Love Is Blind‘s Tyler Francis broke his silence about the mother of his three children and her family, saying that he doesn’t want any attachment to them.
“I want them to have their family and leave me alone,” Tyler, 34, told Laterras R. Whitfield on the Wednesday, November 20, episode of the “Dear Future Wifey” podcast.
“That’s honestly what I want because at this point. Even if I put it in the back of my mind that I could have a relationship with them, I wouldn’t want to be attached to that family,” the reality star added, although he didn’t directly name the kids’ mom, Bri Thomas, and her mom, Lovetta Thomas.
The account manager tried to clarify that he wasn’t saying he didn’t want a relationship with his children, saying, “Not the kids per se, cause once again … innocent kids, beautiful kids,” before Laterras, 46, challenged him about his comment.
“But the kids are attached to the family,” the host noted, while Tyler shot back, “They come with everyone else.”
“I would never prioritize the feelings that I have for a bad relationship over my kids,” Laterras explained to Tyler. He said how important it was to show children that the father needs to “honor and respect” the mother of his kids, because that’s their mom.
When Tyler responded, “You wouldn’t be concerned about them running your name when you’re not around?” Laterras told him to live by the quote, “Let your character outlive their lie.”
Tyler’s paternity scandal unfolded as Love Is Blind season 7 was airing on Netflix. He told future wife Ashley Adionser that he fathered three kids with a couple he knew because they couldn’t have children of their own. Tyler said his only role was as a sperm donor and implied that he wasn’t involved in the childrens’ lives.
The kids’ mother, Bri, came forward to challenge Tyler’s claims.
“Yes, I am the mother of Tyler’s three children. I’m trying really hard to do this the right way, but I have no understanding why he would characterize his relationship with his children as he has,” Bri wrote via Instagram on October 10. “Especially in consideration of how patient and considerate I’ve been. I guess I have to speak on this, despite trying so hard not to. ‘Sperm babies’ they are not.”
Bri continued, “‘Sperm babies,’ Tyler? I guess I have to start dropping my own bombs,” then made good on her promise hours later, sharing photos from Christmas 2022.
“We can start with the smallest lie regarding my ‘uninvolved’ children’s father. ‘I spent Christmas last year alone, cooking greens….’ Tyler did not spend Christmas ‘22 alone,” she wrote alongside a series of timestamped photos of Tyler. “He spent it at his mom’s with family, that included the oldest, Kyreaux.”
Bri shared then later deleted a video of Tyler with his three children taken a few days after Christmas 2022. A young boy could be heard referring to the reality star as “dad.” In addition to son Kyreaux, Tyler and Bri share twin daughters.
“’Family… Holidays… what does that look like.’ Here a few videos three days after Christmas ‘22 (Filming occurred October 2023. Which makes this the Christmas before filming),” she captioned the post. “My children love their ‘Dad.’ To think that he has reduced them to ‘sperm babies,’ when I was told he was going on the show to be able to better provide for them, is the most absurd and hurtful thing ever. My kids don’t deserve this.”
Bri’s mom and the children’s grandmother, Lovetta, later got involved in the drama after Tyler told Ashley he “didn’t think” his kids knew what he looked like during a season 7 Love Is Blind episode.
“YOUR KIDS don’t know what you look like??? THIS CAN’T BE REAL … He lies with a STRAIGHT FACE!!! AND THE OSCAR GOES TO … Like it’s really funny at this point!!!” Lovetta wrote on October 16.
Tyler and Ashley, 32, married in LiB‘s season 7 finale, which aired on October 23, and revealed they were still going strong in the October 30 reunion episode.
“Biologically, these are still his kids, so he feels a certain way, but he’s like, ‘I can’t do this,’” Ashley explained about the situation during a November 6 appearance on “The Viall Files” podcast. “[The children’s mother] was disappointed, and I can see why she was disappointed as well. But he’s like, ‘I just don’t wanna have any connection with you or them because if I talk to you, although you’ve been my long-term friend, there’s no way I wouldn’t be able to not talk to the kids. And I think it’s best if I remove myself.’”
That caused Lovetta to reveal, “We don’t want him around the kids now! Now it’s just stopping him and that woman he sends out there to shame herself,” in reply to an Instagram comment later that day.
#LiBs #Tyler #Kids #Mothers #Family #Leave
