Where can I find the original Instagram post or emailed statement from Dr. Jennifer Ashton denying endorsements?
Executive summary
A direct source for Dr. Jennifer Ashton’s denial of product endorsements exists in two forms: an Instagram post she published on her verified account addressing fraudulent ads, which was reported by Hello! [1], and an emailed statement she provided to Snopes that the fact-check site published and updated its article with [2]. The reporting available here documents those two primary artifacts but does not provide the raw Instagram post URL; Snopes carries the emailed statement and points readers to Ashton’s Instagram denial as the original social-media declaration [2] [1].
1. Where the original Instagram post was published and how it was reported
The social-media denial originated on Dr. Jennifer Ashton’s own Instagram account, where she warned followers that ads using her name and image to promote CBD gummies and other weight‑loss products were fraudulent and subject to prosecution, stating she did not endorse or manufacture those products; Hello! quoted her caption and presented it as a direct Instagram statement [1]. Snopes’ reporting corroborates that Ashton “previously posted on her own Instagram account” that her image and likeness were being used without authorization, establishing the Instagram post as an initial, public repudiation [2]. The sources supplied do not include a permalink to the Instagram post itself, so the original post cannot be linked here from those documents [1] [2].
2. The emailed statement: where it appears and what it says
Fact‑checkers obtained an emailed statement from Dr. Ashton and Snopes updated its article to include that material, noting the email reiterated that she had no involvement with the products and that manipulated content was being used to suggest endorsements [2]. Snopes explicitly says the report was updated to add a link to a previous statement from Ashton and, three days later, to incorporate an emailed statement she provided, which serves as a direct written denial beyond the Instagram caption [2]. The Snopes article is therefore the accessible place—among the provided sources—where the text of her emailed denial is publicly documented [2].
3. Verifying the account and corroborating context
Dr. Ashton’s digital footprint is corroborated by professional listings that point to her social accounts—Snopes and other profiles reference her public presence and the Instagram handle commonly associated with her professional activity, consistent with other directory listings that list her social handles [3] [2]. Consumer complaints and review sites have documented the downstream harm of AI‑generated endorsements that invoked her name, and Trustpilot reviewers report that they were misled by fake “endorsements” attributed to Ashton—evidence that the Instagram and emailed denials addressed a real pattern of misuse [4] [2]. The supplied reporting therefore ties the Instagram post and the emailed statement to an ongoing scam phenomenon rather than to a single rogue ad [2] [4].
4. Limitations, alternative sources, and why some later pages repeat the denial
The documents provided here do not contain the raw Instagram permalink nor the complete text of the post on Ashton’s profile; the summary and quoted lines that appear in Hello! and the Snopes updates are the closest available reproductions in this dataset [1] [2]. Several later commercial or blog pages republishing the “never endorsed” line appear to have recycled the same denial language—sites like Gelatin Recipe and SophiaDecor repeat that Ashton “has absolutely no connection” to products such as BurnSlim and Lipoless, but those pages are derivative and postdate the Snopes/Hello coverage rather than serving as primary sources [5] [6]. For the original artifacts, the path of verification in the reporting is: check Dr. Ashton’s verified Instagram account for the initial caption (as reported by Hello!) and consult the Snopes article for the emailed statement that Snopes says Ashton provided [1] [2].