A weight-loss influencer with 1.2 million followers defended crowdfunding for medical costs, saying people are wrong to assume she's a 'millionaire'

• Influencer Lexi Reed raised $70,000 on GoFundMe after she was hospitalized for organ failure.
• Fans criticized Reed, saying an influencer should be able to afford health insurance.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated Lexi Reed had only posted one post in partnership with a brand in the past year. While only one post used Instagram's paid partnership disclosure feature, at least three 2021 posts promoting DietBet competitions include the hashtag #PaidPartnership as of Monday February 28, 2022, following Insider's story going live.

When approached by Insider for new comment about those sponsorships, Reed said of DietBet, "They don't pay me to post or anything like that but I do consider them a partner company that I work with."

Weight-loss Instagrammer Lexi Reed has responded after being criticized by fans for crowdfunding for medical care, telling Insider people shouldn't assume all influencers are rich even if they have millions of followers.

The Indiana-based influencer has built a following of 1.2 million since she began documenting her 312-pound weight loss on Instagram in 2016, and frequently continues to post motivational quotes, gym selfies, and before-and-after pictures.

On February 10, 2022, Reed's husband Danny posted a picture of Lexi in a hospital bed on her Instagram account, writing that she was in a medically induced coma due to organ failure. Danny also said that "sadly we don't have health insurance," and many people in the comments asked if there was any way they could help.

Two days later, Reed posted a screenshot of a GoFundMe called "Support Lexi Reed in her Medical Expenses" on Instagram. A number of people commented questioning why she would need financial support as an influencer, and suggested she has a high "net worth" and should be able to afford healthcare. The comments on the post have since been disabled.

Reed told Insider, "People seem to think I'm some sort of millionaire just because the internet says so but we're far from that."

A website called AllFamousBirthday has estimated that Reed's net worth is $1.5 million, but Reed told Insider it's inaccurate. "People on the internet are reading that I have all kinds of money, which is insane to me, because I clearly don't."

She added, "Our house isn't even paid off and we only drive one vehicle so I'm not quite sure why people are so quick to believe anything these days."

Online calculations about influencer net worth are highly disputed, and in 2018, Forbes reported that influencer wealth is difficult to determine because they make most of their money from brand deals, which Reed told Insider she rarely takes. As of February 28, at least three of Reed's 2021 Instagram posts have been marked as being in paid partnership with DietBet, a weight-loss app where users can bet money on hitting a weight-loss target. If they prove they lost the weight, a pot of money is split between those who achieved their goal.

Reed is listed as a "coach" on DietBet's website, which says she has recruited 229,594 people to the program since 2016. She has posted a number of Instagram posts promoting challenges she hosts, where she encourages her followers to bet $30 that they will lose 4% of their body weight in four weeks.

Reed said it is possible she could have afforded health insurance, but because she rarely goes to the doctor and has never been diagnosed with a condition, she did not think it was necessary. There is no state law in Indiana, where Reed lives, that requires residents to have health insurance.

Reed said her household income has dropped since she was hospitalized because she is unable to work or even walk, so she and her husband are relying on savings. She said the GoFundMe money will go towards paying for her blood tests and medical care which won't be covered by the hospital.

Reed told Insider she is still unsure what caused her organ failure, and said her doctors do not think it is related to her weight loss. She said that she is "grateful and blessed" by those who donated to her GoFundMe, which raised $70,000, "especially when most of them haven't met me in real life."

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