Key Takeaways
- Ashley Michelle announced that she wants a divorce from Manuel Velez one day before their fourth anniversary, writing, “I am DONE. Do not come back to this house.”
- The 90 Day Fiancé star said Velez had left her feeling unsupported for years and failed to help during her recovery from a tummy tuck and breast lift following a 150-pound weight loss.
- Their marriage faced recurring conflict over money, secrecy, family boundaries, and Michelle’s work as a professional witch, while Velez has not publicly addressed the split.
Ashley Michelle did not wait for her fourth wedding anniversary to pass before pulling the plug on her marriage. On September 7—one day before the milestone—the 90 Day Fiancé star announced that she was seeking a divorce from Manuel Velez and ordered him not to return to their home. The public breakup followed Michelle’s recovery from major surgery, a period when she said her husband failed to show up for her.
“What a shame, tomorrow is our 4-year anniversary, and I’m officially asking for a divorce,” Michelle wrote on Instagram alongside a throwback photo from their beach wedding. She said the problem extended far beyond her recent recovery, adding, “I have felt unsupported by you for years, and now when I am in my most vulnerable state you have done NOTHING [to] support me.”
Her final message was even more direct: “I am DONE. Do not come back to this house.”
Velez has not directly addressed the divorce, though he appeared to allude to the public fallout on Instagram, writing, “While others want to make statements, I just want peace and quiet.”
Michelle recently underwent a tummy tuck and breast lift after losing more than 150 pounds. In the days before announcing the split, she hinted that she was navigating the recovery without the support she expected. “We were never meant to heal alone,” she wrote in a separate post. “Support doesn’t make you weaker. It gives you somewhere safe to step into the biggest version of you.”
The marriage began with the kind of second-chance love story built for the TLC franchise. Michelle and Velez first met in Ecuador in 2010 while she was studying abroad, but their initial romance ended after she returned to the United States.
They reconnected years later, and Velez moved to New York on a K-1 visa in 2022. The couple married in Florida that September, and Season 10 of 90 Day Fiancé documented their reunion and rushed road to the altar.
Their relationship, however, rarely looked settled. Money became a recurring source of conflict as Velez pressed Michelle to help support his family in Ecuador while she was carrying $100,000 in student debt. During counseling, Michelle learned that he had withheld details about money he was sending home.
She also struggled with the walls Velez maintained around his personal life, including his reluctance to introduce her to his teenage sons and his failure to disclose that he had relatives living in New York.
On top of that, Velez openly disapproved of Michelle’s work as a professional witch and spiritual practitioner.
The couple carried those problems into Season 8 of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? in 2024, where viewers watched financial pressure, distrust, and cultural differences continue to wear on the marriage.
