Zion Foster, former fiancé of singer Jesy Nelson, has revealed he has received death threats following their split and in the wake of their twin daughters' diagnosis with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1. Foster, 27, opened up about the pressures of their relationship breakdown playing out publicly and the abusive messages he has endured.
In an interview on The Real Spill podcast, Foster stated, "You can wake up to one thousand messages saying ‘go kill yourself’. It gets like that. It is hard, you don’t feel good about it." He also shared that he manages the stress by disconnecting from social media using a separate phone.
Foster discussed his 16-month-old twin daughters, Story and Ocean, who were diagnosed with SMA type 1, a genetic disorder causing progressive muscle weakness. "All in all it has been beautiful. It is a privilege and I love being a dad and I am so proud of my girls," he said. He emphasized his focus on empowering his daughters despite their condition, stating, "Yes they have a disability and it might be life limiting but I am focused on what they can do. What plays on my mind is they are young but I don’t want them to get to a certain age and have confidence issues, I want them to feel like they can."
The former couple announced their breakup in January, shortly after the twins' diagnosis was revealed. In the Amazon Prime series "Jesy Nelson: Life Changing," which documented the period around the diagnosis, Foster was shown expressing his struggles, saying, "I’m not equipped to deal with this. I’m out of my depth; emotionally, physically and mentally." This led to accusations that he was abandoning his responsibilities as a father.
Foster later clarified his remarks on Instagram Stories, explaining that being "out of my depth" referred to the overwhelming reality of facing a complex medical diagnosis he knew nothing about, not a desire to abandon his children. "Please don't mistake vulnerability for abandonment," he wrote. "I love my girls more than words could ever express. They are my world and always will be."
Regarding his personal life, Foster indicated that while his relationship with Nelson did not work out, he remains committed to the idea of marriage and building a strong family unit.