Adam Levine and his wife of 8 years, Behati Prinsloo are currently expecting baby number 3. And, apparently, if it’s a boy, Adam wants to name him Sumner. Now, normally, that wouldn’t be the kind of thing that makes headlines—sure, it’s a bit unusual, but as far as celebrity baby names go, it’s relatively normal—except, the backstory behind it is absolutely wild.
Here’s the lowdown.
Earlier this week, just four days after Behati shared a photo of her growing baby bump, an Instagram model by the name of Sumner Stroh claimed she and the Maroon 5 front man had a year-long affair via a TikTok video. If her allegations are true, that means Adam cheated on his wife and then wanted to name his baby after the woman he cheated on her with.
On TikTok, Sumner stated that she “was having an affair with a man who’s married to a Victoria’s Secret model” before divulging that the man in question was none other than Adam Levine. She went on to say that she felt “exploited” and “manipulated” by him and shared screenshots of DM’s he sent her. In one, he wrote “You are 50 times hotter in person” before following it up with a cringeworthy, “And so am I hahahah.”
As if being unfaithful and professing your own attractiveness isn’t bad enough, Sumner said that she eventually stopped talking to him only for him to come back months later with an even more cringeworthy message: “Ok serious question. I’m having baby and if it’s [a] boy I really wanna name it Sumner. You ok with that? DEAD serious.”
The 23-year-old influencer then ended the video with an explanation of why she was publicizing this in the first place, saying she’d sent screenshots of his messages to some friends and one of them tried to sell the story to a tabloid. Rather than waiting for it to be published by an outlet, she chose to talk about it on her platform.
Seems reasonable enough. And yet, the backlash it sparked was against her—the young, impressionable woman who fell for the charms of a world-famous rock star. The comment section was flooded with TikTok users suggesting that Sumner was a willing participant in the infidelity and that she was now looking for pity or clout (or both).
In a second TikTok, Sumner addressed some of the negative commentary saying that, at the time of their alleged affair, she believed Adam and Behati’s marriage was over. “That’s why I feel exploited,” she said, “because he knew I believed everything that he said.” She further stated that once she learned the truth about his relationship status, she ended things.
Again, seems pretty reasonable. Sumner still received a fair amount of criticism, but then two other women came forward to share their own messages from the “Beautiful Mistake” singer. In a now deleted TikTok, Alyson Rosef shared a flirty DM from Adam and said she had “a lot more” receipts but that she wasn’t comfortable sharing them. Another woman by the name of Maryka took to Instagram with a slew of super NSFW messages from him. In one, he tells her he is “obsessed” with her. When she questions him, point blank, about being a married man, he responds: “Yes but it’s a bit complicated.”
Within 24-hours, the story had blown up and all eyes were on Adam to see how he would respond. Luckily, the internet didn’t have to wait too long.
On Tuesday, Adam shared a message on his Instagram stories which read, “A lot is being said about me right now and I want to clear the air. I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner. I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period in my life. In certain instances, it became inappropriate; I have addressed that and taken proactive steps to remedy this with my family.” Continuing on, he wrote “My wife and my family is all I care about in this world. To be this naïve and stupid enough to risk the only thing that truly matters to me was the greatest mistake I could ever make. I will never make it again. I take full responsibility. We will get through it. And we will get through it together.”
An eloquent response that begs way more questions than it answers. Like, how were lines crossed? What was this “regrettable period” in his life? How has he addressed it with his family? What exactly is he referring to when he says it was “the greatest mistake” he made?
His carefully crafted statement didn’t impress everyone, though. Shortly after Adam’s Instagram story went up, Sumner shared one of her own which read, pointedly “someone get this man a dictionary.”
Featured image courtesy of Getty Images.