In the void left behind by the “Don’t Worry Darling” drama, Adam Levine’s secret girlfriend has taken to TikTok to provide us with some entertainment. Only four days after Levine’s wife, Behati Prinsloo, shared the happy news of her third pregnancy, Sumner Stroh revealed that she and the singer had a year-long affair. The 23-year-old influencer and Instagram model began the video by stating that she’d been involved with a man “who’s married to a Victoria’s Secret model.” Stroh describes herself to have been “naïve” and says she feels exploited as she had been new to LA. She then shows alleged messages between her and Levine, before saying that after she stopped talking to him, he reached back out by DM-ing her on June 1. In this message, Levine asked if he could name his baby Sunmer if it’s a boy.
Stroh then states that while she never planned on going public with their affair, she was forced to when a friend of hers attempted to sell the story to a tabloid. Following up in another video, Stroh said that Levine had given her the impression that he and Behati were separated. She said that she assumed they were simply attempting to keep this out of the tabloids.
Now, this is where most commenters on TikTok took issue with Stroh. Her claims of being naïve and of feeling manipulated did not come off believable. If Adam and Behati had been separated, this is something that could be easily disproven in the modern age. As many commenters pointed out, Google is free. Additionally, throughout their year-long affair, Adam repeatedly posted pictures of his wife and him and of their life together; posts that Stroh would have seen as she and Levine were DM-ing each other. Also, she’s an Instagram model, so using that app is her bread and butter.
As with any celebrity drama, TikTok and Twitter are quick to jump in. Keeping with the polarizing nature of the internet, there are plenty of opinions to hear.
For the most part, people condemn both Levine and Stroh for engaging in the affair.
One of the bigger divides occurs when people point out that Stroh is not the victim in the affair and that she owes Behati and her children an apology; an apology that she did eventually post. Some felt that she does not owe Behati an apology, that the full blame for the affair belongs only to Levine as he is the one who took a vow.
Personally, I think the old adage of “it takes two to tango” holds true here. While Levine obviously holds the majority of the blame for his involvement with Stroh, that doesn’t mean that she gets off blame-free. Stroh entered into the affair fully aware that Levine had a wife and kids, and his so-called separation could have been easily disproven by social media. What I hold against Stroh are her opening words from her initial video. “I was having an affair with a man who’s married to a Victorious Secret model.” She could have easily started the confession by dropping Levine’s name. His name is incredibly recognizable. The phrase “man who is married to a Victorious Secret model” is so vague. When I first saw the confession on my for you page, I immediately paused her video and ran to Google to look up Jason Statham. Because that’s who I immediately thought of when she said his wife had been an Angel (he has been married to renowned VS Angel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley since 2010). So why begin the video with that? Why is his wife’s career important to mention when he arguably has the more household name? It seems to me that she views him having an affair with her while Behati was previously an Angel as a superiority symbol. Maybe it’s an ego trip for her that his wife had been a model but he still chose to be involved with her. The motivations behind her choice of words here seem to be motivated by her desire to brag, to show that she was chosen. And while there have been claims of misogyny from her defenders, it’s not misogyny to hold a woman responsible for her actions when they hurt another woman.
This is not to say that Levine is not responsible for the role he played in the affair. He did take to Instagram to deny that they had ever engaged in one. He does, however, admit that they crossed the line into inappropriate flirting. Whether that is true or not, both people hold responsibility for an affair. You don’t get a free pass just because you are not the married one. They both owed Behati respect, him as her partner and Stroh as a woman.