A Florida woman going by the name of "Jasmine Tridevil" sent the Internet in a frenzy yesterday with the dubious claim that she'd undergone cosmetic surgery to give herself a third breast. Photos and videos taken from her Facebook page showed her posing in custom-made bikini tops with, yes, a breasty trio visible; she explained her decision as (1) fodder for a reality TV show and (2) because she wanted to look less attractive to men. Specifically, Tridevil said, "I don't want to date anymore." Some people delete their Tinder profile, others get a third breast, you know?

Courtesy of Facebook

Except now it looks very much like her story is all a lie. The team at Snopes, an Internet directory of often-dubious news and "urban legends," has already thoroughly debunked Tridevil's claims and argue that she made it all up for attention. Which, all things — i.e. many millions of online page views — considered, has worked out for her quite well.

Courtesy of Facebook

Tridevil's real name, Snopes says, is Alisha Hessler — at least, according to details given by the person who registered JasmineTridevil.com. Hessler is a Tampa-based massage therapist and has an online modeling profile at The Florida Modeling Network with photos that resemble Tridevil. The website for Hessler's massage business, Alisha's Golden Touch, lists services that include "massages for three breasted women" (H/T BuzzFeed, which also cites Snopes) and, crucially, that it's a "provider of Internet hoaxes since 2014." It's almost as if Hessler/Tridevil wanted to get caught! (This also makes sense, because owning up offers a second round of media attention, i.e. where we all are now with this story. This is just how the Internet works now.)

And as it happens, Hessler apparently has been "a provider of Internet hoaxes" since 2013, if not earlier still. Snopes adds:

In December 2013 Hessler made headlines for an incident in which she claimed she was beaten while on the way home from a club, then offered her attacker the choice of standing on a street corner wearing a dunce cap and holding a sign that read "I beat women" rather than being reported to police and charged with a crime. (Hessler also said "she wanted to have the man who beat her sign a waiver allowing her to beat him for 10 minutes.") According to local police, Hessler withdrew her complaint and "stopped returning [their] calls" after she was pressed for details of the alleged attack.

Hessler was also arrested in March 2013 and later charged "with fraudulent use of personal information." Her booking photo, via OpenPasts, also closely resembles Jasmine Tridevil. And via her Facebook page, Tridevil confirmed at least this part of Snopes's story:

Now, none of this serves as absolute proof that Hessler/Tridevil's story is faked — short of her popping off whatever prosthetic she is probably wearing for her three breasted selfies, what confirmation is there? For obvious reasons, she has not disclosed the identity of her surgeon, if there is one, because the procedure is all kinds of unethical, surgeons told The Daily Dot, basically. But given her background and clear desire to "go viral," it seems pretty likely that three-breasted women remain only a "reality" in the world of sci-fi movies and, occasionally, at Comic-Con.

Update 1: Hessler/Tridevil responded to The Daily Dot this morning, saying that her surgery is real — and was recorded, even. The footage will appear on the reality TV venture she is pitching, she says. (It's worth noting also that The Daily Dot spoke with plastic surgeons who said her surgery is "essentially not possible.")

Update 2: New evidence now points to Hessler/Tridevil owning (trumpet calls please) a three breast prosthetic! Out of Tampa, 10 News reports that Hessler/Tridevil reported stolen baggage in the Tampa airport earlier this month, and when it was found, a receipt listing contents of the bag read as follows:

Read the full receipt (PDF) here. And you thought working in airport security wasn't fun.

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Alex Rees Deputy Editor of News I’m the news director here at Cosmopolitan.com, and I could really use a cup of tea right now.

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