Nearly 4 years after Sumner Stroh became embroiled in Adam Levine’s sexting scandal, the model-turned-singer is confronting the damage attributable to the controversy while attempting to reclaim her identity. Stroh now acknowledges that her actions hurt multiple people, including Levine’s wife, Behati Prinsloo, and their family. Nevertheless, she also believes that her worst mistake shouldn’t determine the direction of her entire life.
As she launches a brand new chapter in music, Stroh is opening up in regards to the intense public scrutiny she endured, the effect it had on her family members, and why she isn’t any longer allowing fear of criticism to maintain her from pursuing her ambitions.
In 2022, Stroh publicly alleged that she and Levine had engaged in a year-long affair involving intimate messages while Prinsloo was pregnant with the couple’s third child. Levine denied having an affair but acknowledged that he had “crossed a line.” Stroh subsequently claimed that she felt “manipulated” by the Maroon 5 frontman.
Looking back on the controversy, Stroh admitted it was an incredibly turbulent chapter of her life. “It was an absolute sh-tstorm, that period of my life,” she told the Every day Mail. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old stressed that she doesn’t wish to portray herself because the victim of a scandal that affected several other people.
“I don’t wish to sound like a victim,” Stroh said. “I hurt quite a lot of people, so I don’t wish to by any means say like, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ I understand it’s a conversation that’s stuck with me and I even have to live with that, but I imagine that folks are greater than their mistakes and greater than their past.”
Stroh also publicly apologized to Prinsloo and the couple’s children in a 2022 TikTok video. “I’m not the one getting hurt on this,” she said on the time. “It’s Behati and her children. And for that, I’m so, so sorry.”
The Public Scrutiny Sent Her To A ‘Dark Place’
Stroh said the scandal erupted while she was already coping with other problems in her personal life, leaving her in an emotionally difficult place. “It was traumatic, just the extent of public scrutiny,” she recalled. “The bandwagon effect and the entire cancellation of all of it, it really gave me time to look inward and process that shame, process that guilt, process even childhood traumas.”
The fallout allegedly prolonged beyond online criticism and commenced affecting her family’s sense of security. “The drones flying over my family’s house … that affected my entire family,” she told the outlet. “In order that physical safety aspect, for not myself, but for my family was something that was really hard, not for just me, but additionally my family.”
Stroh grew up in a standard Texas household and said her family encouraged her to pursue a law degree slightly than relocate to Los Angeles. She moved to the West Coast anyway while hoping to affix a woman group, but those ambitions were soon eclipsed by the Levine scandal.
Sumner Stroh Is Turning Her Pain Into Music
Stroh is now pursuing the musical profession she originally envisioned, despite the fact that she knows some critics may accuse her of attempting to capitalize on the controversy. “I’ve already heard all of that,” she said.
The previous model explained that she has needed to stop trying to manage how others perceive her. “I feel that I’ve needed to relinquish control of what other people think and what they’re going to say,” Stroh shared. “Because at the top of the day, I can’t control that. All I can control is showing up authentically as myself.”
“I just realized I’m either going to do what I really like and individuals are going to say what they’ve at all times said about women for a whole lot and a whole lot of years or I can live without end in fear and never have pursued what I really like, and I feel that could be a far more miserable existence for me,” she added.
Her latest single, “Miss America,” reflects her determination to proceed despite the setbacks. On the song, Stroh sings, “I don’t even have to wear a crown / Can’t wear me out.”
“‘You possibly can’t wear me out’ as I’m actively getting worn the f-ck down and facing setback after setback,” Stroh said of the lyrics.
She then admitted that hearing her own music can still trigger a deeply emotional response. “It makes me cry after I take heed to my very own music, which is ridiculous,” she confessed.
The Singer Refuses To Deny What Happened
Although Stroh desires to separate her future from the scandal, she doesn’t intend to erase or minimize her involvement. “I even have f-cking put blood, sweat, and tears into selecting myself and that’s okay because we’re all inherently flawed,” she said.
“I’ve been working my a-s off to separate myself from that and grow and learn,” Stroh continued. “But additionally, I’m not going to sit down here and say that nothing ever happened and that’s just a part of my story and that’s something I even have to live with.”
She now considers the painful period pivotal to the artist she has turn out to be and now not measures success in response to public approval. “My definition of success is what I’m doing on daily basis and that’s creating,” Stroh explained. The experience also taught her a blunt lesson: “Don’t kiss and tell.”
Although Stroh acknowledged that she still dates people in entertainment, she has modified how much she shares publicly. “I proceed to this point people in my industry and in Los Angeles,” she admitted, “but I prefer to keep that personal.”
Adam Levine And Behati Prinsloo Remain Together
Levine and Prinsloo have remained married because the scandal. The couple was recently photographed having fun with time aboard a yacht in St. Tropez shortly before their twelfth wedding anniversary. Prinsloo has never publicly discussed Stroh’s allegations or explained why she decided to stick with Levine.
An insider recently claimed, nonetheless, that the couple’s marriage is now in a greater position than it was immediately following the controversy. “Their relationship is in a much healthier place than it was within the immediate aftermath of the scandal,” the source told the Every day Mail.
“That doesn’t mean all the pieces is ideal… but Adam has made enough changes to maintain the wedding intact and avoid repeating the mistakes that almost cost him all the pieces,” the insider added.