Mum who claims her husband 'ghosted' her while she was pregnant finds him on dating app - thanks to TikTok

A mum-of-two who claimed her husband ‘ghosted’ her while she was pregnant with their second child has found him on a dating app - thanks to the help of TikTok users.

Ashley McGuire, from Massachusetts, United States, posted in a Facebook group called ‘Are We Dating The Same Guy?’ to appeal to the members to help her find her estanged husband, former reality star, British chef Charles Withers. She was not expecting to go viral - but she did. Internet users than did what they do best - spread the information - and within hours people were talking about the ex-couple on every social media platform.

Posting a photo of her former spouse, McGuire’s original post read: “I am really about to test the power of Facebook with this one. . .This is my husband, Charles Withers. He loves to be the center of attention but I'm not sure how much he's going to like this.

“Last year, when I was pregnant with our youngest baby, he decided being a husband and a dad wasn't the lifestyle he wanted anymore and he ghosted, like gone without a trace. He has one baby he hasn't seen in over a year and one he's never met. He's moved somewhere out of state and changed his phone number.”

She went on to explain that she would like to contact him so she can divorce him: “Divorcing someone who's completely unreachable is really tough and drawn out, so I'm trying to track him down, so I'm trying to track him down to get his signature on a few papers so I can finally close this chapter and move on with my life. I've heard he is going by 'Charlie' now. He's British and charming as f**k. He's a chef and probably never mentioned having a wife of kids back in Massachusetts.

“If you know him, if you're working with him, if you're dating him or friends with him, can you please have him get in touch with me or let me know where I can find him. A friend of a friend has got to know where he is.”

TV viewers will know Wither’s from when he appeared on an episode of Food Network's ‘Chopped’ in 2022. In the show, four chefs compete against each other in a three-round contest, using random ingredients provided to them, to make delicious dishes.

The London-born foodie was known for his great culinary skills, and was once said to be the chef at Falmouth's C Salt Wine Bar and Grille in Massachusetts. However, the restaurant, which was subjected to many disparaging reviews on TripAdvisor, is now listed as ‘permenantly closed’ on Google - and McGuire says Withers hasn’t been seen for months.

Just days after her original post, however, McGuire returned to social media to say her husband had been found living in Texas, a 30 hour drive away from his former family home, after fellow internet users informed her they had seen him on dating app Bumble.

TikTok user Jay Megan, who posts under the username @nerdypinkpanda, was one of the TikTok users who was at the forefront of the internet campaign to find Withers. Within 24 hours, she posted an update that he had been seen on Bumble in Forth Worth and Dallas, Texas. Megan then said she had been in contact with McGuire to give her all of the information she had collected about Wither’s whereabouts.

According to screenshots shared online, many women claimed they had matched with Withers on dating apps. One said: “I matched with him on Bumble just a few weeks ago." Several others claimed he had given out his address to them so they could meet up after seemingly hitting it off online.

McGuire returned to Facebook to reveal that she had "a few girls reach out" to her who gave her her estranged husband’s new Texas address. She continued: “I have literally hundreds of messages to sort through, some with information and some with support, and I appreciate all of them.

“I’ve gotten more than enough information to locate him. Single mums are a special breed, and I know a lot of you have gone through the same situation I have.”

She also asked people to not try to find him themselves, or show any hatred for him, or try to enact any revenge they felt he deserved - something which many angry commenters had said they would be happy to do in McGuire’s defence as they were horrified by Withers’ walking out his family.

McGuire added: “Please know I truly do not wish him any type of ill will. I sincerely appreciate all of your support, but please do not make threats, spread hate, or try to go out and locate him. Truly I only want to see this situation resolved so me and my children can restart our lives and fix the damage done.”

Affirming that the most important thing for her is her children, she concluded her statement to say: “At the end of the day, I get to come home to my babies and be their mum, so I think I win regardless”.

McGuire then went on local radio show JAM'N Morning Show yesterday (Monday April 9), and told host Ashlee Feldman that Withers has now texted her on an old number. She also revealed she had the number saved for him, but assumed it was inactive as he had been 'ignoring her' on it previously.

She also stressed to listeners that she now just “wants to move on” with her life. She said: “I don't want any ties, I don't want any connections, I just want the next chapter of my life to start. At the end of the day, he dipped. He took off.” She added that Withers, who she says she hasn’t seen since last April, has said he will be happy to speak to her.

The mum also explained that she “did not intentionally make him the most hated man out there by any means”. She contined: “I hope he's good. For somebody to turn their life this upside down, there's obviously some internal struggles there, there's a lot going on. But at the same time to just walk away from all responsibility, just walk away like it never happened is just - you can't do that. You need to be held accountable.”

She also insisted that her initial post “could have been way worse” and said that she “left a lot of details out”, including ones which would “turn him in a bad light”. “I was very graceful, my goal was not to disrupt his whole life,' she added.

Speaking about their relationship before Withers walked out, McGuire said that she “loved him more than anything”. But, she was left heartbroken and frustrated by his sudden disappearance. “You flipped my life upside down,' she said. 'The least you can do is not send me on a wild goose chase to find you.”