Jude Bellingham’s girlfriend Ashlyn Castro once dated Michael B. Jordan and here is her real story
As Jude Bellingham leads England deep into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, eyes have drifted — as they always do — toward the stands. Ashlyn Castro has been photographed supporting Bellingham at several sporting events, including England’s World Cup match against Croatia in June 2026. She is an American model, social media influencer, and content creator — born on December 17, 1997, in California. But there is considerably more to her story than a seat in the VIP section. From Michael B. Jordan to a viral breakdown of internet lies, Castro’s real life reads nothing like the version the internet invented.
Who is Ashlyn Castro and what does she do for a living?
Ashlyn Castro started her social media journey around 2014 and built her following as an Instagram model. She has appeared in notable music videos, including Baby Keem’s “Orange Soda” in 2019 and DJ Khaled’s “Popstar” featuring Drake and Justin Bieber in 2021. Her content focuses on fashion, travel, luxury lifestyle, and personal moments. That is the surface. Dig a little deeper and you find someone far more layered.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.Despite holding a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Ashlyn chose a less traditional path. A degree in tech, a career built on visual identity — it is not the most obvious pivot, but it reflects someone who never felt boxed in by a single lane.Beyond commercial influencing, she has also worked as a licensed esthetician and runs a skincare line in Southern California called Aneva Skin, which she opened in May 2022, providing medical-grade facial and acne treatments. In a TikTok video she put out to address the deluge of online speculation, she was candid about her professional history — restaurant jobs, commercial modeling, music video appearances, and working at her family’s medical spa business. She was not performing humility. It came across as someone genuinely tired of being misrepresented.“I don’t know why people feel so entitled to know how I support myself and my livelihood when I don’t even share my life on the internet,” she said in the video.That line says something. Castro has spent years building a presence online while simultaneously refusing to offer herself up as content. It is a tension most influencers never manage to navigate, let alone acknowledge.
Did Ashlyn Castro really date Michael B. Jordan?
This is where things get genuinely complicated — not because of scandal, but because the internet has spent years treating speculation as confirmed fact.At the end of 2017, Ashlyn was linked to Oscar-winning actor Michael B. Jordan. The pair were photographed together at a private event in Los Angeles, with Ashlyn pictured with him. Reports later suggested that the pair had spent New Year’s Eve together — however they were said to have gone their separate ways by late 2018.So yes, there is a kernel of truth. Photos exist. Events overlapped. But when Jude Bellingham entered the picture and curiosity about Castro surged, that 2017 association became the anchor for an entirely fabricated dating history — one that reportedly listed her alongside dozens of high-profile names she had never been near.Castro debunked claims about her dating history in a 2025 TikTok, pushing back against a circulating “list” that falsely linked her to various celebrities. She dismissed rumors suggesting past relationships with names like Lewis Hamilton and Jamie Foxx. Some of these claims were fueled by misleading images, which Castro clarified were either taken out of context or were not even of her.“People have created an entire past dating history, attacked my morals and character off of nothing but lies from every way imaginable,” Castro said. “Every angle you can think of, people have attacked me, harassed me, been so disrespectful, showed up at my grandmother’s house.”The Michael B. Jordan chapter, in reality, appears to be one brief, early association — the kind that would barely register in any other context. What turned it into tabloid mythology was the internet’s appetite for a particular kind of story: the woman behind the famous man, packaged with a dramatic past.Castro herself confirmed that she has only ever had three serious relationships. That number tends to get lost in the noise.
How did Ashlyn Castro and Jude Bellingham get together?
Ashlyn and Jude Bellingham were first linked in early 2025, when Ashlyn was seen joining Jude’s parents at a Real Madrid match. It was reported online that they met on the celebrity dating app Raya, though this has never been confirmed.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.The parents’ stand moment was telling. It is one thing to turn up at a game. It is another to be seated with the family — that signals something deliberate, something already past the early, guarded stage of a new relationship.A source told The Mirror that Castro’s years of experience navigating A-list circles had prepared her well for the attention. They said she “understands how to maintain intrigue while keeping her private life private.”That balance has been tested. Atlanta Hawks player Terance Mann publicly pushed back on online rumors linking him to Castro, rejecting the speculation and urging people to stop spreading it. He called the rumors “crazy,” saying Ashlyn was “cool” and urging people to “calm the narrative down.”Through all of it, the relationship has quietly grown. The couple attended the Madrid Open tennis tournament together in spring 2026, and on June 17, Bellingham kissed Castro following England’s 4-2 win over Croatia. Still no official announcement. Still no couple post. For two people who could easily leverage public attention for personal gain, the restraint is almost conspicuous.The most painful part of the year for Castro, though, had nothing to do with football. In her 2025 TikTok, she spoke about what the trolling had done to her family — specifically how her mother had been dragged into it.“My mom is schizophrenic; she’s been off her medication for over 10 years,” Castro said. “I’m like shaking because I’m not ready to talk about this on the internet. This is extremely personal. This is my real life. I lost my father a few years ago. My mom is mentally ill. I shouldn’t have to talk about this but moving forward I will talk about things that are important such as mental health.”Her father, Michael John Castro, passed away from COVID-19 in 2021. Strangers had taken photos of her and used them alongside fabricated posts implying she had moved on from his death callously. That is the part that does not get written about enough — the specific cruelty of having a parent’s death weaponised against you by people who never knew either of you.“This is the most vulnerable I can be,” Castro said at the close of the video.Right now, with England in a World Cup semi-final against Argentina on July 15, the cameras will inevitably find her again. She will probably sit near Bellingham’s family. She will not post about it. And by tomorrow, there will be another wave of speculation dressed up as news.What the record actually shows is a 28-year-old woman from Long Beach, California — a USC engineering graduate, a skincare entrepreneur, a model with real credits — who has navigated genuine loss, sustained harassment, and a very public relationship with one of the world’s most recognisable footballers. With composure most people could not manage and without the publicist-crafted statements that usually accompany this kind of exposure.That is her real story. It has always been more interesting than the invented version.
