TikTok is a great platform to explore your audience and engage in online activities, such as TikTok Lives, where you can watch your favorite creators and give digital gifts like roses and galaxies. TikTok Lives can be seen as a positive outlook for the app itself, however, every rose has its thorns. One such example is Ashley Trevino, a TikTok user who gained 1,000,000 followers on the platform. Her rise to popularity skyrocketed over the years when she became infamously known on the app as an “Inmate Hopper.”
Before the online fame, Ashley Trevino was a 22-year-old woman living in Texas. She married her high school sweetheart, Israel “Izzy” Gress. The two had two daughters together before they divorced. As a newly single mother of two, Trevino created an Instagram account in 2015. Her content back then was wholesome, with most of her posts being about her children, nails, and the millions of selfies she would take. During tough times, she would share her struggles about her divorce and the experience of co-parenting.
Trevino’s story could sound like any struggling mother just trying to get by. I personally understand the frustration of raising children mainly on your own — not as a mother, but as the child of a single parent. Things can get tough, especially when it comes to little children, like toddlers. While the father visits and supports the kids, I can understand that it usually isn’t enough.
In the years that followed, Trevino would begin dating prison inmates, eventually marrying them through prison. Most of these inmates were imprisoned for serious crimes such as murder and assault, but Trevino didn’t seem to care. She frequently posted about her husbands on her socials, even allowing her daughter to visit one of her husbands in prison. Ashley eventually took her content to TikTok, where she began posting about her late husband, Jesse, who became one of the primary reasons for her online popularity. After his release, the duo went on livestreams and did anything and everything together live for everyone to see.
Researching this topic gave me a headache. The number of people she married and divorced is insane, and the drama surrounding it is even more ridiculous. How does a person go from posting content about her children to her multiple marriages and, now, to this mess?
Like in every relationship Trevino has been in, this one ended too. But this time, drama ensued online. Both parties posted hurtful words at each other. Both would go on TikTok Lives speaking poorly about the other. Sadly, this drama only served to boost Trevino’s followers. More views meant more money from TikTok. So, in simple terms, Trevino was clearly enjoying this drama — and benefiting financially from it.
Among the many controversies, the most concerning one is her relationship with her children. Trevino herself admitted that she would pull her oldest daughter, Haley’s hair out of jealousy when her daughter got attention from her father. In one of her livestreams, she said, “My kids have always been with me and a lot of y’all spread rumors and say that CPS took my kids from me.” But then, in the same breath, she continued, “CPS never took my kids, yes I’ve had like 20 CPS cases.”
Going deeper into this rabbit hole, she admits that her kids don’t even have a bed. They’re literally sharing an air mattress while their “amazing” mother has her own bedroom, closet full of designer bags and clothing.
It’s disgusting and disappointing to see how Trevino has descended into a money-hungry individual. Even speaking about her irritates me to the core. The fact that people continue to donate to this woman and antagonize her just to get a response is sickening. The way she’s gone from being a mother trying to raise her kids to a woman who can’t even buy her kids a bed is beyond words.
It’s also important to point out the disgusting behavior of her audience. There are people on the app who are actively looking for entertainment, even if it’s Trevino having a meltdown over a 19-year-old.
People who love drama and support it are no better than Trevino herself. Supporting this horrible character will never prove that she’s a good mother. It’s clear she won’t change as long as the money keeps flowing into her account.
