Ashlee Jenae’s Fiancé Says He’s Starting a Foundation in Her Honor After She Died by Suicide on Trip, Days After Engagement

NEED TO KNOW

• Ashlee Jenae’s fiancé, Joe McCann, said he plans to launch a nonprofit foundation in her honor, dedicated to preventing self-harm

• Jenae, whose legal name was Ashly Robinson, died by suicide during a trip to Zanzibar in April, just days after she and McCann got engaged

• “Her death will not be in vain, and her legacy will be preserved,” McCann said while announcing his nonprofit plans

Ashlee Jenae‘s fiancé is sharing his plans to honor the influencer’s legacy.

In a new interview with TMZ published on Saturday, June 13, Joe McCann revealed that he is starting a nonprofit foundation with the mission of preventing self-harm. The nonprofit, he said, will be dedicated to his late content creator fiancée, whose legal name was Ashly Robinson, and specifically to preserving her “legacy.”

Robinson died on April 9 while she was vacationing with McCann on the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania. She was 31.

The Portland-based influencer’s death garnered international interest after police said they were questioning McCann and had temporarily withheld his travel documentation amid the investigation into her death, though he was never accused of wrongdoing. The Zanzibar Police Force later announced on June 4 that her death had been ruled a suicide.

“When the official findings were announced, I felt a deep sense of renewed pain, but also purpose,” McCann told TMZ while discussing his plans for a foundation honoring his late fiancée.

“Ashly’s story needs to be told so we can honor and cherish what she brought to this world,” he said. “Her death will not be in vain, and her legacy will be preserved.”

McCann appeared frequently on Robinson’s Instagram, where she shared a range of lifestyle content and had more than 88,000 followers when she died. Just days before her death, the couple had gotten engaged.

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In his new interview with TMZ, McCann said he wished he could have alleviated Robinson’s “deep mental anguish,” and said he believes her legacy will continue to have an impact “for years to come.”

“I wish I could have brought her over from the darkness into the light,” he said.

McCann will share more details and an official announcement about the foundation soon, according to TMZ.

Hours after authorities revealed Robinson’s cause of death, McCann shared a lengthy statement acknowledging that his fiancée had died by suicide, which he said “does not lessen the tragedy of her death.”

“I miss Ashly every moment of every day, and the pain of being without her will never go away. A sudden loss of this magnitude is not something I can simply get over,” he wrote. “My priorities all along were getting Ashly home and cooperating with the authorities to ensure that the truth would be revealed. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the dedicated men and women of the Tanzania Police Force for their professional, sensitive, and thorough investigation.”

He had previously discussed her death on social media on May 5, nearly a month after she died on their tropical vacation.

Publicly addressing her death for the first time in a statement shared on X, McCann wrote, “There are no adequate words to describe the total devastation, emptiness, and shock I feel after losing my best friend, confidante and fiancé, Ashly Jenae Robinson.”

“As a father myself, I am also heartbroken for Ashly’s parents, Yolanda Endres and Harry Robinson,” he continued, in part. “Devoted fans knew Ashly through her charismatic online persona Ashlee, but the person I loved was Ashly, a woman who embodied the virtues of compassion, empathy, kindness, generosity, and love. A nurturing presence, Ashly cared deeply for the people closest to her, which to my eternal gratitude included me.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

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