Josh Seiter is alive. Though the former “Bachelorette” contestant’s Instagram account shared a statement announcing his death on Monday, that post has since been deleted. Seiter shared a new video on the platform Tuesday morning, claiming that his Instagram account had been compromised by an unknown third party “playing a cruel joke.”
“As you can see, I am alive and well,” Seiter begins in the video. “My account was hacked. For the last 24 hours, I have been trying desperately to get into it. Somebody was playing a cruel joke and mocking my mental illness and the struggles I’ve gone through with depression and suicide attempts. I’m sorry for the pain they caused when they made that post.”
The 36-year-old model has talked openly about his struggles with mental health and sobriety since appearing as a contestant on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of “The Bachelorette” in 2015. Four days earlier, Seiter had shared a new statement about his mental health: “Surviving depression and anxiety one day at a time with a smile.”
The erroneous death statement was attributed to Seiter’s family and alluded to the model’s mental health history, directing viewers with their own crises to the suicide and crisis lifeline.
“I just got back into my account. I’m going to do all I can with my team to try to identify who is behind this. But again, I apologize for the confusion,” Seiter says at the end of his new video. “I will update you as more facts come in. Thank you, guys.”
