Jenni "JWoww" Farley is opening up about her 2-year-old son, Greyson.
Jenni "JWoww" Farley is opening up about her 2-year-old son, Greyson.
A rep for Farley confirms to ET that the Jersey Shore star's son with estranged husband Roger Mathews has been diagnosed with autism. She first shared the news in an interview with Hollywood Life.
The 32-year-old reality star and Mathews also share 4-year-old daughter Meilani.
“He has co-therapies [every] week but we’re going to step it up a notch soon and get him ABA [applied behavior analysis] treatments, speech therapy,” Farley told the outlet about her youngest child. “He’s made leaps and bounds when it comes to speech."
“He’s understanding words better which was his issue," she continued. "Not that he couldn’t speak, but he would never know what his shoe is or if you said, ‘Greyson,’ he actually didn’t even know his name at one point until he was a little over two. So now that he’s understanding simple words, he’s come so far.”
On Wednesday, she shared a picture of Greyson working with his ABA therapist, and also said she was upset about how the news of Greyson's diagnosis broke.
"This is @greysonmathews with his amazing ABA therapist Nashwa from @wecareautismservices ???," Farley wrote. "Grey was recently diagnosed with autism. He’s also been in early intervention for over 6 months now and doing amazing ? Grey is and will always be my little prince. So to see his diagnosis come as an 'exclusive' to a certain site broke my heart and pissed me off. In no way would I ever 'exclusively tell' some company about my son, so he becomes their click bate... his story is to precious and no article could capture that. The article with them was suppose to be about my brand @naturallywoww and how it's expanding to a children’s line in HONOR of Greyson and Meilani. @naturallywoww and I will be donating some of its profits to autism organizations that help children like my son... because that’s the only message I intend to spread in my son's name... love and acceptance."
On Wednesday, Mathews talked about overcoming adversities in life in a touching Instagram post.
"Woke up to these colorings my daughter left for me on the kitchen table and this scripture text from my Dad," he wrote. "We all have adversities in our lives to over come but we could not do it without the love and support of those we care about the most. Gonna do my best to have a positive day today. I hope you do as well. It’s all part of the journey. There will be obstacles."
Farley has talked about Greyson's struggles before. On the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation season two premiere in August, she said that her youngest child wasn't speaking yet at two years old and had been going to therapy three times a week.
"To everyone that tuned into @jerseyshore last night and messaged, commented etc about @greysonmathews with similar stories or just showing love I can't thank you enough," Farley later wrote on Instagram after the episode aired. "As a mother, I will go to the moon and back for my kids... no question. I live my life differently because of them. To find out Greyson is 'behind' or 'delayed' crushed me... but only for a moment... that moment came from wanting to have 'perfect children' and 'how could this happen to me?'... but Grey is PERFECT and it CAN happen to anyone."
"I’m sure people need support the way I’ve needed it," she continued. "Greyson is still in therapy 3x a week... he’s doing a lot better. We also changed his diet and removed unnecessary preservatives. I’ve had almost every test done you can think of because I’ll never accept that this is best case for Grey... I’ll always think outside the box and do anything that will try and help him achieve nothing short of greatness... I don’t sleep much lol. He’s my world and I want to give him the best life... because he deserves it."
In October, Farley admitted that she felt "very alone" in dealing with her son's struggles during an appearance on the Today show. One month earlier, she had filed for divorce from Mathews after nearly three years of marriage.
“When Greyson wasn’t hitting his marks in the world of doctors, Roger, couldn’t, not that he couldn’t care less, but he was like, ‘He’s perfect. He’s going to be fine. This is no big deal,'” she said. “In that aspect, I felt very alone because I was the only parent. I thought, ‘Am I bad wanting to get him help because Roger’s not concerned, so should I not be concerned?'”
Since Farley's divorce filing, Mathews has made it no secret that he's trying to win his wife back. Watch the video below for more:
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