A woman who received $230K in donations after claiming to be a struggling mom-of-three on television has admitted the truth.
Dasha Kelly, 32, of Las Vegas, appeared on CNN last week claiming to be a single mom-of-three facing eviction to reporter Nick Watt, who she took on a tour of her home, the Daily Mail reports.
The segment promoted a GoFundMe to raise rent money for the family, which went on to raise $230,000 claiming that Kelly was the mother of Sharron, eight, Kia, six, and Imani, five.
Watch a video of the plea below:CNN reports that after $170,000 was raised for the supposed single mom, she sat down with the news outlet and said: "I just want to tell everybody thank you so much. I'm still in denial."
She was accompanied by her assumed three children, who are actually her boyfriend's.
Missouri US Representative Bush went on to praise the single mother on Twitter.
Bush wrote, per the Daily Mail: "This is the least that we can do for you is to step up and make sure that you get to stay in the safety and comfort of your home, while we work on other things, to help make sure that your life and the lives of your children are better."
She went on to say: "When I say your Congresswoman loves you, this is what I mean. Kelly, I may not be your representative, but I love you and I will not stop working to make sure you and every person in our country has what they need to thrive."
However, CNN released the following correction to the story on August 10:
"After CNN aired a story about her potential eviction, Dasha Kelly clarified to CNN that she is not the mother of the three children featured in the story. CNN has verified she takes care of the children in her home for periods of time.
"She says she originally described herself to CNN as a mother because she considers herself to be like one to them. CNN has learned the children are also cared for by their mother, Shadia Hilo, and their father, David Allison, who is Kelly's boyfriend.
"GoFundMe tells CNN they are in close contact with Kelly and funds will stay on hold until they verify her information. GoFundMe says no funds have been withdrawn."
Watt explained that the children referred to Kelly as their mom when he interviewed her at her home, as per the Daily Mail: "We interviewed Kelly at her home, the girls all called her mom, appeared to be very much at home and there was nothing we could see to raise any suspicion.
"But later last week a woman named Shadia Hilo came forward and said she was the mother of those three girls and they lived with her."
Hilo showed Watt the children's birth certificates and explained that they lived with her.
He said: "She clearly does look after those girls part of the time. But in that GoFundMe post, she described those girls as her daughters and that's just not true."
