EDGE Interview: Josh Seiter on his 'Absolutely Crazy' Couple of Weeks

For 18-hours on Monday, August 28, the world according to social media thought Josh Seiter dead. That is because "a post on Seiter's Instagram account, attributed to his family, announced the death of the reality TV alum, who appeared during Kaitlyn Bristowe's season in 2015 and has since worked as a model and adult film actor," The Guardian.

"On Tuesday, Seiter posted a video to his account in which he claimed the death announcement was a hoax."

Entertainment Weekly reached out to Seiter for comment, and Seiter denied perpetrating the hoax himself. "Those are all ridiculous accusations made up by somebody with nothing better to do with their time," he said in an email. "As a mental health advocate, issues of suicide are very sensitive for me. To suggest that I would orchestrate a death post around that issue is sickening. I have dedicated the last 8 years of my life blogging and raising awareness about mental health, and I will continue to do so. Regardless of what my detractors have to say."

But it wasn't long before news outlets, which had printed the death announcement at face value, and others began to question why Seiter waited 18 hours – until his Instagram was reinstated – to announce he had not passed. "RuPaul's Drag Race" alum Monica Beverly Hillz, who says she dated Seiter a number of times, went as far as to accuse Seiter of faking his death.

"I'm baffled," Monica told Entertainment Weekly. "I'm angry. I'm happy he's alive, I'm happy he's here, but this is so infuriating to me."

Seiter responded to EDGE with this statement:

"In the article you published yesterday you quoted Monica but didn't quote me. She's not my ex. I hung out with her a grand total of 3 times in my life. I'm sure she's a great person, but we don't know each-other like that. Sadly, she's using her three public encounters with me to suggest we were a couple. It's sad. You can quote me on this."

Selter offered to do an interview to clarify the situation.

EDGE: You've had quite a couple of weeks.

Josh Seiter: Yeah, it's been crazy. Absolutely crazy.

EDGE: Prior to this, we were chatting about you being blackmailed. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Josh Seiter: No, I think given the size of what happened, I don't want to talk about it.

EDGE: How did you hear the news that you were dead? Where were you? What were you doing?

Josh Seiter: Well, that was insane! I was at home, and I was trying to log into my Instagram account, and I couldn't get in. Normally, I just click the icon and it automatically logs me in, and I thought, "That's weird." Then, 15 minutes later or so, my phone kept ringing. My phone doesn't normally ring, because everyone texts me. It was calls from both family and friends. I thought, "What the hell is going on?"

I opened a text message with a screenshot of what had been posted about me being dead. Thankfully, within 18 hours I was able to log back in. I honestly didn't know what was going on. It was everywhere. My family was deeply concerned. My mother was crying. I decided right then and there, instead of replying individually to 200 text messages and phone calls, I just posted a message on my Instagram. Friends said I should have called TMZ, but why am I going to focus on calling TMZ or emailing them and then have to prove that I'm alive when I can just focus all of my energy on getting back into my account and speaking directly to my followers?

EDGE: You are confirming that your Instagram account got hacked?

Josh Seiter: Yes, that is correct. I mean, somebody had to have gotten into it and posted it. I've been dealing with hate at a fairly high level, but I didn't think it would ever go this far. Co-workers that I used to dance with were messaging me saying, "Kill yourself, you should commit suicide," or, "It would be funny if you died from mental illness." I don't know who it was or who was behind it, but someone obviously got into my account. I can't believe someone would make light of [the subject] or wish [me] dead.

EDGE: "Drag Race" star Monica Beverly Hillz alleges you faked your own death.

Josh Seiter: I can't speak to why people would make these kinds of allegations. I was on "The Bachelorette" in 2015, which is eight years ago, and there have been people who just seem to dislike me. The dislike definitely grew when I was dating women on "90-Day Fiancé." That fanbase seems to be the most vociferous fans that I've ever encountered before. They're not even fans. I understand anyone associated with reality TV is going to get made fun of, but the hate I have received is unacceptable.

EDGE: Did coming out as bisexual magnify the problem?

Josh Seiter: I think having an OnlyFans account and being bisexual has definitely increased the latent hate that was out there for me. It has definitely made me more of a target, and then you add me being vocal about mental illness and bipolar disorder. I believe people take that as a weakness, but I believe it is a strength when you can speak openly about your issues.

EDGE: How do move on from something like this?

Josh Seiter: It's like with anything, therapy helps. I do cognitive behavioral therapy, which is very a straightforward therapy. At its most basic level, it teaches, that no event can disturb us, only our interpretation of it can. It depends on the amount of significance that we attach to an event. An example is that traffic doesn't upset us, it's our interpretation that there shouldn't be traffic that upsets us. Someone hacking my Instagram, or your Instagram, isn't an objectively upsetting event, but it depends on the level of emotion that we attach to it. I've been applying that to this situation. I'm trying to look at them the way cognitive behavioral therapy has taught me. This event happened, and I get to choose how emotionally involved I want to be and how I will interpret it. I would have preferred that my Instagram didn't get hacked and that people loved me. I would prefer that I'm not hated, but since these things did happen, it's merely inconvenient. It's not awful or terrible, and life goes on.

EDGE: Are you working on finding out who the hacker is?

Josh Seiter: There's been absolutely no progress on it. I have not been able, nor has anyone that I work with been able to make any headway. I don't have a team that puts out statements. I don't have a social media manager or a digital marketer. I'm a one-man team. I am trying to do my best to figure it out. I have been unable to narrow it down to who it could be. The amount of hate I receive is from people I used to dance with. I don't know why that is. My gut tells me that it is someone I used to dance with or an ex, but the details of how they could have gotten into my account elude me.

EDGE: What's next for you?

Josh Seiter: Just keep on doing what I've been doing – talking about mental health, raising awareness about mental health, and talking about my own journey. I think it's important for others who are struggling to know that they're not alone.

It's also cathartic for me to talk about it. I will continue to create content for my OnlyFans page. My focus is to continue to find happiness and peace in my day-to-day life.