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Season 3, Episode 8

Ashley

Age: 20
Location: Seattle, Washington
Addiction: Meth

What’s Memorable: This is another cautionary tale, like Gabe and Tamela, about what happens when religion gets in the way of truly being able to see a person. Ashley’s father (just like Gabe’s and Tamela’s)is especially incapable of connecting with her on any meaningful level. His response to her addiction is “this is about your relationship to God” and “if you died right now you’d go to hell” kind of thing. You can see Ashley’s pain at hearing “God loves you” instead of “I love you.”

Official synopsis: Growing up, Ashley, 20, was always considered the wild child. While her younger sister was quick to follow the rules and be active in the church, Ashley tended to reject her parents’ strong Christian values. The more her parents tried to guide her, the more she pulled away. By her teenage years, Ashley became a chronic runaway and drug addict. Her family sees an intervention as her only hope. But will Ashley take their efforts as a sign of love or another chance to run away?

Original Air Date: June 2007
Interventionist: Ken

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  1. marcy lily

    This one was so hard for me because of the religious upbringing . Yes this young woman made many mistakes but that background . It reminded me of when all the extreme religious groups tried to have Harry Potter books banned in our town .
    This poor girl could not even wear Ninja Turtle panties ! As a child when she did wrong Hell was thrown in her face . Think about how horrifying that must have been for her to hear at 4 ,5 , 6 …… even 12 years old . You can only take so much before you rebel or break down . I am wishing her the best .

  2. Irene

    Obviously, not every religious family breeds a meth addict, but the parents really should take at least some responsibility here, and to see that their religious fundamentalism is also part of the problem.

  3. Siouxsie

    Anyone have an update on her?

    1. Holly

      Ashley had another child, a little girl, I think maybe five yrs ago now? Not much known other than that. She looks happy and healthy, I hope she’s doing better nowadays.

      https://m.facebook.com/ashley.cruz.332?pn_ref=ec_friends_card

    2. Johnny

      Ashley, is still a troubled woman with serious mental (Bi-Polar) and she is definitely not sober… She may not be on Meth but, Alcohol is her thing now….. There are public records of Ashley getting in to a Hit-n-Run accident in Sumner WA. Where the police report stated they smelled Alcohol on her breath…. Then she claims (in the police Report) she chugged beers when she got home??? What SOBER person CHUGS beers. She is on her 3rd marriage and none of her children are from her husbands. I feel sorry for her children and the many marriages they have to go through…

      1. Kay

        Do you have a link to an article? I just tried to google it and can’t find anything. I just watched her episode and was hoping she was continuing on a good path.

  4. Alecia

    Ashley is doing great! Just celebrating 12 years of sobriety, living with her son (seen in the episode) and her daughter. I’m will always be so grateful she chose treatment…the thought of her not being apart of my life was absolutely soul crushing. I’m really proud of her!

    1. Andy

      Yay! I’m so glad that she is doing well all these years later.

    2. Terri

      Omg I’m so happy to hear this great news!

    3. Brooke

      at the end of her episode it said she was sober and remarried and spoke with her parents and son regularly so i was confused as to why trace wasn’t living with her, but he is so that’s awesome news! glad to hear!!

  5. Javier Cornejo

    Glory HALELUYAH!!! I turned my tv on and this episode was bearly starting, Idk why or how but I ended watching this whole episode. I couldn’t believe this story, almost the same exact thing hapoened to me. Growing uo in a religious home, a strict religious father, I started using at age of 14. I went through hell and lost my teenage years in drug addiction and gangs. At age of 18 I OD, I had a supernatural experience, I could talk for hours, all I have to say is that I had an encounter with God, he gave me a second chance to live. Since that day I have not been the same man I used to be. Life is hard, I wish I had never done drugs. It’s a devils tramp, it will seduce, fool you nice and sweet untill it traps you. I got my life together, Got my HS diploma, became a youth pastor, got married, I have a 2 yr old girl. I am still in college, and I work as a behavior mental health tech at a rehab center where I used to be a patient as a teen.

    I have relapsed 4 times for short periods. Those 4 times God has moved in my life, he has made miracles, in different ways and delivered me from the addiction from one day to the other, cold turkey. I had a relapse episode before When my daughter was born. When my daughter was born I tossed all my drugs to the trash. The last relapse happened not too long ago (4th time, last time). I started working a lot more, busy with school, and church, I bearly saw my family, I began to hangout with the wrong crowd, my relationship with God went down the drain. I became tierd, angry, and mad. I started with 1 cigarrette, 1 beer, 1 joint, then cocaine. I lost sense of reality, thinking it would never trap me it did and it started to affect me in every area of my life. Untill I decided to call out for help. God answered and through the support of my pastor and family I have been restored. I am sober, and I want to stay sober. The devil is a liar, drugs are a lie. Jesus is the TRUTH! THE LIFE! AND THE ONLY WAY! God bless!

