Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston is relying on her income as a social media influencer to help cover the costs of her ongoing cancer treatment.
“Thank you to the brands I have the opportunity to work with and the people who support me,” Thurston, 34, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, June 18. “Shoutout to the $1300/month I pay to help with my medical bills that I’ll have the rest of my life as a stage 4 patient.”
Thurston, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, uploaded a screenshot of her insurance claims. A receipt indicates that her providers were billed $320,325.57, and she paid $22,420.40 out of pocket.
“We are only in June,” she noted in her social media upload.
Thurston shared a paid partnership post earlier on Wednesday, which one social media user claimed didn’t “seem authentic.” The reality TV star clapped back at the accusations.
“My job for the last five years has been an ‘influencer.’ This means sharing products I use and love,” Thurston wrote. “Regardless of my diagnosis, I’d still be here in 2025, doing what I’ve done since 2020. Some products I share are specific to my needs now in my new chapter.”
She added, “As an influencer, what ‘should’ I be promoting then? Makeup? Botox? Laser hair removal? Teeth whitening? No. I’m promoting things that are current in my life. You’ll see food my new puppy eats. You’ll see furniture I used to decorate our new NYC apartment [and] you’ll see hair products for my thinning hair.”
Thurston further stressed that any product she endorses on her platform is one that she actually uses in her daily life.
“While you may not like it, there are plenty of newly diagnosed people like me discovering helpful products to navigate our next chapter in life,“ she stressed. “So, yeah, you’re gonna see me promote things I actually use and love in my life.”
In a follow-up post, Thurston made it clear that she only works with brands she believes in as a consumer.
“My management team knows how important it is. I am working with brands that are authentic to me — cancer or not,” Thurston said. “A lot of these brands are actually a very widely used product, for example, electrolyte water. A lot of people benefit from that, but especially those going through chemotherapy and those who are on the medication that I am on, which makes you super dehydrated.”
She added, “There are so many reasons for the products I’m promoting, and I’m just sharing it from an authentic point of view of my life.”
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