Bigger then anything going on with the Teen Moms during my break, was the situation with 16 and pregnant alumni Nikkole Paulun and her second pregnancy. You may remember me reporting at the beginning of this year that Nikkole had announced she was expecting another child. The messy situation, she said, happened after she cheated on Lyle’s dad Josh with a guy named Mike. She fell pregnant during the one night stand, but Mike already had a new girlfriend by the time Nikkole found out and things were difficult between the 3 of them from day 1. Fans assumed this was just jealousy on the girlfriends part that another girl was pregnant with her boyfriends child. The reality was that Mike and Teri believed Nikkole was FAKING the whole thing. Fast forward 9 months and well, the evidence suggests they were right.

For months Nikkole has kept fans updated on her pregnancy, sharing belly photos, food cravings, ultrasound scans and even a video of her taking a pregnancy test to ‘prove’ her skeptics. The thing is, fans weren’t skeptical… Not at all. The people in her hometown of Monroe, Michigan were however, those on Mike’s side believed Nikkole was using a fake pregnancy to split him up with his girlfriend, hoping he’d go back to her. Amazingly this theory didn’t reach the fandom, and they only become suspicious at the start of last month when one little Instagram photo changed everything.

Teen Mom Talk posted the above photo on the 4th of August and concluded in their post that Nikkole had given birth in the week prior without telling anyone. This in itself was strange - not at all consistent with the regular updates she’d been giving throughout the pregnancy - but it’s hardly out of this world that a mother wants some privacy after giving birth. More suspicious was the photo itself, Nikkole’s flat belly in a bikini, holding what looks like a joint, at a music festival just days after her new son was born. There are so many things wrong with this. Even if you don’t wonder why a new mother is at a festival partying away from her newborn. Any mother- anyone who’s witnessed a pregnancy knows that after birth your uterus takes days, even weeks to shrink back to size. There’s also VERY heavy bleeding in the first days after birth, something that makes wearing a bikini near impossible. To compare, the time between the photo I posted under the title and this one is supposed to be 1 week. But let’s just pretend those facts aren’t true and Nikkole just happens to have this amazing body and recovery time. Fans are still left wondering, where is baby Ashton?

The month of August goes by and Nikkole says nothing, despite her pregnancy being a huge talking point and fans asking more and more questions everyday. Some were quick to accuse her of lying, while others believed she’d legitimately lost the child to miscarriage or a stillbirth. During this time people begin sleuthing, and more and more evidence comes to light that doesn’t make sense. This post by teen mom buzz is a must read, they were the first blog to put everything together and publish a list of inconsistencies. There’s everything from fake ultrasounds to statements from her family and friends in there, it’s truly unbelievable.

Nikkole finally spoke out on the 26th of August, almost a month after Ashton’s supposed birth date. She decided to explain what happened to him via a story sold to Radar Online, that she was paid $2500 for. In the article Nikkole explains that a month before her due date - on July 28th - she was told baby Ashton did not have a heartbeat, and was born stillborn later that day. She blamed feelings of embarrassment and shame for keeping it a secret, and said she opted not to have an autopsy, cremated Ashton’s body and sewed the ashes inside the teddy bear pictured below.

Outpourings of love came in from the majority of fans, who felt devastated for her not only losing her son, but then being the subject of accusations she’d faked his existence in the first place. This is the point where another teen mom blog came into the picture and everything REALLY blew up. The Real Teen Mom Talk are a newer blog to the TM world, but are unique in that they also host web radio shows twice a week. They have had guests on the show in the past like Courtland Rogers and Devoin Austin, and they allow fans to phone in and ask questions directly. After Radars’ article they contacted Nikkole and asked her if she would like to be a guest on an upcoming show. Nikkole explained that her deal with Radaronline prevented her from speaking to other media outlets for 10 days, and then suggested that her best friend Samantha go on in her place. TRTMT agreed and Samantha went on the following day, backing up Nikkole’s story that she’d lost Ashton to stillbirth.

However, later that night Sam contacted the bloggers again with this message. In a follow up interview that was recorded and published on their website Sam claims Nikkole’s pregnancy WAS in fact a hoax. She tells a jaw-dropping story that includes fake pregnancy suits, photoshopping pregnant bellies and much more.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW BETWEEN SAMANTHA AND THE REAL TEEN MOM TALK.

Let me give you all a moment to take all of this in, I know it’s a lot. I still haven’t totally wrapped my head around it. If this isn’t enough to convince you that Nikkole faked a pregnancy for 9 months then I understand, it wasn’t for me either. I just could not believe that she could keep a lie like this going for so long, and do it so well. Somebody said it perfectly, 'what’s more believable, that she was pregnant and had a stillborn, or that she’s a mastermind at Photoshop, wore fake pregnancy suits for 9 months and hoaxed an entire pregnancy for $2500.’ Unfortunately though, once Sam came clean others started to as well…

People from Nikkole’s hometown including Teri, The baby’s fathers’ girlfriend.

Text messages between Samantha and Nikkole, as well as Nikkole’s mom Rikki.

In response to the blowout, Nikkole decided to release her medical paperwork from the hospital, detailing the procedures and bill she had after giving birth. Again these were released in an article on radar online.

Of course by this time the online detectives are hot on Nikkole’s trail, and it didn’t take long for them to find discrepancies in the documents too. Apparently the account number on Ashton’s birth records is the exact same number that was on Lyles in 2009. The room number listed on Ashton’s medical bill is also EXACTLY the same room number that she stayed in with Lyle during his birth 4 years earlier. That was when I was convinced this unbelievable story may actually be true.

Full props go to The Real Teen Mom Talk for working this whole thing out. I could only dream of being able to dig this deep, it’s like a damn crime novel or something! This story is continuing and Nikkole still insists she is telling the truth, many still believe her so who knows if this will ever be solved for good. If Nikkole really did fake this pregnancy… Well I can only hope she gets the help she needs. If there really was a baby… Well I still hope she gets some help because partying at a music festival isn’t normal behavior for a mother who delivered a stillborn child days before, nor is selling the story of the death to a tabloid for money. Frankly this whole thing is a completely mindfuck, and if you got to here then props to you too!

SO WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? DID NIKKOLE MANAGE TO FAKE A PREGNANCY FOR 8 MONTHS!?