Briel Adams-Wheatley, 27, has opened up about the bleak dating landscape she navigated before swiping right on her husband Adam in 2020.
The beauty influencer, who was born without arms or legs due to Hanhart Syndrome, said’s This Morning that previous suitors offered nothing close to actual romance. “Originally when guys asked me to go on dates, it was just a ‘Let’s go to the parking lot and chat’ and maybe something will happen,” she recalled from her appearance on the UK program.
Adam broke that pattern immediately. “For our first date, Adam took me to a coffee shop,” she shared. “With Adam, it was completely different, I could totally sense it and feel that right off the bat.”
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Adams-Wheatley entered the world after her biological parents attempted a late abortion. The procedure failed, and she arrived with the rare congenital condition that left her without limbs. Her birth parents abandoned her, and she was eventually adopted by a family in Utah, where she grew up presenting as male before transitioning to live as her authentic self.
She and Adam matched on Tinder five years ago and married before her transition began. The couple now builds content together across social platforms, amassing a following drawn to their candid dynamic.
The question of how Adam received her gender revelation has trailed their public story. In a video addressing the topic, Adams-Wheatley walked through the timeline with her husband at her side. “I started my transition a year after we got married, right?”
“I think so, but you told me way before everybody else,” Adam responded.
“Yeah, I had also told him a little bit before we got married, too that I was having feelings about it, but I just wasn’t sure if it was something I was comfortable with, actually fully going into and just keeping suppressed. And if he was comfortable with it and everything,” she continued. “But Adam was the first person to know before everyone. And I waited a few months before I did it publicly as well. I already started a few things behind the scenes.”
Adam’s reaction was immediate and unambiguous. “I couldn’t care less,” he stated flatly. “I’m very happy that she found who she is. And I’ve seen a big difference in her happiness and confidence and everything.”
He added: “But I mean, I fell in love with her and not what she was, just who she was.”
The couple’s openness about their journey has distinguished them in an influencer landscape where disability and trans identity are often sanitized or avoided entirely. Adams-Wheatley’s willingness to detail both the degrading pre-Adam dating experiences and the intimate negotiations of her marriage offers a rare unvarnished portrait of partnership across multiple marginalizations.
Her This Morning appearance marks her latest push into mainstream British media, expanding her platform beyond the social channels where she and Adam first built their audience.