I know she knew. I'm sitting there talking to
her. I have a feeling or someone
else. And I'm like, does she have his
own film crew? It's he.
I don't know. It was a weird situation.
I feel like you probably. Had a if they want to tell me
anything, Yeah, yeah. We've talked to a few people who
have been on some TV shows or weactually spoke to someone who
(21:30):
gave up the first day. She was supposed to be on Love
After Lockup and she did the recording for one day and she
was like I'm not doing this, this is crazy and you guys are
blowing shit up out of proportion and she was out.
Yeah. You kind of signed your life
away a bit in that moment, so you said it was real when you
were filming. How did you keep it together so
(21:53):
well? I think considering everything
that happened, what were you thinking in your head?
What were you going through? I feel like I would have lost
it. At that point, I had already
went through so much trauma, literally so much.
I had just got out of a really bad relationship with two years
and my baby had passed away. So he was just, yeah, I was
just. It's like you were used to going
(22:15):
through bad stuff. Yeah, I was just at that point
he was just icing on the cake. Yeah, I'm.
So sorry. I'm grateful that I do follow
you on social media now and to see you now, it's so nice to
see. And I think that's the main part
of this is seeing where you're at now and how much you've
gotten through it because, I mean, you know, you're not the
(22:35):
only person that's gone through this.
In hindsight, do you think he had any feelings for you at all?
I know he did. I know it sounds kind of selfish
to say. I know he did.
Things just didn't play out the way he wanted to do it.
He took the survival route, yeah.
When did you find out about Alexis?
So stay in the hotel when he came to see me.
(22:56):
On TV. Yeah.
Are you serious? Yeah.
What did you do? I started ball with my eyes out
on TVI was like, I was, You knowhow when you cry so hard, you're
like, yeah. You.
Can't breathe. I was crying.
I was crying so hard. Did you try and talk to her
ever? There was one time I was live on
(23:16):
TikTok and everybody was saying she was live at the same time
and they really wanted us to be live together.
So I ended my lives and I went in her conference and I was
like, hey, girl, She just basically was saying.
She wasn't really saying anything much.
She just ignored my comments, like I wasn't even there.
So I just left the chat. So you kind of got the answer.
(23:37):
Yeah. I don't think she wants to talk
about it. When you stopped filming, was it
your decision to stop or was it just over?
It was because we we were done. OK, We were supposed to.
The surprise was he didn't even know.
But I had a video book and everything.
So when he came to that and it was my birthday.
So when he came to the hotel, wewere supposed to go to the
(23:57):
studio, no. So that was supposed to be the
continuation of the show? Yeah.
I wonder if he ever knew that. No, he never did.
I never told him. And did you ever speak to him
again? He wrote me.
It's crazy. I know the day, April 8th, I
don't know why I keep remembering it, but he wrote me
(24:18):
and then he called me on Messenger on Facebook and he was
trying to be all nice and telling me I need to capitalize
off of this and basically telling me no I hurt you but
here's the way to make money offof it right?
I was with my boyfriend at the time so I just hung up on him.
It's fair though. Out of everyone in the season,
(24:39):
your story caught the most attention and I would argue that
you were the person that everybody gravitated to.
And I think maybe you've seen a lot of the negative attention.
Have you seen some positive too?Yeah, I've seen a lot of
positives. I've grown a lot of followers
and fans. I went from like 3K on Facebook
(25:00):
to like 23. Ki see that because I've seen
some negative comments and I've seen you respond to negative
comments. Trolls be trolls, but I think
there's so many more women that were like, Oh my gosh, this
sucks. They feel for you when they want
you to succeed. They don't have any negativity
the way that sometimes it feels like online.
(25:21):
Did you anticipate this happening?
All the attention that you got from the show?
Actually, they did kind of warn me.
They told me I was gonna have super fans and stuff and I just
didn't believe it. When the show aired.
The attention I got, I just, it was a lot and I got 7.6 million
views on my Facebook within a couple of weeks.
(25:42):
I was doing numbers and I had just created a TikTok.
I didn't have the TikTok at all.I created it.
I went from 0 followers to 24K623, something like that.
Yeah. And just a couple of weeks.
It was crazy. Wow.
But it's, it's died down now a lot, right?
Overall, I mean, the show did give you a lot of attention and
(26:05):
I don't know if that's what you wanted even.
Is that something you were looking towards doing or is it?
Just, well, I'm an artist and I think I was thinking I was going
to be able to use this platform to get my music out there.
