Asha Pinder - the woman who faked having terminal cancer

[Elgato]

So are we saying that mentally ill people cannot have friends? Cannot have support? Surely this is the complete opposite of what Natasha was campaigning for. Maybe it’s only the white middle classes with anxiety as their mental health issue who gets the support. I am not condoning what Asha has done at all, in fact I think it’s despicable, however, it would be a different story if it was white middle class woman with post natal depression swindles life savings from her granny by faking cancer, in fact there would be support. People would be saying how that woman had been failed by the system, how there was not enough support. Asha has been completely failed by the system, she had a shitty upbringing. No excuse for it at all but there is no doubt she’s been failed.

I had a shitty upbringing it was so shitty I barely survived it but I still didn’t fake cancer and steal money off relatives. I was failed by the system but I take responsibility that I had to rebuild myself with many bumps along the way. Mental health isn’t calculating and she knew exactly what she was doing. Sorry but that’s how I feel

 

[outthehouse]

I lost my sister to cancer and when i sawPinders story, I jumped right in to help. Donated £200 to the fund, sent flowers, pamper packages etc etc..

I was sucked in hard, when it all got exposed I was literally vomming on the bus. Even her apology wasn't an apology.

 

[outthehouse]

She is in prison now and her little boy no longer has his mummy around. It was awful, just awful but there are clearly huge mental issues. I read earlier that lots of mn posts were about NB dropping her, I thought that was pretty odd considering she ran a page called ‘mental mutha’ Which was supposed to be supporting mothers with mental health issues.

Oh come on now. She involved her little boy when she shaved her hair off and confused him, wrote him dying wishes and letters for when he grew up, involved him in her stories crying in front of him that she would miss these moments and so on....

If she was my friend, I would drop her right on her arse. She conned everyone and it goes beyond mental issues, it was greed no matter how you dress it up, her own apology blamed everyone but herself. Why is NB at fault here?

 

[Deleted member 14542]

*coughs and rolls up sleeves*
I am something of sociopath expert (I've read some books, watched a lorra lorra crime docs). Asha sounds like a sociopath, as mentioned above, which is a personality disorder not a mental health problem.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

 

[Lott12345]

I genuinely felt so sorry for her when she came forward a year later all apologetic and blaming it on her mental health. Then the court case happened and I realised what a manipulative, evil cow she is and once again she’d sucked everyone in. I live with mental health issues every day and I personally felt like it was a cop out for her to use that and totally unfair on people who do suffer from it. Not once have I shaved my own head and claimed cancer. She’s right where she deserves to be!

 

[Pinkblush]

I can't stand this tactical mental health trend. Its shocking that people use it to brush of criminal behaviour and also rude and ignorant behaviour. Got someone like that at work who is rude, ignorant, unhelpful, unapproachable but waves the mental health card if anyone complains. Its shocking because there are many who suffer proper mental ill health yet they know the difference between right and wrong and they're not ill mannered and abusive.

I wonder how many of these lawyers can be arsed to obtain medical records to prove whether a criminal has been treated for any mental health conditions, or not.

 

[notcoolenoughfortheclique]

She had a huge following didn't she so many invested and really cared, I'll never get over those goodbye letters to her son she posted I mean how sick can you get. I remember watching one of her lives and someone asked her what type of cancer she had and she said breast without skipping a beat. I thought what she did to Natasha was awful i mean she was her biggest supporter people need to remember that Natasha too had a young son who was probably regularly exposed to asha. I don't blame her for cutting her off she must of been so betrayed.

 

[notcoolenoughfortheclique]

Have we talked about her yet what the hell was that all about from having a huge following attending events, ads, gifted, friends with insta royalty and the whole time she was conning her family and faking cancer?!

 

[bubbletea123]

I had a shitty upbringing it was so shitty I barely survived it but I still didn’t fake cancer and steal money off relatives. I was failed by the system but I take responsibility that I had to rebuild myself with many bumps along the way. Mental health isn’t calculating and she knew exactly what she was doing. Sorry but that’s how I feel

YEP. I know plenty of people with awful upbringings but none of them acted like she did. No excuses.

 

[notcoolenoughfortheclique]

Typical mum blogger started getting bigger and more popular attending the channel mum events meeting big names etc. Basically played everyone faking cancer writing goodbye letters to her two year old son. Obviously whole insta community rallying raised money, the skin care guru Caroline hirons met up with her as that was one of Asha's bucket list wishes. Worst thing was the friends she lied to she'd become very good friends with several fairly popular insta mums and they totally believed her and thought their friend was dying was just sick. I'm surprised this has been moved to general chat as she was a big name with a big following and was doing #ads etc! Also someone gifted her a vintage Chanel scarf for her bald head ( obviously shaved it herself) it was just the most revolting thing playing out for all to see. If you look at her name hashtag on insta you can find her so called apology

 

[Pollyponsonby]

I felt the exact same way, I sympathised because she obviously had to be severely mentally ill to even think of doing any of this but after following her new insta for a while and seeing her in action and then after the court case it just seemed as though she was horrendously narcissistic and obscenely manipulative to the point I would consider it a great talent of hers.

Also in her apology not only did she barely accept accountability she skipped over the worst of what she did and claimed her family were basically bullshitting, proven wrong in court clearly.

She gives me Gypsy Rose Blanchard's mum Deedee vibes.

