Bachelorette’s Josh Seiter Maintains He’s The ‘Victim’ Of An ‘Attack On Mental Health’!

Josh Seiter wants to make it clear to everyone once and for all that he had absolutely nothing to do with his death hoax!

By now you know an announcement about the Bachelorette alum’s death went up on Instagram earlier this week, shocking fans of Bachelor Nation, as well as his loved ones. But in a twist eerily similar to the Lil Tay debacle, Josh announced he was alive several hours later, explaining his account had gotten hacked.

Many followers were relieved by the news, but other social media users? They became skeptical and wondered if this whole situation was a stunt. Even his former girlfriend Monica Beverly Hillz believes he faked his own death — and she had some inside perspective! Josh repeatedly denied the claims though, and he now offered up a theory as to why this all happened in the first place.

Related: Josh Explains Why He Didn’t Clear Up Death Announcement Until 18 Hours Later!

During an appearance on the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast, the 36-year-old broke down to Ashley Iaconetti and guest host Jared Haibon about what happened that day the death hoax post went live. Josh claimed he could not log into Insta on Monday but did not worry about it too much at first. It wasn’t until his phone started blowing up shortly afterward that the former reality star realized something was wrong:

“A short time later, my phone starts going off with just hundreds of text messages. It’s ringing off the hook while I’m trying to log in and I’m like, ‘Something is weird.’”

Once Josh realized that death announcement was on his page, he believed someone was “playing a prank” on him — but had no idea what was actually happening. During the 18 hours, the former Bachelorette star says, he was “frantically trying” to get back into the account.

But why not reach out to someone else who could get a message out? He could send a video message from his phone to any friend with a working IG, and he probably has acquaintances with HUGE followings. Well… Josh insists he was “not the hacker” and simply notes:

“I’m not very technologically adept.”

He says he reached out to friends for help and was “eventually able to get back in” the following day to tell his followers he was still alive. When Ashley asked why he never contacted Instagram about the problem, Josh replied that it had not been his main “priority” at the time:

“I had family members from Texas calling me crying, I had my mom calling me crying. I had, you know, hundreds of text messages I was fielding and I’m still fielding. … So filing a report after the fact with Instagram just hasn’t been a top priority.”

As for why Josh, who has been out of the spotlight ever since his appearance on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season of The Bachelorette, was targeted by a hacker? While many may believe he faked this entire incident for clout, he thinks this ultimately “was an attack on mental health,” as he has been open about the topic for years. Hmm. Josh went on to further address whether the hacking was a fabrication, saying:

“I think there’s some people with legitimate concerns. I’ve been trying to answer all the questions that I can.”

But he continued to double down and say he’s “a victim” in the situation – not a “clout chaser”:

“All I can do is speak the truth. … I don’t really care if people don’t believe me. People like to accuse me of lots of things. … I kind of think it’s funny.”

Really? We don’t think it’s funny. It has to be said, that’s kind of in line with what his ex claimed — that he told her he plants negative stories about himself for attention. Hmm. What do YOU think happened, Perezcious readers? Do you buy his theory? Let us know in the comments below!

[Image via Josh Seiter/Instagram]