In hindsight, do you regret going on?
No, I don't. It was a cool experience.
I got a little bit of famous offof it, so it's pretty cool.
(26:28):
And. Really good money.
Do you have any advice for anybody if they're thinking
about going on a lot in those prison wise groups everyone
talks about are you going on, are you going on?
Do you have any advice for anyone who just thinking about
it? Don't do it but.
You just. The thing is, if these guys in
jail, they could sit here and say I'm going to buy Saturn
(26:50):
through you and they you will believe it.
They Susan Nail have some. They have their game.
Their game is unmatched. Did.
You feel like you were reliving it watching.
Yeah, honestly, from side looking in, it was crazy
watching it because I kind of cried because I feel bad for
myself and I feel bad for how vulnerable and open I was.
Yeah, yeah. I felt like my filed, you know,
(27:13):
like I just felt so bad. I wanted to get myself out.
Looks like you're blessed to have some friends that you could
turn to. Yeah.
Is that what you did? How did you get through the the
shock of everything that's happened?
I kind of just went into my shell and went off the grid.
I was just in my. I was going through a healing
(27:34):
stage. And what did you do to heal just
for people who are going throughsimilar things because you're so
much better it looks like today.How did you get through that?
You have to learn to understand that literally everything
happens for a reason. So when you open your eyes and
you see and you see things for what they are like, I don't know
how to describe it, it's just easier to deal with.
(27:55):
And what is your relationship status today?
I am happily in a relationship. Do you want to talk about how
you guys met A? Few years ago we are
acquaintances, our friends or friends we met at a party and me
and him we're so much alike it'scrazy.
Me and him would always just go somewhere and just be sitting
(28:17):
there having weird conversationsabout aliens.
You know people don't know me totalk about.
We were the oddballs. But like me and him could sit
there and talk to each other about stuff that people would
think we were crazy and we wouldtotally understand.
We just became kind of best friends and we were always see
each other whenever we would go out with our friends on the
weekends. And then one day I just told him
(28:38):
I was like I like you. He was shocked and he ended up
telling me like the whole time he liked me too.
And then we ended up dating. But see that was when we and
Julius was having a break and then me and him ended up dating
and then we ended up breaking up.
Then we and Julie got back together, but now me and him
back together. So he was kind of there.
Yeah. So he knew what was going on
with you and Julius. Yeah.
(29:00):
Then how would you say, cuz I can tell in your voice how much
happily you are in your relationship and yeah can you
compare your current relationship to Julius's and
what the differences were for you?
What other things would you say are different in this
relationship than the one you had with Julius?
It's healthy, he's my safe place.
(29:21):
I've never felt safe, you know what I mean?
In love. So trusting everything's OK.
It's just he gives me Peace of Mind.
Mind you, I'm 31 and he's 27, sohe's not.
He's a year older than John and then he's a manager at his job.
For instance, my car ended up having horrible issues and I
(29:42):
have nowhere to fix it. This man came out of pocket and
fixed everything without me evenasking.
He's a provider for him to be soyoung.
He's a very good dad. He gets his daughter every
weekend while we get about his daughter every weekend.
And his child's mom is super sweet.
Me and her get along great. We even hang out sometimes.
It's it's a miracle. I always wonder like is this too
(30:05):
perfect? Because what's going on it?
Feels like you found the light at the end of the tunnel.
Yes, that's amazing. I'm.
So happy for you and I'm sure there were moments before where
you didn't think that you would find this.
He's just awesome. Oh.
I'm curious, how come you went back to Julius?
(30:27):
Oh no, because me and him ended up separating, so me and him
wasn't together for a while and then that was where I wrote
Julius back. OK.
But at that time the secret was I was drinking a lot.
There was no way I could be withour relationship.
You know, I mean, all of our problems from that.
So we that's the only reason we want.
And now we've been together for a really long time and we're
(30:50):
healthy and I haven't drank in over six months.
I know, I saw that. How did you?
Do yeah, so I feel like I fixed the problem.
Yeah. How did you realize?
I just woke up one day and I'm just like, I don't want to feel
like this anymore. What was it?
It was just exhausting. Yeah.
What's the journey like to sobriety?
(31:12):
At first it's really hard, but once you finally get past your
three months, I feel like the first three months is really
hard because you're so sensitive.
But then once you get past your third month, things will get a
lot easier. You just have to ride that wave
out until. You got the other side.
Yeah. I feel like I agree with you.