    1. jacinda

      thank you for sharing- I felt that

  6. Em

    Holy cow, when the pastor recommends keeping God out of the Intervention you know you’re too God fearing.

    1. Beatrice Thomas

      Lol exactly. I grew up with a mum just like this, it majorly f****d me up

  7. Xlio

    Don’t get me started on religion.. especially fundamentalists like this family. They’re all focused on what a “sinner” she is and how she’s going to hell instead of caring about her feeling loved.

    From the FB link posted above it looks like she’s doing great! I wish her the best.

    1. LINDA

      A professed devotion to Christianity without love is no religion at all. Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, “Judge others harshly & throw Hell in their faces if they suffer mental illness, low self-esteem or addiction.” How people like the father in this episode can call themselves ‘Christian’ while utterly failing to live as Jesus taught ~ it mystifies me. Instead of conforming their lives to follow Jesus, they conform their version of Jesus to fit their lives ~ their patriarchal world view ~ a weird, tough, ‘manly’ world of implacability & rigidity. POOR ASHLEY! I’m glad she escaped & glad she’s clean and sober. I hope the eating disorder & poor body image have found healing, too; poor body image & disordered eating imposed by a rigid, sick mother ~ it’s a tough one, too.

  8. Susie

    Looks like Ashley had a bunch more kids and is married and doing great!

    https://m.facebook.com/ashley.cruz.332?pn_ref=ec_friends_card

  9. Peter

    Wow. People so quick to condemn the religious aspect. With exception of her sister’s addiction and nihilistic outlook, the youngest daughter looks like she has a handle on how to live a ‘good’ life. Same parenting. Same opportunities. Same exposure to God.

    1. Jenny

      So what? It may not be their fault she chose meth, but these people shoved God down her throat and constantly made her feel like she was the “bad” child compared to her sister because she wasn’t submitting to their values enough. They came across as pushy, sanctimonious Christians that label anyone who doesn’t adhere to their beliefs as troubled sinners. They had this girl labeled as a problem before she even did anything objectively bad.

  10. Hhippie

    I couldn’t help but feel like there’s a bigger issue with this family never showing any sort of affection. when she’s visiting her son her mom and dad couldn’t be futher away from her. when she left and was upset the dad just stood and looked out the window and when he finally talked to her it was still so distant. they are so emotionally removed. they seem to only know how to talk to their daughter via religion.

  11. Ryan Clinks

    Hey Dizzy. correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is labeled as the wrong episode. isn’t Ashley from season 3 episode 9 from Las Vegas and she had a heroin and Xanax addiction?

    1. KelsChester

      I just watched this episode and the information above doesn’t match the episode I watched and the girl doesn’t even look like the one I watched on TV. The episode I watched was a girl who’s aunt and uncle raised her and her mother was a meth and gambling addict. I think you got this one mixed up with another person.

      1. Jack

        Yeah, I’m watching on Tubi and I think the streaming service has a different episode in place bc even the episode description on there matches the one here. Which season is Las Vegas Ashley from?

      2. Jack

        https://intervention-directory.com/2013/07/episode-114-ashley/

        Found it:
        Tubi has this episode posted for S3E9

  12. Kris M

    I don’t understand how she was able to run away 15 times and be gone for months at a time at 14, 15 and not be sent to a group home or Juvie??

  13. Ky

    Ashley uses heroin as well. You can tell because sometimes her syringe has black tar instead of white liquid and you can see the older boyfriend nodding out as well. She might be clean now but I wanted to make not of that in case you wanted to add it addiction category

    1. Jackie S.

      Could be blood clotted in the needle. I’m a recovering IV addict and I ran into that problem a lot. That’s why she was drawing the liquid out of the one needle and squirting it into the top of the other needle with no plunger in it. The blood clot was blocking the drugs from being able to be injected. It happens a lot. She very well may have been using heroin too but tar doesn’t look like blood.

  14. Sara

    My heart broke for Ashley when I saw her episode. Religious trauma is something that is just now being talked about and is still very misunderstood. Being raised in a strict religious household can affect a child’s brain in many ways. Ashley needed unconditional love from her family, but unfortunately their holy book doesn’t allow that. How sad that a family has chosen their god over one of their own. So glad to see that she is doing well now!