I followed Asha from the beginning and would get really upset for her son facing life without her.I donated money and sent a stupidly expensive scarf! We had lots of chats via DM and she really convinced me that her family were lying and evil,out to get her because of her mental health.She even messaged me the morning she went to court saying ‘If the judge sees sense and throws this bullshit out of court let’s meet for coffee babes’
When I read the judges summing up in the press the next day I felt so angry at Asha, so many lies! What she did was beyond wicked.

 

[Sariassong]

I followed her for quite a while before and after the fake cancer debacle.
On one hand I admired how she had the bare brass balls to show her face and admit what she had done. I mean, we've all done regrettable things. Not stealing from our grandparents and faking cancer however.

On the other, however....she constantly absolved herself of all responsibility putting it down to mental illness. Mental illness my arse. Personality disorder, more like. She clearly had an evolving addiction to diazepam which she seemed to be on long term.
She was sooooo manipulative, befriending vulnerable but popular instagrammers, buying them presents, going out of her way for them and I must admit I felt sorry for her and how she'd fucked her life up.
When I read the full details of the trial and what she'd actually done to her poor grandparents it took a while to sink in. Truly cruel and a prolonged deception.
She may well be mentally ill but that's not to say shes also a terrible person.

 

[erin182]

There are absolutely no excuses for what she did. It’s absolutely disgusting. She deserved longer than 4 years in prison imo VILE.

 

[Tcytdoll]

I genuinely felt so sorry for her when she came forward a year later all apologetic and blaming it on her mental health. Then the court case happened and I realised what a manipulative, evil cow she is and once again she’d sucked everyone in. I live with mental health issues every day and I personally felt like it was a cop out for her to use that and totally unfair on people who do suffer from it. Not once have I shaved my own head and claimed cancer. She’s right where she deserves to be!

I felt the exact same way, I sympathised because she obviously had to be severely mentally ill to even think of doing any of this but after following her new insta for a while and seeing her in action and then after the court case it just seemed as though she was horrendously narcissistic and obscenely manipulative to the point I would consider it a great talent of hers.

Also in her apology not only did she barely accept accountability she skipped over the worst of what she did and claimed her family were basically bullshitting, proven wrong in court clearly.

She gives me Gypsy Rose Blanchard's mum Deedee vibes.

 

[Bellaboo83]

I followed her originally through the cancer thing. It really affected me. My son was the same age as hers. I used to cry through reading her posts and think about her tragic situation all day, she'd go quiet for a few days and I'd sit imagining her little one without a mummy, im welling up just thinking about it now. I'm not sure how I feel about her being back online after everything that happened, I know people deserve fresh starts etc but to come back onto the same platform that you hurt so many people on... I don't know

 

[Serious_Susan]

What the hell did she do with all the money she scammed from her family? x

Funded her ‘insta-mum’ life style!! Buying crap like the stuff the mama meet and market sells

 

[Tcytdoll]

Do we think the boyfriend knew? Must admit I can see how people fell for it she was so likeable she came across such a laugh I watched a good few lives of hers thinking back it's creepy the level of lying. Just thinking he was in the background whilst she discussed her "cancer" did he never attend appointments? Wonder why no paperwork or drugs in the house? Where her never ending money was coming from? I remember the effort people were going to for her the money they must of spent she was befriending insta mums and their children too which is just scary. I know I keep repeating myself but I just can't get over how someone with an account as big as hers and her links to bigger names like channel mum Caroline Hirons etc how it was all swept away fairly easily with the deletion of her account! I never followed the new one but heard from others she was blaming everyone else. Mostly it brings home you really can be anything you want to be online and people can and will believe you, they'll let you into their homes near their kids, raise money, give gifts, time, friendship how scary! Still can't believe people would blame the people around her for acting like they did I'd of run for the hills too

Exactly this. It's such a HUGE lie to pull off and I've never been able to understand how she got away with it for so long without being caught out, did no one notice she wasn't particularly ill? Cancer takes it out of you physically and there are many obvious differences between a person having chemo and not. I can't for the life of me understand how her boyfriend couldn't have been aware.

I never followed her so I don't really know the depths of it but it is truly shocking and quite unbelievable, I wish some of her stuff was archived.
It's becoming more and more apparent how easily people fake their lives on instagram even with big followings and connections and I'm glad it is.

 

[Waitingonyou]

It was awful, I completely agree and perhaps there is more to it. Yes she’s mentally ill but I also think she was a total manipulative twat. I felt for Natasha, I really did, however, it was a bit of a joke that she ran this ‘supportive’ Website yet didn’t discuss the fact that mental health issues show themselves in many different ways. Her page only featured white, middle class mummies with a bit of anxiety who paid £££ to get it ‘sorted’ with a candle and a lavender pillow. Asha had a pretty shitty upbringing, not that it’s an excuse but there’s definitely more to it, not just a case of her being evil.

 

[FrannyGallops]

Interesting thread. Whenever she was mentioned on MN, you’d get posters saying we should feel sorry for her because she was obviously mentally ill. Personally, I didn’t. It’s takes a particular kind of scumbag to lie about something like this and I hadn’t realised she’d conned money out of her GP’s. She’s despicable.

 

[Elgato]

I do too and I know many people who didn’t behave in terrible ways. However, I also know some who did some awful things as a result of being pretty fucked up.

Fair enough but this was planned down to the t wasn’t it. She created letters from hmrc etc. It takes a stable mind to put the work in there hence why she was sent to prison not secure hospital. I think Natasha initially forgave her but she did something again so she had to drop her. Asha never mentioned mh issues before she got caught either.