Sharing her story. Amanda Stanton broke down in tears via candid Instagram Story video posts on Tuesday, April 2, and revealed that someone hacked topless photos of her and was trying to blackmail her.
“About three weeks ago, when we first moved into our new place, I woke up randomly in the middle of the night and looked at my email and I had about four emails from a random person who I didn’t know who had said that he hacked my doctor’s database from when I had my breast augmentation and that he had some nude photos of me in the doctor’s office, which is just stupid, because they’re medical photos,” the Bachelor in Paradise alum, 28, explained just hours after posting about her anxiety being “out of control” throughout the past week. “But he was basically asking for a lot of money and threatening to send the photos to everybody that I follow. He said, even if I unfollowed everybody, that he had already had them documented so he already knew who I followed and slowly started sending my photos to people and sending me really weird messages and harassing me every single day.”
“He sent them to my friend’s boyfriend, he sent them to people who I work with, he sent them to producers at ABC. And it was just kind of out of my control and there was nothing I could do about it, so I figured that I might as well just address it,” Stanton noted, adding that many fans have reached out to her about receiving the photos. “I just want to say, thank you, and I’m sorry that I haven’t responded to everybody. It’s just been hard explaining the story so many times and I just don’t want to give somebody like that power over me and I hope that maybe, just by addressing it, that he’ll stop.”
The Lani the Label designer also thanked fans for their support and asked those who have been sent her intimate photos to be “respectful” of her privacy: “Of course it’s something that I didn’t want out there, but it’s not the end of the world if people see my boobs. But I think I’m just so frustrated and I feel very violated. I’ve also been harassed every single day. I don’t know what other information this person has. It’s just been kind of exhausting.”
Stanton’s rep added in a statement to Us that the reality star is “a victim of an online hacker. The hacker acquired photos from Stanton’s doctor following her past breast augmentation; hacking the doctor’s database and threatening to release all of the images to Stanton’s followers unless Stanton agreed to pay an exorbitant amount of money. To combat the attack, Stanton began unfollowing some of her Instagram followers in an attempt to keep the images from being released. Unfortunately, the hacker has since sent the images to a number of Stanton’s followers including past boyfriends, ABC producers, and more. Authorities are involved as this is an ongoing investigation. With the support of her family and loved ones including boyfriend Bobby Jacobs, Stanton wishes to deal with this matter privately moving forward due to the vicious nature of the individual responsible for her harassment.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Stanton opened up about her “rough” week in an emotional Instagram post. “I won’t get into detail but my anxiety is out of control and I’ve been extremely stressed over some things that are completely out of my control,” the Bachelor alum captioned a photo of herself. “Losing sleep, having no motivation and just haven’t been myself because of it. As much as I know I shouldn’t stress over things that I can’t control, it seems impossible.”
In addition to sending the reality TV personalty well-wishes in the comments section of the post, fans also pointed out that she no longer follows her boyfriend, Bobby Jacobs, on the social media app. The Tillow cofounder, 33, also appeared to stop following Stanton before he abruptly made his account private.
A source tells Us Weekly, however, that the duo are still together.
Stanton and Jacobs, who met on Instagram, went public with their relationship in May 2018. She told Us last month that he is The One for her.
“After my last couple relationships, I was so discouraged,” Stanton explained, referring to her Bachelor Nation exes Ben Higgins, Josh Murray and Robby Hayes. “I also had this feeling like, ‘OK, I’m 28 and I’m single. But I also have two kids, so I’m in no hurry to find someone.’ When Bobby and I first started dating, I bailed on him a few times, because dating wasn’t really a priority for me. But as soon as we met, I instantly liked him.”
Stanton shares daughters Kinsley, 7, and Charlie, 5, with her ex-husband, Nick Buonfiglio. The Now Accepting Roses author told Us that Kinsley wants her mother to marry Jacobs, noting that he’s “like a father figure to them.”
“It’s really cute,” she said. “We talk about that stuff sometimes, but we’re taking it day by day.”
