Influencer couple Katherine Smith and Benjamin Finlan have called it quits.
“After 11.5 years of loving, enduring, surviving, and growing side by side, Ben and I made the mutual decision earlier this 12 months to finish our romantic relationship,” Smith and Finlan wrote in a joint Instagram statement on Saturday, April 4. “We all know this may occasionally come as a shock to many. For us, it isn’t. It’s something we’ve quietly grieved for quite a while.”
They added, “There isn’t a scandal. No fracture. Just two individuals who have shared more in a decade than many do in a lifetime, quietly acknowledging that love can change shape.”
In response to Finlan, he was unsure find out how to “walk away from the girl [he believed] saved” his life after he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2018.
“You don’t. You carry it with you: the history, the resilience, the versions of yourselves that only existed because the opposite was there,” the statement added. “[We] are eternally bonded by hospitals and hope, by youth and understanding, by battles fought and won. That doesn’t disappear simply because the romance does.”
Finlan was allegedly attacked in London in 2018, leading to a TBI — a “disruption in brain function brought on by a blow, jolt or piercing injury to the top, based on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders. The Canadian influencer comatose for one week and underwent multiple surgeries to remove parts of his skull. After flying home to Canada nearly two months later, Finlan was hospitalized again.
“I developed something called ‘syndrome of the trephined’ followed by an infection in my brain and things went downhill fast,” he recalled to Patient Voice in 2023. “I lost all the pieces I’d previously regained. I had a seizure at one point that was so bad, I broke my hip. I ended up needing over 65 surgeries across 4 years. It was surreal.”
Katherine Smith within the hospital with Ben Finlan after his 2018 injury. Courtesy of Katherine Smith/ Instagram
Smith, then 25, became Finlan’s caretaker as he recovered from his severe injury. (Smith and Finlan were 4 years into their relationship on the time.)
“It’s so hard being a caregiver on your partner,” she told the outlet. “You don’t need to infantilize them, but there’s also this pressure to get all the pieces right. It took some trial and error but we’ve found our routine and Ben has turn into incredibly independent.”
Some influencers decided to part ways with their significant others in 2026. Days after the Latest 12 months, news broke that content creator Kristy Scott filed for divorce from husband Desmond Scott after 11 years of marriage. In her filing, Kristy cited alleged infidelity as the explanation for his or her split and noted that there is no such thing as a […]
Smith and Finlan plan to stay friends after their breakup.
“We’re still in one another’s corner. Still committed to one another’s happiness, health, and success. Just otherwise,” they concluded on Saturday. “Now, we are able to proudly say we’re one of the best of friends, and at all times might be. We’re eternally grateful to the individuals who carried us through every season, who’ve supported us in every decision (including this one), and who’ve loved every version of us along the way in which.”