Jenni “JWoww” Farley’s 2-year-old son, Greyson, whom she shares with estranged husband Roger Mathews, has been diagnosed with autism, Us Weekly can confirm.
The 32-year-old opened up about his diagnosis during an interview with HollywoodLife earlier this month. “Greyson, he was recently diagnosed with autism,” Farley, who is also mother of 4-year-old daughter Meilani, told the outlet. “He’s made leaps and bounds when it comes to speech.”
“He’s understanding words better which was his issue. Not that he couldn’t speak, but he would never know what his shoe is or if you said, ‘Greyson,’ he actually didn’t even know his name at one point until he was a little over two,” she continued. “So now that he’s understanding simple words, he’s come so far.”
Farley first revealed her toddler’s developmental struggle during an August episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, noting that he has a very limited vocabulary for his age. She thanked fans for their support on Instagram after the episode.
“To everyone that tuned into @jerseyshore last night and messaged, commented etc about @greysonmathews with similar stories or just showing love I cant thank you enough. As a mother, I will go to the moon and back for my kids… no question,” Farley captioned a photo of herself hugging Greyson. “I live my life differently because of them. To find out Greyson is ‘behind’ or ‘delayed’ crushed me… but only for a moment… that moment came from wanting to have ‘perfect children’ and ‘how could this happen to me?’… but Grey is PERFECT and it CAN happen to anyone.”
Farley concluded her lengthy message with a sweet note to her youngest child: “To my son @greysonmathews.. if you ever see this in the future… you’re mommy might be a bit crazy, loud and dramatic but when it comes to you and your sister… I will fight for you two until my last breath… and continue to fight for you after death… your mommy will hold your hand and stand by your side for eternity 💙💖.”
The following month, the MTV star spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about being candid with Jersey Shore viewers about her son’s struggles.
“It’s been so positive,” she explained to Us in September. “That was never my intent, I didn’t think i could finish Jersey Shore because of his appointments and our schedule so production was you have to tell us something you can’t disappear. I never expected it to be that response, it was ‘Hey guys, my son, we made it to two and he’s not speaking. We have therapy three times a week i really want to be a part of it, or at least be here.’”
Farley added that she and Mathews, 43, agreed that if Greyson was not speaking by the age of two, it was time to seek outside assistance. “I truly think he doesn’t understand what a frog is, a shoe, go outside,” she noted at the time. “It’s been our job as parents to really make him understand what the words are and maybe he will speak fine, honestly.”
While Farley filed for divorce from Mathews in September, he told Us exclusively earlier this month that the couple are “working on things.” (The pair tied the knot in 2015.)
He added: “We spent eight years together so … I feel like there’s nothing that’s not fixable in our situation.”
