A woman who continued to text her boyfriend of four years after his death has revealed that she was recently blocked by the new owner of his phone number.
When the messages were no longer sending, she took to TikTok to share her grief with the rest of the world.
Samantha Rhodes posted a video about the heartbreaking incident to TikTok on 3 April, where it has gained more than 15m views. In the viral video, Rhodes scrolled through unanswered messages she’d sent to her late boyfriend Austyn - who died this past January - including pictures of her dog, photos of his grave, and long text messages saying “I miss you”.
Rhodes stopped scrolling through the text chain once the messages - which were previously the colour blue - appeared green, meaning that they were not delivered. This was followed by an automated text that read: “You have been blocked from originating messages to [the number]”.
“Biggest heartbreak,” she captioned the TikTok video.
Social media users liked Rhodes’ TikTok more than 2m times, and offered their condolences in the comments section.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” wrote one person. “I can’t even imagine how you must feel. This made me tear up a little bit.”
“My heart is breaking for you, I am so sorry for your loss baby,” said someone else. “You will always be his forever love.”
Even Austyn’s mother commented on the TikTok video, sharing her praise for Rhodes during such a difficult time.
“My son loved you more than anything,” she said. “He would be so proud of you and [the] strength that you have shown through this. We love you.” In response to the message, Rhodes replied: “I love you guys so much. I miss him more than anything. He looked up to you.”
Others criticised the owner of the new phone number for blocking Rhodes, rather than muting the conversation.
“How could someone see these messages coming through and block the number,” asked one TikTok user. “I’d just mute the thread and let them keep messaging”.
“No, why would they block you?” wrote another user. “They can just mute the messages”.
Rhodes’ vulnerable video also allowed other TikTok users to share their own experiences with loss.
“I did this and one guy called me back and talked to me for three hours and let me cry it out,” shared one person. “He was so kind.”
“My husband died three years ago,” commented someone else. “I still pay for his phone service so everyone can text his phone still.”
“I did the same with my grandpa,” another person wrote. “Then someone got his number and told me to never text again.”
