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After Josh Allen announced some happy engagement news, a comment from his ex took things in an unexpectedly brutal direction. But did she even write the controversial comment?
On November 29, Allen and actor Hailee Steinfeld took to Instagram to share their plans to wed. It took a lot of fans by surprise — but in a good way, of course. Comments on the post were mostly congratulatory, with only a few being sprinkled with well-meaning sarcasm. For instance, one user who obviously had plans to woo Allen in the future lamented, "Devastated for myself personally."
Some people had the same thought, but for Steinfeld, who is among the many pop stars who have found love with a pro athlete. One of those people who felt they'd missed their chance wrote, "How do I tell my future kids this was supposed to be their mom?" But the real question is: How did Allen's ex, Brittany Williams, take it? While she didn't comment on Allen and Steinfeld's joint post or make a post of her own, she did reply to one of the many trolls who poked at her following the engagement announcement. And the reply was, uh ... escalatory, to say the least.
Williams claims her Instagram account was hacked
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In response to an Instagram user who asked, "Haven't found the next pro athlete yet??" Brittany Williams wrote, "Luckily my boyfriend owns a team and doesn't play for one. don't have to be with another brain dead CTE athlete" (via the New York Post).
Yeah ... that's a pretty brutal retort, especially considering how serious the topic of CTE — or chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is in the sports realm. Allen, like many pro football players, has suffered at least one concussion over the course of his career, so it's shocking to see Williams be so flippant about the subject. According to her, though, it wasn't her that said it. Not long after screenshots of the comment started making the rounds, Williams took to her Instagram Story to offer an explanation. She wrote: "My accounts have been hacked several times tonight. Trying to get it resolved. If anyone has any tips please lmk."
Is it believable that her account got hacked? Definitely — this happens all the time. Is it believable that she would feel some strong emotions after finding out that her ex — who she dated for a long while — is getting married so soon after their breakup? Also yes.
Allen and Williams dated for a long time
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That's right — Brittany Williams and Josh Allen's relationship goes way back. As Williams noted on the "Martinis + Bikinis" podcast in February 2024, the two of them dated "on and off" for close to a decade. This a pretty substantial amount of time — even if they occasionally took breaks. It's even more substantial when you factor in all the time they knew each other before they officially started dating; they've been in each other's lives since childhood.
Despite all of this, though, Williams is apparently doing just fine. After confessing that adjusting to the single life wasn't the easiest thing for her at first, she gushed about how she's been having the time of her life in New York City's dating scene. "It's so entertaining. It makes you realize everything that you want, and it makes you not settle for anything other than that," she said.
Taking that sentiment into consideration, it's definitely fair to give Williams the benefit of the doubt and believe her when she says that her account was hacked. Yes, the timing of everything is pretty conspicuous; it would be pretty easy to use the "I got hacked" excuse after suffering a temporary lapse in judgment. However, it already seemed like she'd moved on way back in February, so it's unlikely that she'd fall back into the emotional heartbreak stage months later — even after being shocked by a surprise engagement announcement. Plus, her heartless CTE comments would be pretty out of character considering how far back her history with Allen goes. However she may be feeling at the moment, we wish her the best — just the same as we wish the best for Allen and Steinfeld.