Ashley Beeman came clean to her fans on social media after ‘pretending’ to live a healthy lifestyle
A health and fitness influencer has admitted faking her workouts to hide a secret addiction which ‘ruined her life’.
Ashley Beeman is a vlogger who runs a ‘ Fit and Fabulous ‘ blog giving tips on how to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
The 34-year-old has now admitted sharing misleading posts with her 32,000 social media followers after becoming addicted to a prescription drug she was given for attention deficit disorder (ADD) in 2015.
The mum-of-two said the weight loss results she achieved after being prescribed Adderall spurred on her addiction as she she dropped more than 16kg.
“I would fake my workouts for my social media followers and my business grew a ton, and I feel terrible about that now,” said Ashley from Arizona.
“People were complimenting me which spurred me on and made me feel great.
“I thought I looked fantastic but I was just skin and bones.”
Ashley’s life quickly spiralled out of control as she began using her monthly prescription in just two weeks.
The addiction hit rock bottom when she ran out of the drug at a family reunion and became so anxious she couldn’t interact with those closest to her.
She’s now celebrating three years without the drug after enduring a ‘nightmare’ detox and has admitted the truth to her social media followers.
“A year after I had given up I knew I had to come clean on my Facebook page,” she said.
“I had pretended to be living this really healthy lifestyle to all my followers and I owed them an explanation.
“I went live on Facebook and I received such a warm reaction. Everyone was really supportive and they started sharing their own struggles with Adderall.
“When I first got clean I felt guilty but now I’ve tried to forgive myself and move on.
“Now I genuinely love to work out and eat well.”
Ashley is now focused on making up for lost time with her husband Dusty and children Dylan, eight, and Davin, six.
“I wasn’t focused on my family in any way,” she explained.
“When I was on Adderall I was selfish. I was just living my life and I wasn’t present for my children. I wouldn’t spend time with them.
“I feel like I’ve missed a lot of memories with my youngest one. I became obsessed with my business.
“I felt like I was being really productive but in reality I probably was just a tornado.
“I hate looking back at photos of myself during that time because I don’t look good, even though I thought I looked amazing.
“When I watch old videos, you can tell by my eyes I’m not really there.”
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It also took time for her to stop ‘crazy’ diets and has now learned to love her body.
Ashley believes she was misdiagnosed with ADD after filing out a simple quiz at the doctors and says the drug is ‘too easy to get’ and needs to be taken more seriously after it took over her life.