Everything happens for a reason.But I also believe that I
(31:33):
really, sincerely believe that the universe helps those that
help themselves. Call it God, call it whatever
that if you help yourself, doorswill open up in a positive way.
Anything. That's what you did, really.
Yeah, anything. That from this experience and so
far what we've talked about, is there anything that you want
people to know about you or yourrelationship or the past or the
(31:58):
show? Is there anything that you want
people to know? I'm just tired of the whole.
Catfish thing, I was that personat one point in time and just
because I looked different, by the time he got out, he knew
that. I even told him on the phone
like I gained 90 lbs. He knew he knew I I gained
weight and all that stuff. I just feel like people should
just stop trying to bash me about it.
(32:18):
It's just annoying. Can you share just?
On that topic, how it feels so people understand what it's like
to see those comments. I feel like people don't
understand the impact that it would have on someone.
Yeah, people are just. People are mean.
I'm sorry you had to go through.That like I really AM.
And I'm really, really, really excited to see where you're at
(32:39):
now. And I can hear it in your voice
that you found you. Finally found.
It so I'm really happy for you congratulations on that thank
you where do. You go from here.
I know that you've got a few things going on.
Do you want to just share a little bit about what you're
doing right now? Right now I'm in the.
Process of looking for a new shop.
I had a detail shop for about two years.
(33:01):
I have 8 employees because I wasdoing really good.
I want to do that again. I really want to get another
detail shop and I want to get a van to be able to be telling you
because I'm really good at what I do.
My boyfriend is taking me on a trip for my birthday in July.
Last year on my birthday I was crying because of Julian and
this year for my birthday, I'm going out of town.
(33:23):
Congrats. You do readings and stuff too,
right? Yeah, I've.
Always been very in tune with stuff.
I can think about something and then it'll pop up right in front
of me, or I can think about somebody and then they'll call
me. I don't know how to describe it.
I guess this did when I started reading.
It just comes to me when I look at the car.
I read my book, I read through my book.
I'm still like learning, but it's just naturally I know what
(33:46):
the cards are saying. I think some people are.
Naturally intuitive. Yeah.
How long you been doing it? About five years.
That's quite. Some time.
So if someone wanted to do one with you, what's the process?
So at first I was. Saying once they've been a
payment through Cash App or Venmo, they'll have it in 24
hours. But I was getting a lot of
greetings and it got overwhelming, so I had to change
(34:09):
it to every 72 hours to send you.
So once they paid, I video record myself doing the reading
and then I upload it to YouTube.But it's not public.
It's only if that person can seeit.
You only know their name. I now look at the picture.
And stuff. Yeah, I know their name and
that's it. Yeah, there's no previous
conversation about what they're looking for.
(34:29):
Nope. I mean sometimes if.
They want to tell me some they'll they'll be like hey,
like I'm going through this, canyou read cards for me and tell
me what's going on? But most of the time, no.
I just know and I've done it so many times and I have never been
wrong. I've predicted 2 pregnancies
too. One time it was crazy.
I was on the phone with this girl doing it over the phone and
(34:52):
I don't know how but I was like,do you know my name?
Ella? She started crying and I was
like, what's wrong? She was like, Eleanor is my
grandma. And I was like, what?
She was like, yeah. Then I told her that her grandma
was basically telling her she was about to have another baby
and here we were and found out she was pregnant.
You have no formal training. No.
(35:12):
That's insane. It's.
Crazy. I just.
I don't know how to decide it. It's just a feeling that's
crazy. And then?
You have T-shirts too, right? Yeah, my.
Boyfriend's making them, he ordered them for me.
He's making them for me. We ordered a cricket machine and
a cricket presser. He's mastered it and he just
makes them and we got 40 right now.
(35:34):
So OK. And how does?
Someone order it so they'll sendto my.
Cash App or my, my Venmo and then they'll inbox me at their
shipping address and then I justship it out.
OK, And that's your Facebook. Yeah, awesome.
Well, that's awesome. I wish you luck with that.
I think that's so cool how you're intuitive and I'm scared
to ask you. What?
You think about me, but. Thank you so much.
(35:56):
For your time, I really do appreciate it.
I really appreciate you kind of sharing your experiences a
little bit more in depth about what happened and how you got
through it because I think it's really important.
There's a lot of women that go through similar, unfortunately
with guys that are incarcerated.And sometimes they need to know
that there is another side. And you are an example that
(36:17):
there is another side, right? Yeah.
So thank. You again, I appreciate it and I
wish you. Well, thank you.
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